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James Wolcott
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1 month ago
in I WANT TO DO FISH DIVES WITH MARCELO on Swan Lake Samba Girl
No, I wasn't at the performance: a Russian dancer friend of ours wanted to see Veronika, so he went as Laura's plus-one--I should be at the Saturday mat, even though Mozartiana isn't one of my faves either.
Loved your writeup! A tonic antidote to Alastair Macaulay's headmasterly doling out of head-pats and wrist slaps, when what he'd really rather be doing is paying homage to Merce Cunningham for the 5,000th time.
Loved your writeup! A tonic antidote to Alastair Macaulay's headmasterly doling out of head-pats and wrist slaps, when what he'd really rather be doing is paying homage to Merce Cunningham for the 5,000th time.
1 reply
8 months ago
in Mad Men: EST, aka Even Suckers Transform on newcritics
They're really overbanking on the supposed charisma of Jon Hamm/Don Draper and dangerously dulling out the character.
2 replies
8 months ago
in Mad Men: EST, aka Even Suckers Transform on newcritics
The white-haired Euro dude looks like a cross between Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Christopher Guest.
2 replies
chuck tryon
I was thinking maybe Douglas Fairbanks as directed by Wes Anderson, which is more or less the same thing.
tomwatson
This does seem like a Mighty Wind-like portrayal of early 60s LA - where's Eugene Levy?
9 months ago
in Echoes of a Movie Legend in the World of Mad Men on newcritics
I'm surprised they didn't stick Father Gill in that gambling dive--everybody else seemed to be there.
1 reply
Steve Paradis
He's a Jesuit, remember?
They're all straight percentage players, who know there's no such thing as an honest house game.
Except for Pascal's Wager.
They're all straight percentage players, who know there's no such thing as an honest house game.
Except for Pascal's Wager.
9 months ago
in Echoes of a Movie Legend in the World of Mad Men on newcritics
I've seldom seen a more implausibly staged, crudely handled scene than the pissing himself/passing out bit in the office, with Closet Case chortling away. It's as if Matthew Weiner has never witnessed recognizable human behavior or at least recorded it in memory for later dramatization. The Marilyn Monroe memorials are also stiltedly written and delivered.
1 reply
tomwatson
Freddy - a strange episode that proves, what?
The Marilyn stuff was incredibly stilted - it had me on Roger Sterling's side of things.
The Marilyn stuff was incredibly stilted - it had me on Roger Sterling's side of things.
It's really bothersome that there's only one major newspaper that has regular dance critics. It means there's basically one all-powerful voice. I think what makes arts criticism work is when there's a dialog. You can't have a dialog when there's basically one person writing. There aren't many bloggers who regularly do dance reviews, probably because it's hard and time-consuming and doesn't pay well or at all. I don't know what the answer is, because it isn't the NYTimes's fault that they're the only major outlet, but it's just a really bad situation right now for the arts.