Salon.com > Friday Night Seitz http://www.salon.com Sun, 19 May 2013 09:17:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Movies for a desert island http://www.salon.com/2012/01/07/movies_for_a_desert_island/ http://www.salon.com/2012/01/07/movies_for_a_desert_island/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=11927041 You don't need much of a setup for this one: It's a Desert Island List of visual media that I'd like to have with me if I were shipwrecked.

Here are the rules:

1. This list is composed solely of motion pictures and TV shows. Music, books, paintings and other media are not included. It is assumed that you'll have an indestructible DVD player with a solar-recharging power source, so let's not get bogged down in refrigerator logic, mm'kay?

2. You can list 10 feature films, one short and a single, self-contained season of a TV series.

3. NO CHEATING. Every slot on the list must be claimed by a self-contained unit of media. You can put all 15 hours of "Berlin Alexanderplatz" on the list because it's considered one long film (or if you saw it in Germany, a TV miniseries), but you can't put "The Godfather" and "The Godfather, Part II" in the same slot because "it counts as one long film" (it doesn't!). You can't put 10 seasons of "I Love Lucy" on their, either, or "'Twin Peaks' up through the part in Season 2 where we finally find out who killed Laura Palmer." Part of the fun of this exercise is figuring out what you think you can watch over and over, and what you can live without. Stick to the parameters, otherwise we'll have human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, and mass hysteria.

I've listed my short film pick and my TV season first, followed by a list of 10 theatrical features in alphabetical order. Please add your own picks to the Letters section; I want to see what you'd put in your suitcase.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/01/07/movies_for_a_desert_island/feed/ 200 2011′s best TV episodes http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/2011s_best_tv_episodes/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/2011s_best_tv_episodes/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10760881 This is the top half of my year-end list of the 20 best individual episodes of scripted TV dramas and comedies. This slide show covers items 10 through 1. To read 20 through 11, which ran last week, click here.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/31/2011s_best_tv_episodes/feed/ 21 TV’s best episodes in 2011 http://www.salon.com/2011/12/24/tvs_best_episodes_in_2011/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/24/tvs_best_episodes_in_2011/#comments Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10760861 If most sports is a game of inches, most TV is a game of episodes. That's why, at year's end, I always feel a bit weird compiling a list of the year's best series: Even a great series can have a bad episode, or a string of them, and even inconsistent or mostly mediocre series can produce memorable, even great installments.

Back in 2005, when I was a TV critic for the Newark Star-Ledger, I started publishing a yearly list of the best individual episodes of scripted TV shows. I'm continuing that tradition here at Salon with a citation of my 20 favorite episodes of scripted comedies and dramas.

For suspense's sake, we're breaking my 2011 list into two installments. This week's covers items 20 through 11 on my list; next Friday we'll count down the top 10.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/24/tvs_best_episodes_in_2011/feed/ 8 The best TV shows of the year http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/the_best_tv_shows_of_the_year/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/the_best_tv_shows_of_the_year/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10477821 We're living in some kind of new Golden Age of scripted TV, and this year's best offerings were amazing. I decided to be rigorous and restrict myself to just 10 entries. It wasn't easy.

These 10 picks represent what I think were the most creative and consistently satisfying scripted comedies and dramas that aired on American TV during 2011. If I'd expanded the list to account for shows that were somewhat more erratic but that produced terrific individual episodes, this list would have had 30 or maybe even 40 titles on it. If anybody's curious, I may post the expanded list in the comments section.

You may see some of the runners-up cited next week, when I will present a slide show honoring the best individual episodes of scripted series. There might be an article listing the best nonfiction programs as well.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/17/the_best_tv_shows_of_the_year/feed/ 53 Secret agenda: 20 classic spy movies http://www.salon.com/2011/12/10/secret_agenda_20_classic_spy_movies/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/10/secret_agenda_20_classic_spy_movies/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10306585 There's one big problem with compiling a list of great spy movies: How exactly do you define a "spy movie"? Do the spies have to be employed by a government agency? Does the action have to be international, or can it be domestic, even local? Do the characters have to engage in deception and/or information-gathering, or can they mainly be assassins, like James Bond or Jason Bourne? Is the "assassin film" its own separate genre? If movie characters have nothing to do with international politics but engage in surveillance and deception and other classic spy activities, can their story be grouped within the "spy movie" category?

