Eric Lampmann and Ruthers Marching Band at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey on Saturday afternoon during Rutgers-Cincinnati game
Mink Stole and Penny Arcade in Tennessee Williams’ “The Mutilated” at New Ohio Theater in Manhattan
by Sam Juliano
Enjoying a mid-November football game in the New Jersey-New York area would normally require a winter coat and a hoodie. But the weather at Piscataway’s High Point Solutions Stadium was unusually comfortable, with 65 and sunny skies. Too bad that the 5-3 Rutgers team played their worst game of the year and got dismantled by the high-flying Cincinnati Bearcats by a score of 52-17 in front of a near-sold crowd in the Scarlet Knights’ playground. But heck, teams have bad days as can be seen by the deplorable performance by the Jets against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. Lucille, Sammy and I attended to watch our nephew Eric Lampmann performance with the Rutgers Marching Band at halftime and after the game, but the entire college football experience and the great tailgate party before and after made Saturday a most memorable day, regardless of the fortunes of the Scarlet Knights.
Lucille and I took in one of Tennessee Williams’ less performed plays, “The Mutilated” at the New Ohio Theater on Christopher Street on Wednesday night. The one act play has long been neglected, but seems properly staged at the seedy underground theater, where the one-act work benefits enormously from a jazz score, a great trumpet player, and the performance of John Waters alumni Mink Sole (“Pink Flamingos”) who joins the boozy revelers in effective song numbers. The setting is the Silver Dollar Hotel, and the play is both funny and truthful.
We also saw two new film openings:
Nebraska **** 1/2 (Friday night) Angelika Film Center
The Book Thief *** 1/2 (Saturday night) Bow-Tie Cinemas.
I will have more to say about the films on the comment thread later today.
Screen cap from Alexander Payne’s superb “Nebraska”
I copied last week’s links, but will try to update some during the day on Monday:
Dean Treadway has posted a spectacular review on “12 Years A Slave” at Filmacability, calling it the “film of the year!” http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2013/11/film-155-12-years-slave.html
At FilmsNoir.net Tony d’Ambra has penned a tremendous review of Visconti’s “Ossessione”: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/ossessione-italy-1942-a-dance-of-death-and-sperm.html
Sachin Gandhi has published a fantastic review of the Sturges western “Bad Day at Black Rock” at Scribbles and Ramblings: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2013/10/bad-day-at-black-rock.htm
Jeffrey Goodman offers up a fantastic quartet of capsules (on Sirk, Nicholas Ray, Raoul Walsh and the newest film by the Coens!) at The Last Lullaby: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2013/11/favorite-four-part-twenty-two.html
Judy Geater has penned a fabulous review of the 1927 silent “The Only Way” at Movie Classics: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/the-only-way-herbert-wilcox-1927/
Samuel Wilson’s superlative review on 12 YEARS A SLAVE has been posted at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-big-screen-12-years-slave-2013.html
Laurie Buchanan is leading up with a soulful post “That’s Not a Bug on My Windshield” at Speaking From the Heart: http://tuesdayswithlaurie.com/2013/11/05/thats-not-a-bug-on-my-windshield/
Murderous Ink has offered up a stupendous piece of scholarship on the wartime German film “Unter Den Brucken” at Vermillion and One Nights: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2013/11/unter-den-brucken-1945.html
Weeping Sam has published a magnificent tribute to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground at The Listening Ear that is a must for rock fans: http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2013/11/lou-reed-and-velvet-underground.html
John Greco leads up at Twenty Four Frames with a fascinating post on “E.J. Bellocq, Storyville and Pretty Baby”: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/e-j-bellocq-storyville-and-pretty-baby/
The online studio is open at the Creativepotager’s blog and Terrill Welch’s works of art there are mind-boggling: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2013/11/09/art-waits-for-no-ferry-nor-west-coast-daylight-online-studio-is-open/
Jaimie Grijalba offers up the Horrors of Steven King in a terrific post at Overlook’s Corridor: http://overlookhotelfilm.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/october-overlook-madness-finale-31-a-night-at-the-movies-the-horrors-of-stephen-king-2011/
There is a must-see post by Joel Bocko up at Lost in the Movies on “Filmmaker Documentary Marathon”: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2013/11/filmmaker-documentary-marathon-119.htm
Patricia at Patricia’s Wisdom has published a superb book review on James Sheehan’s “The Alligator Man.”: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2013/11/the-alligator-man-a-legal-thriller-james-sheehan/
Shubhajit Lahiri leads the way at Cinemascope with a brilliant capsule on “Eyes Without A Face”: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2013/11/eyes-without-face-1960.html
Michael Harford’s ravishing collaboration with Paul Hawkins at the Coffee Messiah’s blog is well worth a look-see: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2013/11/week-25-180-collaboration-w-paul-hawkins.html
