While 2008 was defined by enthusiastic consistency, 2009 would be far more erratic (especially later, when I extended my work across multiple platforms). For the first couple months I posted infrequently before trying to make up for lost time in March and then burning out. Still, my initial relaxed approach allowed for some whimsical detours and my eventual rapid pace inspired several concentrated explorations; through various lens, I was able to take stock of this particular, precarious moment (both personal and socio-cultural) while partaking in other, very particular moments in history, both recent and distant.
Subjects include a report from the scene of Obama's inauguration (and the surrounding adventure), my discovery of mumblecore, my last David Lynch piece for five years, first forays into The Wind in the Willows, and an ultimately failed attempt to cover Cecil B. DeMille the way I'd covered D.W. Griffith a few months earlier.
Funny Ha Ha is my highlight for this period; the unexpected gem inspired a review that reflected not just on the film but the passage of time (even more poignant in retrospect) and in the following comments I shared my thoughts on the mumblecore titles that followed in its wake.
JANUARY
Plans for 2009 - many of which would change, of course
How Charlie Brown celebrates Christmas, twenty-five years apart - and what this says about the evolution of entertainment, Peanuts, and Charles Schulz personally
Through the darkness of future past, the cyborg longs to kill...
Resolutions for the new year (I followed up twelve months later to see how I'd done)
I took an overnight bus to D.C. to witness history, and wrote about the presidential inauguration the following day
Reviewing Jean-Luc Godard for the first time on my site, discussing one of his first forays into politics (and of course, the beginning of his collaboration with Anna Karina)
An obscure puzzle using YouTube clips: the first hint of what would become one of my most extensively-covered subjects
Tribute to John Updike after he passed away
FEBRUARY
Of all the Busby Berkeley films, this one might work the best as a standalone comedy (not that you'd want to lose the musical numbers)
Answering my YT puzzle from earlier - those were all clips of actors from the Rankin-Bass Wind in the Willows cartoon
Reviewing the Rankin-Bass adaptation from a VHS tape recorded off ABC when I was little kid
I finally recorded my thoughts on Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut long after watching it
Sharing an essay written in 2005 about two oft-ignored but absolutely key chapters of The Wind in the Willows
MARCH
Kicking off a faster pace with this French children's classic
A list of twenty favorite actors, with some clips scattered throughout
Two all-time favorite rock performance docs, in very different styles - The Who vs. Talking Heads, many shows vs. one concert
Capsule on the newly-minted Best Picture winner
Capsules on Valkyrie, Taken, and The Spirit - the last is only two lines long (I felt that was generous)
Gordon Willis' cinematography goes a long way toward convincing us this footage is the real artifact
Several months after reviewing 2046, I circled back to its predecessor
Transcribing the amazing history of an amazing film (from text presented as a slide show on the disc)
Links to a couple great Wind in the Willows essays I found online
Vincente Minnelli's trashier, international re-invention of The Bad and the Beautiful?
Childhood, adolescence, and youth against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War
A collection of Lynch's (mostly) early work - the last time I reviewed his films for half a decade
Over a decade before Snow White, Lotte Reiniger made a dazzling animated feature
My attempt to kick off a second leg of my director series didn't go very far but did yield a couple reviews of interesting DeMille silents
Re-visited this film a dozen years after it's release and...wow, was it a stinker
My last DeMille for the soon-to-be-abandonded director series
In my exploration of zeroes lo-fi I was REALLY taken with this one, not just a curio but a truly great film (capsules of all the other mumblecore I watched that spring were featured in the comments section below)
Highlights of March 2009, the last time I would present a monthly round-up
(I covered this period on Episode 4 of my Patreon podcast)
Next: Covers, Characters, and Wonders (April - June 2009)
(in which I slow down and post a few big, popular lists)
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Previous: Tying Up Loose Ends (November - December 2008)
(in which I slow down and post a few big, popular lists)
•
Previous: Tying Up Loose Ends (November - December 2008)
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