Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 20
October 29, 2023
Writer’s Desk: You Don’t Have to Choose Between Serious and Silly
Besides being among the more common decorations of dorm rooms for a certain brand of college student, the novels of Tom Robbins occupy an odd space in the American fiction landscape. They are big and broad comedic canvases, sweeping up oddball characters in goofball plots stippled with sharp bursts of screwball dialogue. Think of him …
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October 27, 2023
Screening Room: ‘Pain Hustlers’
My review of the new movie Pain Hustlers is at Slant: David Yates’s Pain Hustlers puffs itself up as a dynamic epic about the American dream but ends up glorifying some truly grotesque characters. Wells Tower’s script pulls loosely from Evan Hughes’s book about how executives at pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics were convicted in 2019 of conspiring …
October 22, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Leave Something Worthwhile Behind
The late Clive James was a cultural student of multivarious appetites and great enthusiasms. All the great critics are (avoid the ones with too narrow an idea of what is good or worthwhile; they don’t enjoy what they do). He could also turn a mean phrase. For instance: My idea of a fine wine was …
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October 18, 2023
Screening Room: ‘The Pigeon Tunnel’
My review of Errol Morris’ new documentary about master spy novelist and professional faker John le Carré, The Pigeon Tunnel, which premieres on Apple TV this Friday, is at PopMatters: A run-of-the-mill con artist steals from you with a clever ruse or when you look the other way. The top-notch con artist can look you …
October 15, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Get to the Next Page
Alan Dean Foster, one of the most prolific wordsmiths of all time, does not waste a lot of time. He cannot, having written dozens of books, including many novelizations (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.). That is why Foster’s advice for new writers is eminently functional: Read everything you can in your favored genre, including older …
October 8, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Follow Your Inspiration
According to Illumination and Night Glare: the Unfinished Autobiography of Carson McCullers, the author frequently faced bouts of terror that she would never write again. These were the “night glares.” McCullers relied on small bits of inspiration to juice her writing. As writers know, these usually come out of nowhere and can seem like nothing. …
October 6, 2023
TV Room: 10 Best ‘Community’ Episodes
So what were the ten best episodes of Community? Glad you asked! I made a stab at ranking them for Slant: The most common criticism levied against NBC’s Community during its chaotic and generally acclaimed six-season run was that it was all snark and no heart. It’s a complaint that’s been levied at many self-aware, pop culture-literate …
October 5, 2023
Screening Room: ‘The Burial’
My review of The Burial, which opens tomorrow, is at Slant: There’s a story of thrillingly righteous indignation sitting at the core of Maggie Betts’s The Burial. This flashy legal melodrama is fitfully stirring but too flabby to deliver the walloping blow that it needs. The high points are delivered primarily by Jamie Foxx and Tommy …
October 4, 2023
Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Six Seasons and a Movie’ is on Sale!
So it’s official, the latest book that I threw words at is in bookstores and on all your better Internet-y sites. Co-written with my Monty Python FAQ fellow travelers, Six Seasons and a Movie: How Community Broke Television is an episode-by-episode trawl through one of the greatest sitcoms too many people have never heard of. …
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October 3, 2023
Screening Room: ‘El Conde’ Dilutes the Horror of Pinochet
The new movie from Pablo Larrain (Ema, Spencer) has a decidedly different take on the horrors perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet during his reign of power in Chile. My review is at PopMatters: El Conde, an alternately ambitious and maddening attempt to reckon with one of the 20th century’s ugliest villains, does not take Pinochet at …
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