James Bond wouldn't spend five seconds contemplating any of that. He'd be too busy quaffing martinis with a diplomat's wife and telling a dealer to pass the shoe. He's represented on this list of great spy movies, along with grittier, more mundane depictions of espionage, deceit and international mayhem. I included a couple of TV programs as well as movies, because the genre's emphasis on character and atmosphere makes it especially well-suited to the small screen.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/10/secret_agenda_20_classic_spy_movies/feed/ 38 Martin Scorsese’s greatest movies http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/martin_scorseses_greatest_movies/ http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/martin_scorseses_greatest_movies/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10282822 This has been quite a year for 60-something American filmmakers. Terrence Malick, who started directing in 1973, created the year's most divisive conversation piece with "The Tree of Life."  Woody Allen, who started directing in 1966, had his biggest financial success with "Midnight in Paris." Steven Spielberg, who directed his first feature-length movie 40 years ago, has two blockbusters coming out this month, "The Adventures of Tintin" and "War Horse." And Martin Scorsese, who made his directorial debut in 1966, has had another success with "Hugo," a film history-conscious 3-D art film for kids that finished second to "The Muppets" at the box office during its opening weekend and was just named film of the year by the National Board of Review. It's as good a time as any for a Best of Scorsese list -- as if I really need an excuse!

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/12/03/martin_scorseses_greatest_movies/feed/ 66 The Muppets’ greatest hits http://www.salon.com/2011/11/26/the_muppets_greatest_hits/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/26/the_muppets_greatest_hits/#comments Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10251913 After Jim Henson's death, the Muppet troupe spent a couple of decades wandering the pop culture wilderness, trying but mostly failing to get in touch with the magic that once fueled their popularity. They got a big step closer two winters ago, when "Muppet Bohemian Rhapsody," their first hit viral video, debuted on YouTube. This week they've got their first big-screen hit in almost three decades, "The Muppets," written by and co-starring comic actor and Henson obsessive Jason Segel. "It bumbles along episodically from one thing to the next -- hey-ho! -- and captures the spirit of Henson's 'Muppet Show' admirably," writes my colleague Andrew O'Hehir.

The key to their success is the same one that fueled the success of the classic Warner Bros. characters and Matt Groening's "The Simpsons": the ability to appeal to several age groups at once. Kids laugh at the pratfalls and silly voices. Adults chuckle at the literary references, pop culture in-jokes, puns and innuendo coded just cleverly enough to go over children's heads.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/26/the_muppets_greatest_hits/feed/ 26 Woody Allen’s greatest films http://www.salon.com/2011/11/19/woody_allens_greatest_films/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/19/woody_allens_greatest_films/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10234105 Woody Allen, whose career will be celebrated next week by PBS' documentary series "American Masters," has been making films for so long that it's a wonder the program didn't profile him sooner. With 47 directing credits, 68 screenwriting credits, and let's-not-even-start-totaling his Oscar wins and nominations, he's a gray-haired machine who gets more done in a decade than most artists accomplish in a lifetime.

