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Caldecott Medal Contender: Hello Lighthouse
by Sam Juliano The lighthouse is a national treasure. Though few are now functional, their appearance is a reminder of how they once served as guardian and protector, alerting ships of rocky...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Run Wild
by Sam Juliano I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” –Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire (1981) An adult reader of David...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Bub
by Sam Juliano The last time the surname of Robert received titular misrepresentation was only a bit over a year ago when a nasal distortion caused by a nasty cold resulted in a stricken boy...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: Alma and How She Got Her Name
by Sam Juliano I Am Heathcliff – Catherine Earnshaw, Wuthering Heights Centuries ago long names were all the rage. The immortal composer Mozart was actually baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: They Say Blue
by Sam Juliano Jillian Tamaki and her cousin Mariko Tamaki were awarded a surprise Caldecott Honor a few year back for their 2015 graphic novel, This One Summer, The win was the first in the history...
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Caldecott Medal Contender: The Field
by Sam Juliano Growing up in a town in Northern Jersey just a stone’s throw from Manhattan back in the 60’s and 70’s, soccer or futbal as it continues to be called by some passionate advocates had...
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Caldecottt Medal Announcements, The Heiresses and Choral Art Society of New...
Caldecott Medal Winner by Sam Juliano Caldecott Medal Winners Announced! In the end it was the ravishing masterpiece Hello Lighthouse by the remarkably gifted Sophie Blackall which was named the...
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Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven
By J.D. Lafrance In retrospect, Days of Heaven (1978) can be seen as a transitional film for its director, Terrence Malick, whose first film, Badlands (1973), was a fictionalized account of Charles...
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Arctic and Super Bowl Sunday on Monday Morning Diary (February 4)
by Sam Juliano From an arctic vortex to 60 degree temperatures we’ve experienced winter-to-summer over the last week, what with Mother Nature sending on a markedly bi-polar message. In any event...
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Keith Gordon’s Waking the Dead
By J.D. Lafrance Keith Gordon began acting at a young age, appearing in films by legendary directors like Brian De Palma and John Carpenter but when he found acting in films, like the Rodney...
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INGMAR BERGMAN’S ‘SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT “If people only knew how unhealthy...
© 2019 by James Clark Like the Bergman film, Winter Light (1963), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), threatens, at first blush, to be a pain in the ass. Instead of the former film’s protagonist’s...
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Never Look Away and The Wild Pear Tree on Monday Morning Diary (February 11)
by Sam Juliano The Grammys were staged on Sunday night, but I don’t yet have a full report. R.I.P. Albert Finny, one of the greatest of all film actors. Our annual Oscar party will be held at...
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Walter Hill’s The Warriors
By J.D. Lafrance When The Warriors came out in 1979 it was a modestly budgeted film made by an up-and-coming director named Walter Hill and featured a then-unknown cast. With its nightmarish vision of...
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Birds of Passage, Sorry Angel, Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts and Oscar...
by Sam Juliano Presidents Week 2019 as always results in a full week off for area schools as a kind of winter recess. The Oscar party at the Tiger Hose Firehouse will be staged starting at 6:00 P.M.,...
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The Good Shepherd
By J.D. Lafrance The Good Shepherd (2006) had been a long-gestating project for screenwriter Eric Roth. But then again pitching an epic biopic about the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency...
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Everybody Knows and The Oscars on Monday Morning Diary (February 24)
by Sam Juliano Our annual get-together for The Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 24th at the Tigerhouse Firehouse in Fairview, New Jersey. Festivities commence at around 6:00 P.M. This...
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Bright Lights, Big City
By J.D. LafranceIn the late 1980s, Michael J. Fox attempted to break out of the typecasted roles he found himself stuck in – light, breezy comedies like Teen Wolf (1985) and The Secret of My Success...
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CLAIRE DENIS’ LET THE SUNSHINE IN “Is this my life?”
© 2019 by James Clark Filmmaker, Claire Denis, is old enough to remember the supernova that was Ingmar Bergman. Lucky her. Lucky us. A while ago we noted, in her film, White Material (2009), how the...
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Transit, Giant Little Ones, Hotel by the River and The Oscars on Monday...
Screen cap from German “Transit” by Sam Juliano A late night wintry mix and snowfall brought on the cancellation of area schools for Monday morning, though the appearance of the sun at around 10:00...
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Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
By J.D. Lafrance After more than twenty years of failed attempts and missed opportunities, Terry Gilliam did what many thought impossible — he transformed Hunter S. Thompson’s classic novel, Fear and...
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