Directors to Watch – Denis Villeneuve

Several weeks ago I was having a discussion with a group of friends about the films of Richard Linklater, and one of my friends mentioned that they were unfamiliar with his work. I found that surprising, and so I spent some time asking other people about directors the liked and didn’t like, had heard of and hadn’t heard of, and found that there were a number of directors that I consider to be absolutely essential who are (at least in the circles I run in) largely ignored. Starting today, I will be doing profiles of the top five filmmakers who fit this description (I love them dearly, but very few people I know have seen their films), with the hope that it will draw some attention to the work of some talented artists near and dear to my heart. Today, I will be looking at the work of the Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve.

Narcos, or Pedro Pascal is the Next Big Thing

Late last week, Variety reported that Pedro Pascal, a.k.a. Prince Oberyn Martell of Game of Thrones fame, will be starring in Narcos, the new Netflix original series about the DEAs attempt to bring down Pablo Escobar (who will be played by the interesting Brazilian actor Wagner Moura).

There is a lot to like about this whole thing. The series will be directed by Jose Padilha (the Robocop reboot), and will be produced by Eric Newman (Children of Men) and Chris Brancato (one of the guys who brought us Hannibal ). Padilha is a competent action director, and even if Robocop had more ambition than execution that combination is better than having no ambition at all. Technique can be honed, and Newman and Brancato have demonstrated an ability to oversee and shape ambitious creative types.

Album Review – Ethan Johns, The Reckoning

When Etta Parsons, writing for the New Musical Express, reviewed Ethan Johns’ debut album If Not Now Then When? (2013) she described Johns’ style as “Bill Callahan dealing with a lazy hangover.” Well, yes and no. Part of what made Johns’ initial album so frustrating was the paradoxical combination of his obvious talent and equally obvious lack of understanding of his particular musical voice. This is not all that surprising when you think about it.

Josh Trank and the Star Wars Spinoff

On June 4th Entertainment Weekly reported that Josh Trank had been selected to direct one of the two Star Wars spin-offs that will accompany J.J. Abrams new trilogy (this writer sincerely hopes that he will be helming the rumored Boba Fett origin story). Gareth Edwards, of Godzilla (2014) fame, will be directing the other spin-off (reports indicate that it will chronicle the adventures of the young Han Solo).

Our Technology, Ourselves – A Review of Black Mirror

In 1961, Walker Percy published The Moviegoer, a philosophical novel concerned with how an individual can truly know themselves in a mediated world. His protagonist, Binx Bolling, is a traumatized and disaffected young man who has returned to New Orleans after the Korean War and finds that he is not capable of interacting with other human beings. Instead, he tries to come to an understanding of his life by going to the movies. Movies function, for Binx, as a framework for understanding life, and he is constantly convinced that each new film will give him what he needs to connect in a meaningful way with himself and with others.

Dave’s TV Year in Review

1973 was a phenomenal year for California reds. That was the year that Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars produced the California Cabernet Sauvignon that would go on to win the legendary 1976 “Judgment of Paris,” a blind tasting that pitted the best American vintages against the legendary vineyards of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Montrose, and Chatea Haut-Brion (three of the four original “first growth” vineyards established under the direction of Napoleon III in 1855). The victory by Stag’s Leap was astonishing. The vineyard had only been producing wine for two seasons, and the French vineyards they defeated had been, collectively, producing wine for a millennium. A lot goes into a growing year like that. The conditions need to be just so: just so much rain, just so much sun, just so much nitrogen in the soil. But when those things come together in the proper way, magic can happen.

A Few Thoughts on Network Upfront Week

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. May is when the semester wraps up here in East Lansing. That means grades have to be submitted, upset students consoled, and sorting through the inevitable set of excuses that accompanies every finals week. At the end of the fall semester the promise of the holiday season and all that it entails gives me the motivation to sort through the meshugas. There are no corresponding holidays at the end of the spring semester. Memorial Day is still weeks away. So I console myself with a pop culture lover’s unofficial holiday season…TV upfront week!