When I decided to pick my favorite Allen films for a slide show, I thought it would be easy. After all, he tells "American Masters" that he's pursued a quantity-over-quality strategy, making as many pictures as he can and hoping his batting average stays solid over time. Filtering out the really horrible titles wasn't tough -- so long, "Curse of the Jade Scorpion," "Celebrity" and "Hollywood Ending."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/19/woody_allens_greatest_films/feed/ 112 John Williams’ greatest hits http://www.salon.com/2011/11/12/john_williams_greatest_hits/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/12/john_williams_greatest_hits/#comments Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10198206 A couple of weeks ago, my young son asked me if I had "any more DVDs of John Williams movies." It took me a second to register what he meant by this. He thought that the prolific Hollywood composer was actually the director of some of his favorite movies, a list that at this point consists entirely of the fantasy, science fiction and adventure films that thrilled me and his older sister as kids and kids-at-heart: "E.T.," "Jaws" and "Close Encounters," the "Jurassic Park" and "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" and Indiana Jones pictures, and many others. I started to explain that Williams was not actually a filmmaker. But then the truth of his assumption hit me: In a sense, Williams is the unnamed co-author of a good many of the films he's scored. His galloping, wondrous tone promises a particular type of entertainment, and is so recognizable that we can't think of certain blockbusters without hearing their themes in our heads.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/12/john_williams_greatest_hits/feed/ 32 Mockumentaries that go to 11 http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/mockumentaries_that_go_to_11/ http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/mockumentaries_that_go_to_11/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10161795 "I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn't believe anything." Thus spake David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Spinal Tap. I hope you share his attitude toward the printed word, because you are about to read my list of essential mockumentaries.

The mockumentary is fiction in a nonfiction wrapper. It's exemplified by the movie that birthed the above-quoted nitwit rocker, 1984's "This Is Spinal Tap." Rob Reiner's semi-improvised comedy probably would have earned a spot on my list anyhow, but the approach of Nigel Tufnel Day -- 11/11/11 -- made it mandatory. My other 10 picks are meant to convey the diversity of this hybrid format, which encompasses everything from goofy slapstick and musical comedy to deadpan Americana and white-knuckle horror. Please add your own favorites in the Letters section. And if you're going to offer a list, make sure it goes to 11.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/11/04/mockumentaries_that_go_to_11/feed/ 53 The Simpsons save Halloween, again http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10153365 "The Simpsons" airs its latest installment of "Treehouse of Horror" this Sunday -- a long-standing tradition that lets an already formally daring cartoon show let its imagination run wild. The "Treehouse" segments have been the show's most reliably inventive during its second decade; while composing this list of my personal favorite segments (not entire episodes) I was pleasantly surprised by how many installments from the later years ended up claiming slots.

What else is there to say? Oh, right: If you're wondering where "Dial Z for Zombies" is, it's No. 11, which means it's not on here. I love it -- especially the immortal line "Is this the end of Zombie Shakespeare?" -- but I like these just a little bit more. List your own favorites in the Letters section. To quote Marge in "The Shinning," go crazy.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/28/the_simpsons_save_halloween_again/feed/ 25 Film criticism 101: The essential library http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/film_criticism_101_the_essential_library/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/film_criticism_101_the_essential_library/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10134411 This is not a list of the greatest books of film criticism, or film history, or film culture, or anything of the sort. It is simply my personal "short stack" -- a list of the 14 film books -- listed on 13 slides, with one strategic pairing -- that I have read or thought about more often than any others. Some are very old, others were published recently; all meant something to me as a critic and a person. The list is personal and meant to be open-ended, incomplete. It is only the beginning of a much larger list that I hope will be filled out by you in the Letters section.

What books of film criticism or film history have meant the most to you?

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/film_criticism_101_the_essential_library/feed/ 29 Slide show: 10 great modern musicals http://www.salon.com/2011/10/15/slide_show_10_great_modern_musicals/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/15/slide_show_10_great_modern_musicals/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10114595 You might know that a remake of 1984's "Footloose," directed by Craig Brewer ("Hustle and Flow"), opens today. I've been intrigued by the advance coverage that casually describes the original movie as "a musical," because by classical Hollywood definitions, it really isn't one. It's a youth drama that happens to contain a lot of music, and the music is always "justified" in some way. Nobody just opens up their mouth and starts singing or dancing to the accompaniment of an off-screen orchestra or band; the songs either issue from an on-screen source, or else they're treated as the background track for a montage.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/15/slide_show_10_great_modern_musicals/feed/ 39 Great performances by child actors http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/the_greatest_performances_by_child_actors/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/the_greatest_performances_by_child_actors/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=10105251 Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life," which arrives on DVD next week, inspired divided reactions, but almost everyone agreed that it featured outstanding performances by child actors -- particularly Hunter McCracken as the preadolescent version of the film's protagonist (Sean Penn).  McCracken, who had never acted in a movie before, is so unaffected that his performance seems less like a construct than a natural event, captured on film along with the film's sunrises, waterfalls and volcanic eruptions. It's the latest entry of a long list of great performances by child actors, the subject of tonight's slide show.

