Philip Martin
Recent Stories
CRITICAL MASS: Thinking about what to think of the Oscars
posted: 02/05/2012 3:48 a.m. Discuss
I hardly ever think about the Oscars.
Election won’t change much
posted: 02/05/2012 2:58 a.m. Discuss
Isuppose that sooner or later I will have to begin to pay attention to the internecine battle for the Republican presidential nomination, though I honestly don’t see why.
REVIEW: In the Land of Blood and Honey
posted: 02/03/2012 3:06 a.m. Discuss
Feeling isn’t enough. Really, all you slam poets and would-be writers, please listen to me: It simply is not enough to feel and care deeply about your subject. You also must shape that emotive content into something coherent or at least interesting, that adheres to its own logic (however dreamy it may be) and finally connects with your intended audience. Otherwise, you are engaging in self-therapy — or self-pleasure — rather than working as an artist.
ON FILM: Revisiting early Kubrick works a joy
posted: 02/03/2012 3:03 a.m. Discuss
In 1957 when Paths of Glory, the ferociously anti-war film based on an actual incident — the execution for cowardice of innocent French soldiers during World War I — opened, the film’s star, Kirk Douglas, was widely perceived as its architect, much in the same manner as Brad Pitt is seen as the lead creative intelligence behind Moneyball.
CRITICAL MASS: Covering Dylan songs not as easy as it sounds
posted: 01/29/2012 3:04 a.m. Discuss
It’s not too hard to cover a Bob Dylan song. What you do is pick out a likely suspect, type its title along with the keyword “chords” into a search engine, and you’ll come up with — well, let’s try it — about 310,000 hits for “Chimes of Freedom” in 0.22 seconds.
The most banal kind of crime
posted: 01/29/2012 2:34 a.m. Discuss
I once wrote a series of newspaper stories about a man—who happened to be a fire fighter accused of murdering his wife’s sister. The prosecution’s theory was that he had been carrying on an affair with his sister-in-law, and that she had been periodically loaning him money to cover household expenses.
Freud-Jung rivalry gets Cronenberg treatment
posted: 01/27/2012 4:06 a.m. Discuss
A Dangerous Method 87 Cast: Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Sarah Gadon, Vincent Cassel Director: David Cronenberg Rating: R, for sexual content and language Running time: 99 minutes Despite its investigation of psychosexual issues, including body invasion and reinvention of the self (and, in this case, the invention of the 20th century), A Dangerous Method is hardly a typical David Cronenberg film.
ON FILM: The few signal films of director Alex Cox
posted: 01/27/2012 4:04 a.m. Discuss
Sid & Nancy (1986) was released on Blu-ray last month (suggested retail $24.99), and I’ve been meaning to get around to writing about it because it’s an important movie to a lot of people who came of age in the ’80s, and because it represents the highlight of the bizarre career of the extraordinary Alex Cox.
Home movies
posted: 01/27/2012 3:55 a.m. Discuss
Recent DVD releases: 50/50 (R, 100 minutes) — A genuinely fresh and heartening comedy about a 27-yearold National Public Radio reporter (Joseph Gordon Levitt ) dealing with a diagnosis of spinal cancer, his luggish best friend (Seth Rogan) and the inexperienced counselor who actually ends up helping (Anna Kendrick). With Angelica Huston and Bryce Dallas Howard as the ultimate bad girlfriend. Grade: 88 Bombay Beach (Not rated, 80 minutes )
Hate and love in the boxing ring
posted: 01/22/2012 3:40 a.m. Comments 2
My father was, among other things, a boxer. I never saw him fight, because when he married my mother he promised to give it up. It wasn’t until he was in the hospital, dying of lymphatic cancer, that he told us he’d broken that promise once—that while on an Air Force temporary duty assignment to Kansas City, he’d used an alias and filled in on an undercard. He lost his only professional bout by decision.
