Stories by Philip Martin

OPINION | NEW MOVIES: 'First Wave' a firsthand account of pandemic HOT SPRINGS -- Matthew Heineman's "The First Wave" didn't get into the Sundance Film Festival. It was also rejected by Cannes, Toronto, Telluride and the New York Film Festival. It finally had its wor... October 15, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm1015 gWjzvYtch9Y [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/1015onfilm/] October 15, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: New guitar day T here was an electric guitar sitting on my neighbor's porch the other day. I could tell because I know the sort of boxes guitars are shipped in; because "Squier by Fender" was printed in four-inch s... October 12, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: The pretender Maybe it's human nature to posture. I read a post on Facebook where a guy whose academic career ended with the bestowal of a journalism degree from a land grant university explains how an actual cons... October 10, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/1008onfilm WZptM437UBo [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/1008onfilm/] October 8, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Not my business The story I didn't write was about a woman having an affair with a much older married male politician--probably not the one you're thinking of. The affair was suspected; the woman was appointed to a ... October 5, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Endless summer We've had a few mornings with a cool pre-dawn edge to them. Three times so far I've put on a sweatshirt before trudging out. Some nights we can open the windows. Karen has a blanket handy, but I don't... October 3, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: Hagai Levi's 'Scenes' runs parallel to Bergman's After taking a pandemic-enforced break, I'm going back to the gym several days a week. I take my iPad for the cardio sessions. Part of my job involves watching things, so this way I can work while I'm... October 3, 2021

OPINION | ON BOOKS: 'Rock Me' details golden year of Los Angeles It's tempting to think of Los Angeles as a factory town, churning out entertainment product. We stereotype it as a haven for hacks and studio suits, the last stop of the sold-out. It's been characteri... October 3, 2021

Thoughts just before the deluge Like I've been saying, there's a lot of pent-up supply heading toward us. David Gordon Green and "Halloween Kills" are here tonight as part of the Arkansas Cinema Society's Filmland. Then on Saturday... October 1, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm101 JvC9Y25mpTk [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/onfilm101] October 1, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: The impossibility of history "Purely objective truth is nowhere to be found . . . The trail of the human serpent is thus over everything." -- William James, "Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking" (1907) There is... September 28, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: 'Spanish Model' re-contextualizes Costello's version It would be easy to look at "Spanish Model," the recently released Spanish-language version of the 1978 Elvis Costello and the Attractions album "This Year's Model," as a business decision. After all... September 26, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: My neighbor and his gun He's sitting out on his front porch in the late afternoon with a can of beer. Bothering no one. We speak to him as we walk by; we always do. He has complimented our dogs before; we know each other by... September 26, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm924 ttMTEOF4WnU [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/924onfilm/] September 24, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Chastain headlines Filmland Unless something falls through at the last minute, Jessica Chastain is coming to Little Rock. That has to be the headline, doesn't it? That, in a little over a week, an A-list Hollywood star will be ... September 21, 2021

OPINION | ON BOOKS: Vanderslice's 'Nous Nous' a meditation on what it means to be trapped Monsters are more made than born. No person is born evil. We believe in cycles of abuse and we believe that damaged people become dangerous. This raises uncomfortable questions about guilt. Are the ... September 19, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Muhammad Ali's tally Beginning this evening, the life and meaning of Muhammad Ali will be examined in a four-part eight-hour PBS series from Ken Burns and his team. The reviews have been kind, and a podcast interview I he... September 19, 2021

OPINION | NEW MOVIES: A huge spate of movies ready to fill theaters once again Summer still has five more days to go. But the summer movies have already blown through, leaving us with a few 'tweeners and benighted stragglers and horror films to fill out the "scary season" that r... September 17, 2021

ON FILM Philip Martin’s On Film video column will return next week. September 17, 2021

WPS, sort of, for now On Friday, on the radio, I said it was a shame we have to play the games. That's because anticipation often is better than realization. Because we can imagine anything in the moments before kickoff, w... September 13, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: College machinations studied in 'The Chair' In English departments the most serious competition is for the role of straight man. — Richard Russo, "Straight Man," 1997 In Jane Smiley's 1995 novel,"Moo," there is an 18-month old snowy-whit... September 12, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Aftermath I woke up groggy on the morning of Sept. 12, 2001. I'd taken an Ambien the night before. It hadn't really worked but had given me a bit of a zolpidem hangover. Since commercial airspace was shut down... September 12, 2021

Before and after the towers fell On the last day of the Before, we were at the Toronto International Film Festival. I spent the Monday afternoon of Sept. 10, 2001, talking with Arliss Howard and Debra Winger about our mutual friend,... September 10, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm910 5J-ZoW77Do0 [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/910onfilm/] September 10, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Converted by ill winds He didn't want to do it, but they had to put the sheriff on the renter in Coushatta, La. She had been an all right tenant for awhile, and they were happy when she said she wanted to work out a rent-t... September 7, 2021

