The New Classics - Blue Ruin

Michael Cusumano here to nominate a New Classic that doesn't get discussed much around these parts.

Scene: Self-surgery
Nolan’s Batman trilogy is supposed to be the grounded version of the Bruce Wayne mythology, but really, that movie arrived eight years later in the form of Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin.  

Like Bruce Wayne, Blue Ruin’s Dwight Evans (played memorably by Macon Blair) finds himself unable to process the murder of his parents. Unlike the Caped Crusader however, the trauma doesn’t set him on the path to becoming a crime-fighting ninja, so much as it leaves him a haunted vagrant who survives by trash-picking down by the boardwalk. When he embarks on a spree of vigilante retribution, Dwight has no lofty ideas about the betterment of society. It’s more of an indirect suicide attempt... 

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Showbiz History: On a Clear Day You Can See Peter Dinklage in Jurassic Park?

Six random things that happened on this day (June 11th) in showbiz history

1966 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever starring the great Barbara Harris and John Cullum closes on Broadway shortly before the Tony Awards, where it will lose all three of its nominations. It was snubbed in Best Musical where Man of La Mancha won and Mame, Skyscraper, and Sweet Charity were all nominated. Nevertheless it was quicker than all but Sweet Charity in getting a big screen adaptation. Barbra Streisand starred.

1969 Peter Dinklage is born (Happy 50th!). Do you think he's headed for a fourth Emmy win for Game of Thrones? Do you remember the first time you saw him? For us it was The Station Agent (2003), such a gem from the early Aughts...

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What's eligible for "Outstanding Main Title Design" at the Emmys this Year?

by Nathaniel R

105 shows, that's what. This is a peculiar obsession of ours because, apart from the handsome site Art of the Title, it gets precious little attention, interest, or coverage online. The awards aren't given out on air and sometimes they make terrible mistakes as to what's nominated or excluded (same as it ever was, in any category). Nevertheless we'd argue that title design is important, not just in the soulless connotations of "branding" but in its soulful counterpart "identity". A show's title sequence gives you just that (if it's good), setting the tone. We curse Netflix for letting you skip past opening titles if you're bingeing. To our way of thinking if you won't sit through the opening titles, you don't deserve the show...

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Pfeiffer, '65

We've been seeing this picture of La Pfeiffer our entire lives, whenever any magazine ran a profile that included pre-pfame pfotos. Now we have a brief story behind it -- another reminder that Michelle Pfeiffer's Instagram is the best unexpected actressexual gift of 2019. She writes:

Attitude much? My 1965 Mustang was stolen and I had just gotten it back. My dad thought it was a good time for a photo. NOT.

A Preview of BAM Cinema Fest

by Murtada Elfadl

The Farewell

This Wednesday June 12th marks the start of the 11 day BAMCinemaFest at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It's a local New York summer mainstay that highlights mostly emerging filmmakers. Some of the films in the lineup have premiered earlier this year at Sundance like the opening night film; Lulu Wang’s The Farewell. Some at last year’s Venice; Rick Alverson’s psychodrama The Mountain. However the festival has its share of world premiers. Let’s preview some of the eclectic films that Brooklynites will enjoy over the next two weeks...

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