Before we start, let's get some caveats out of the way. First, because great acting is subjective anyhow, and great acting by children even more so, this is not an attempt to list the greatest child performances of all time, nor is it trying to be comprehensive. I didn't "forget" to list anybody, and if one of your favorites didn't make it on here, it just means that for whatever reason it didn't speak to me as strongly as the ones I did cite.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/07/the_greatest_performances_by_child_actors/feed/ 89 The underacting hall of fame http://www.salon.com/2011/10/01/underacting_hall_of_fame/ http://www.salon.com/2011/10/01/underacting_hall_of_fame/#comments Sat, 01 Oct 2011 05:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=10099275 Last week's slide show, "The Overacting Hall of Fame," celebrated excess. This follow-up honors the art of understatement, citing 10 performers who've proven that less can be more.

I'd go into more detail here about the art of underacting, but that would be contrary to the spirit of the enterprise, now, wouldn't it? Better to just get on with it.

I think you know good underacting when you see it, and I hope you'll list your own nominees for the Underacting Hall of Fame in the Letters section.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/10/01/underacting_hall_of_fame/feed/ 30 The overacting hall of fame http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/friday_night_seitz_overacting/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/friday_night_seitz_overacting/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2011/09/23/friday_night_seitz_overacting I am writing ... this introduction ... in the STYLE ... of the PERFORMANCES ... of one Mr. Al Pacino, who sometime around 1989 or so left his ... minimalist ... style behind and embraced a BIG, BIG, BIIIIIIIIG style, with lots of ... seemingly ... random ... pauses and unexpected ... emphases ... and SHOUTING!!!! SHOUTING!!! SHOUTING, DO YOU HEAR???

Sorry. Once you start imitating late Pacino it's hard to stop. He's a charter inductee in the Overacting Hall of Fame -- a hall of legends whose ranks will surely grow once you add your own favorites to the Letters section.

I need to offer a few words of explanation before we cut the ribbon and welcome readers into the hall. First, although it might seem hard to believe, I don't intend the word "overacting" as an automatic pejorative. I'm treating it as a descriptive, even scientific term: a performance in which the actor does much more than was probably necessary to get the point across. Sometimes overacting is sheer torture, especially when the performer is problematic to start with (a couple of offenders are cited here). But oftentimes overacting is just a style choice or a matter of artistic temperament. I don't think Udo Kier or Klaus Kinski, to name just two borderline expressionistic actors, ever gave a quietly modulated performance, and Orson Welles, quite the ham, is on record saying that big performances are not necessarily bad, and that a "realistic" performance is not necessarily the same as a good one.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/23/friday_night_seitz_overacting/feed/ 104 Who would win at the alternative Emmys? http://www.salon.com/2011/09/16/friday_night_seitz_alternative_emmys/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/16/friday_night_seitz_alternative_emmys/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/2011/09/16/friday_night_seitz_alternative_emmys The 63rd Emmy Awards are scheduled for Sunday (Fox, 8 p.m./7 Central), with "Glee" star Jane Lynch hosting. As always, there will be dozens of statuettes handed out, and as always, only some of the satisfactions I get from TV will be represented. Actors, actresses, directors, writers and series get recognition, but by and large, the awards don't quite match up with the way regular viewers watch (and talk about) television.