OPINION | ON BOOKS: 'The Guide' descriptive but too ambitious I didn't know Peter Heller's "The Guide" was a sequel until doing a little fact-checking. Now I understand why the author was vague about the traumas our hero had suffered before the events of the cur... September 5, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: James McMurtry — More journalist than autobiographer James McMurtry has been known to refer to himself as a "beer salesman." His job is to draw people to bars and clubs and midsize venues that book him and his band. He puts on a show. If people want to ... September 5, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Crystal Bridges turns 10 This column is adapted from one that originally ran Nov. 20, 2016. Growing up far from centers of culture in a family of average or less than average means, you generally do not get to spend your jun... September 5, 2021

'Gateway' a snazzy B-movie I think some people think movie critics are snobs. And some are, but I don't think that, per capita, there are more snobs among the film reviewing community than in the general population. Most peopl... September 3, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm93 9zRSKnzSc7g [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/93onfilm/] September 3, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Where empires go to die Afghanistan is the valley where great empires go to die. We have always known this, though the beauty of our weapons sometimes blinds us. If you want to find an American institution that actually wor... August 31, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: The social petri dish of 'The White Lotus'-Eaters Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "The Lot... August 29, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: We'll always have Paris Dogs get old the same way that Bill Gorton went bankrupt in "The Sun Also Rises." Gradually at first, then all at once. Paris is a teenager now, and progress is still gradual. All the charts say she... August 29, 2021

OPINION | NEW MOVIES: 'Let It Be' still worthy 51 years later One of the pandemic projects I started and have yet to finish is a complete inventory of the movies I own on DVD. I have quite a lot, though not as many as you might imagine. Having a physical collec... August 27, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm827 r8Ol7Elbbc8 [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/onfilm827/] August 27, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Backroads song hunting Tom T. Hall told me he was almost a movie star. "John Boorman wanted me to play the guy in 'Deliverance' who plays the guitar for the retarded banjo player," he said. "Then they shoot me and I float ... August 24, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Both miracle and disaster The idea was that you could win wars by destroying your enemy's means of making war. You didn't have to kill them, just deny them the means to kill you. If you could blow up the factories where they p... August 22, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: Seeing Williams, Isbell live thrillingly imperfect Anyone who grew up in the 20th or 21st century is likely to perceive a recording as the definitive version of a given pop song. (It is not quite the same with most pieces of classical music, but it mi... August 22, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm820 QgFv7O6GO6E [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/820onfilm/] August 20, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Return of the king This just in: Expect the reinstatement of Donald Trump as president of the United States sometime in September. Probably Sept. 30. Now hold on, there's no need for gnashing teeth and rending garment... August 17, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Anyone can make a mistake Carl stood there, looking at the pump in his hand, trying to remember the past few moments. He could remember pulling into the station and the sense of journey's-end relief that had descended when th... August 15, 2021

OPINION | ON BOOKS: 'Tokyo Redux' just lets the mystery be On July 5, 1949, Sadanori Shimoyama, the president of Japanese National Railways, left his home in Tokyo on his way to his office. On the way, he instructed his driver to stop at a department store, s... August 15, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: Why we love pop music that works in movies One of the chief pleasures of James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" is the pop music on the soundtrack. That's not surprising given that Gunn is known for his soundtrack choices, especially in the "Guardi... August 15, 2021

Video games dominating music, movies I've been saying for a while that video games are probably more important to more people than movies are. Numbers confirm this; video games generate more revenue than movies and music and are a bigge... August 13, 2021

ON FILM Watch Philip Martin’s On Film column at: arkansasonline.com/onfilm813 IKAtrf4fkus [Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/onfilm813/] August 13, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Toxic shamelessness There was a time when a politician could be shamed out of office. It happened with some regularity. There was a rhythm to it. Accusations would be raised and denied, an investigation would be initiat... August 10, 2021

OPINION | CRITICAL MASS: 'Southern Soul' — Williams pays props to Joe South Lucinda Williams covers Joe South's "Games People Play" on her recently released album "Southern Soul: From Memphis to Muscle Shoals and More." It's a very good cover, not surprising given Williams' ... August 8, 2021

OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: Slowhand's cynicism One of the things you're not supposed to be in this business is a fan. It is drilled into my generation of journalists: You don't root for the home team (or against the home team). No cheering in the... August 8, 2021

OPINION | REVIEW: 'Annette' Why would anyone -- other than a studio executive -- want to make a safe movie? I understand why people want to watch safe movies. The greater part of what we call "art" means to reassure us that all... August 6, 2021