Mark Rylance and Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies”
Screen grab from Dennis Villeneuve’s riveting and taut mega thrilled “Sicario” starring Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro
by Sam Juliano
We are plowing through October like a hay ride on a whistle stop tour through a pumpkin field. Mother Nature has finally realized that the calendar is what it is and we’ve been wearing jackets and coats the last week or so. Yet for those in the Big Apple metropolitan area we do have a few low 70’s days predicted for this coming week. Baseball fans in Chicago and New York are tied up with Cubs-Mets, and all fans of the sport are hoping for a great series. And our wonderful friends Valerie and Jim Clark are still pulling for a Toronto Blu Jays comeback against those resilient Kansas City Royals. Otherwise it’s NFL football, opera on the HD simulcasts and of course the very best time of the year for film fans.
The 2015 Caldecott Contender series will launch this coming week. Reviews will post at various intervals all the way up until the day of the American Library Association’s awards on January 30th of 2016. I’m not sure how many book reviews I’ll actually publish, but I am sure it won’t come anywhere close to the 51 of last year. Still, some great books are in contention once again, and I’ll be doing my best to afford representative coverage. Stay tuned.
The Wonders in the Dark hierarchy have decided on science fiction for the coming 2016 countdown. The specifications/guidelines will be sent on in the coming months. Though there is no complaint whatsoever with the great success of the last countdowns, we want to offer up a change of pace. There also is a series tentatively planned for Saturdays, but I’ll keep that under wraps at the moment. As always our resilient and brilliant Jim Clark is publishing his incomparable film reviews every other Wednesday and we remain eternally grateful for his stellar input.
Lucille, Jeremy, and I attended a wonderful book reading by Rowboat Watkins on Saturday morning at the Curious Reader Bookstore in Glen Rock, New Jersey. His wildly popular picture book Rude Cakes will be one of the first subjects in the Caldecott Contender series.
We saw two films in theaters this past week and both were excellent:
Sicario **** 1/2 (Sunday morning) Ridgefield Park Starplex
Bridge of Spies **** 1/2 (Saturday afternoon) Ridgefield Park Starplex
SICARIO by Denis Villeneuvre features unbearable tension, visceral thrills and a barrage of violence in this compelling drug cartel movie primarily navigated by an idealistic woman played by Emily Blunt. BRIDGE OF SPIES by Steven Spielberg relates a fascinating narrative about a Cold War spy swap and boasts great performances by Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance and a solid screenplay co-wrote by the Coens.
At Noirish, the renowned writer (and voracious reader) John Grant has penned an excellent review of the 2014 short “Peekaboo”: https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/peekaboo-2014/
At FilmsNoir.net Tony d’Ambra has posted a full list of films noir in US Library of Congress National Film Registry: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/list-of-films-noir-in-us-library-of-congress-national-film-registry.html/
Stephen Mullen offers up a splendid baseball playoff analysis and his usual superb music presentation at The Listening Ear: http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2015/10/friday-music-and-sports-rapture.html
Joel Bocko has published an excellent review on Steven Spielberg’s venerated “Schindler’s List” at I Lost it at the Movies: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-favorites-schindlers-list-85.html
At Mondo 70 Samuel Wilson has written a commanding review of Bridge of Spies: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2015/10/on-big-screen-bridge-of-spies-2015.html
At Tuesdays with Laurie, our great friend Laurie Buchanan offers up a terrific post titled “Abracadabra”: http://tuesdayswithlaurie.com/2015/10/13/abracadabra/
Over at Attractive Variance Jamie Uhler offers up his fabulous latest installment of “Recent Cultural Happenings…..”: https://attractivevariance.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/recent-cultural-happenings-noise-doesnt-annoys-end-of-september-2015/
At Movie Classics, Judy Geater has posted a fantastic piece on Frank Capra’s 1933 “Lady For a Day” and his 1961 re-make “Pocketful of Miracles”: https://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2015/10/10/lady-for-a-day-1933-and-pocketful-of-miracles-1961-frank-capra/
David Schleicher has penned a superlative review of Ramin Bahrani’s “99 Homes” at The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2015/10/12/the-death-of-the-american-dream-in-99-homes/
Our longtime friend the film maker and movie lover extraordinaire Jeffrey Goodman has resumed his Ozu series n-99-hwith a terrific review of the director’s 1930 “The Night’s Wife”: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2015/10/that-nights-wife-1930.html
Jeff Stroud brings a higher level of thought to his wonderful new post at The Reluctant Blogger titled “Blank Page”: https://jeffstroud.wordpress.com/2015/08/30/blank-page/
Over at Patricia’s Wisdom, the terrific book reviewer and friend Patricia Hamilton has penned an excellent review on Stephanie Kallos’ “Language Arts: A Novel”: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2015/10/language-arts-a-novel-stephanie-kallos/
At It Rains….You Get Wet Robert Tower has penned a magisterial feature on the author Thomas “Silence of the Lambs” Harris: http://le0pard13.com/2015/10/16/audiobook-behaviorial-science-thomas-trilogy-lees-one/
Over at Ferdy-on-Films, Roderick Heath leads up with his splendid essay of “The Martian”: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2015/the-martian-2015/26165/
J. D. Lafrance’s offers up a splendid review of “Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter” at Radiator Heaven: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2015/10/captain-kronos-vampire-hunter.html
Shubhajit Lahiri has penned an excellent review of Wim Wenders’ 1975 “Wrong Move” at Cinemascope: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-wrong-move-1975.htm
Terrill Welch’s incomparably beautiful Creative Potager blogsite offers up all kinds of nature-inspired s ublimity, and the latest post “A Narrow Artistic Perspective on a Mayne Island Morning” is a stream-of-consciousness beauty: http://creativepotager.com/2015/08/25/a-narrow-artistic-perspective-on-a-mayne-island-morning/
At Filmicability Dean Treadway’s latest post is a superlative examination of the film year 1956: http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2015/10/1956-year-in-review.html
Sachin Gandhi has penned a terrific review on the Brazilian “She Comes Back on Thursday” at Scribbles and Ramblings: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2015/10/she-comes-back-on-thursday.html
At The Seventh Art the exceedingly gifted writer Srikanth offers up reviews on two Hindi films under the banner grouping titled “Love in the Time of Gonorrhea”: http://theseventhart.info/2015/08/02/love-in-the-time-of-gonorrhea/
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