This slide show will try to remedy that sad state of affairs. Going beyond the standard Emmy categories -- and invoking the spirit of the MTV Movie Awards but not its consistently awful taste -- we're handing out laurels in 10 categories not recognized by the Emmys: best individual episode of a drama, comedy and unscripted series; best monologue; best love scene; best comedy sequence; best cameo; best death scene; best action sequence; and best monster.

My eligibility period is the same as that of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences: June 1, 2010, through May 21, 2011. If the program did not air between those dates, I did not consider it for inclusion in this slide show. So if you're wondering why there are no awards for "Breaking Bad," that's the reason -- the same reason it's not up for any Emmys on Sunday.

I hope you'll list your own favorites in these categories -- and maybe devise some new categories! -- in the Letters section.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/16/friday_night_seitz_alternative_emmys/feed/ 11 The continued cultural impact of 9/11 http://www.salon.com/2011/09/09/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_3/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/09/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_3/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2011/09/09/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_3 American popular culture after 9/11. This installment covers Sept. 12, 2004, through the end of 2010 -- a dense, varied, fast-evolving period that saw authors, filmmakers, TV producers, graphic novelists and other creative minds dealing with the attacks head-on and in metaphor. This was by far the most difficult of the three slide shows to assemble because by the middle of the last decade, the pop culture response had become more entropic and distracted, and it was harder to find works that were only about the attacks themselves; works about the war on terror, the Afghanistan and Iraq occupations, civil liberties and government conspiracy were, in a sense, about 9/11 as well.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/09/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_3/feed/ 23 Looking back at the cultural impact of 9/11 http://www.salon.com/2011/09/02/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_2/ http://www.salon.com/2011/09/02/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_2/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/2011/09/02/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_2 The second entry in our slide show series about pop culture after 9/11 covers three years, 2002-2004. It was a dense and lively period that saw movies, TV, music, literature and comics shifting out of a numb, somewhat disconnected state and becoming more reactive, then provocative, and by 2004 -- an election year -- combative.

The first installment of this series covered work that appeared in the immediate aftermath of the attacks; because so much of it was in production before the catastrophe, any associations between the work and recent events were likely to be coincidental, maybe more in the eye of the beholder than in the work itself. Starting in mid- to late 2002, though, we started to see more books, TV series, films and music that were meant as a response to the attacks: Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising," for instance, and Spike Lee's "The 25th Hour." By the time 2004 rolled around, pop culture seemed to have moved past the "can't we all just get along and grieve together?" stage. There was more work, and more statements, of an overtly political nature -- work that was explicitly designed to provoke discussions, maybe even start fights. We've collected a few memorable examples here; we hope you'll add your own picks to the Letters section.

The final installment of this series, covering 2005-2010, will run next Friday.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2011/09/02/friday_night_seitz_9_11_part_2/feed/ 46 Remembering the cultural legacy of 9/11 http://www.salon.com/2011/08/26/friday_night_seitz_culture_of_9_11/ http://www.salon.com/2011/08/26/friday_night_seitz_culture_of_9_11/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 23:30:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/08/26/friday_night_seitz_culture_of_9_11 A thoughtful and elegant novel. A telethon of pop stars. A parade of Hollywood movies that all have two tall buildings in common.

These are but a few of the items featured in this week's slide show, which recounts the last three months of 2001 by looking at the popular culture that reflected it -- sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident.

The criteria for this week's slide show are a bit slipperier than usual, because for once we're not talking about best this or worst that; we're talking about items in a fairly narrow slice of recent American history -- the titles of individual works and events that you think about when you remember what it was like to be alive in America in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Some of the items were specifically designed to respond to the trauma -- the telethon benefiting survivors, for example, and the New York Times' "Portraits of Grief" series. Other items seemed, often mysteriously, to reflect that strange, sad time even though they had been in the works for months or years before their release.

This is a big subject, so of course we might have left off something that had an impact on you -- a book, film, television program or piece of music that you think about when you think about the weeks that followed 9/11. And that's what the Letters section is for, so join us there.

Next Friday we'll publish a bigger sequel to this slide show that covers the rest of a long, strange decade.

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