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MacGuffin Spotlight
My Favorite Movie – Raiders of the Lost Ark
What is your favorite movie? That’s not such a hard question, is it? You’re thinking, “Oh, there’s so many,” or “I can’t choose just one.” C’mon, now, I’m not asking you to name your favorite child. Everyone has a favorite movie. My answer to that…
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An Appreciation – The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Sometimes, when I’m in the mood, I like to sing. I’m not very good at it, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. The characters in Jacques Demy’s film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) like to sing as well, and luckily they are much better…
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MacGuffin Roundtable #11 – Manhattan
The MacGuffin crew discuss Manhattan, from director/writer/actor Woody Allen and co-starring Diane Keaton. This episode can be played online via the flash player below or it can be downloaded from here. It is available on iTunes, Zune, and Stitcher.
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What We’re Watching 7/13/11
Many more intelligent people than I have already summarized life as a series of dueling, chaotic and organized events. John Lennon said, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans. Roberto Begnini’s character Bob, in Jim Jarmusch’s 1985 film Down by Law, makes…
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Bird Watching – An Open Letter to Penny Marshall
Dear Ms. Marshall, Charm is a very hard thing to achieve. Charm is borderline undefinable, yet when someone is reaching for it and not getting there, everyone can tell, and the result is awkward and painful. As I write this, I’m watching, probably for the…
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An Appreciation – Seven Samurai
If there is one word to describe Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Seven Samurai (1954), it is “epic.” Epic in scale, in ambition, in scope, and in length. At a meaty two hundred and seven minutes, the film is an adventurous experience in and of itself. However,…
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Bird Watching – Revisiting Penelope Spheeris’s “Wayne’s World”
In desperate need of something to cheer me up after an awful day, and also in desperate need of something to write about for this column this week, yesterday I marched to the video store with one mission: get Wayne’s World. This was actually a…
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An Appreciation – The Lady Eve
If someone were to ask me to suggest a film for the sheer enjoyment value, I would point them toward Preston Sturges’ great comedy, The Lady Eve (1941). It is so fun, so witty, and so clever, that it is just a pleasure to watch.…
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