Posted on November 19, 2009 at 10:00 am
My dear friend and fellow critic Tim Gordon starts a new weekly podcast about the movies tonight. He always has something interesting to say and it is always fun to listen to him say it, so be sure to tune in.
Posted on July 22, 2009 at 3:58 pm
My dear friend and fellow critic Tim Gordon always has something interesting to say about movies. I love to talk to him after screenings about what we’ve just seen and how it compares to some of our favorites (and least favorites).
He has posted his list of 21 top romantic movies and it has some great choices, mixing popular classics like “Titantic,” “Love Actually,” and “Bull Durham” with neglected gems like “Love and Basketball” and “Jason’s Lyric.” Every one on the list is well worth seeing — and sharing with someone you love.
Posted on May 10, 2009 at 12:37 pm
My friend Tim Gordon salutes five of of the all-time great movie mothers on his blog, FilmGordon. I was especially glad to see that he mentioned “Claudine,” a neglected gem that is very dear to my heart. I love that bath scene! The glorious Diana Sands was supposed to have the title role but she died tragically and was replaced by Diahann Carroll, who was thought to be too glamorous for the role of a woman from the projects. But her performance was superb, winning her an Oscar nomination.
And Cinematical’s list of the “most awesomest” movie moms reminds us that some mother mothers are pretty good in a fight, some with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Linda Hamilton in “Terminator 2” and Holy Hunter as Elastigirl in “The Incredibles” are two more of my favorites and I was glad to see them on this list.
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 11:53 am
One of the awards announcements I most look forward to each year is the selections of the Black Reel Awards, given out by the Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film, a nonprofit organization with a mission to target, identify and prepare candidates who will represent the next generation of filmmakers and potential film executives that will be able to provide a different sensibility to the stories currently told onscreen. I am so pleased to see this acknowledgment of some of the best film-makers and performers in movies today and honored to have been one of the judges.
2008 Black Reel Awards Winners
Best Film – Cadillac Records/TriStar Pictures
Best Actor – Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actress – Queen Latifah (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Supporting Actor – Jeffrey Wright (Cadillac Records)
Best Supporting Actress – Viola Davis (Doubt)
Best Director – Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted – Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Secret Life of Bees)
Best Breakthrough Performance – Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Ensemble – Cadillac Records/TriStar Pictures
Best Soundtrack – Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Posted on January 2, 2008 at 2:49 pm
It is a shame that Will Smith’s reasonable comments have been taken out of context and he has been forced to apologize.
Here is what he said:
Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good’. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming. I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I’m looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic.
I hope he still thinks so. What he was saying is that even people who inflict great evil on the world usually believe that what they are doing is right. Recognizing that is an essential element of understanding the nature of evil and how to prevent it. No one who understood Smith’s point — or who has ever spent five minutes observing his behavior — could imagine he was in any way endorsing Hitler’s actions. Tim Gordon, as usual, has it right: “this is a situation where an actor gave an opinion and the interviewer twisted the context only after he received an answer that left room for further interpretation.”
