Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 79
February 3, 2019
Writer’s Desk: We Do Language
For this week’s installment, we’re providing not so much advice as a reminder of what we do when we write. In 1993, Toni Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In her acceptance speech, she said this: Word-work is sublime … because it is generative; it makes meaning that secures our difference, our human …
February 1, 2019
Screening Room: Jackie Chan’s ‘Police Story’
Jackie Chan cemented his hold on the Asian box office with the launch of his high-kicking cop movie series in 1985. Starting today, Police Story and Police Story 2 are getting a limited theatrical re-release in advance of the launch of their remastered editions in the Criterion Collection. My review is at PopMatters: Sporting the same shaggy mop of …
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January 30, 2019
Screening Room: ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’
For anybody who is keeping track, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part opens wide next week. My review is at Slant: Instead of the inside-out lampooning of the type of monomaniacal industrialized chirpiness epitomized by the first film’s earwig theme song “Everything Is Awesome,” the mood is now mock-dystopian, with Bricksburg now known as Apocalypseburg. There’s …
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January 27, 2019
Writer’s Desk: It Beats Working
We lost the great Russell Baker this week. An easygoing witticism factory who mined a seam of everyday observational humor without playing to the lowest common denominator, Baker once provided what might be the greatest reason of all to become a writer. From his memoir, Growing Up: At this time I had decided the only …
January 24, 2019
Screening Room: ‘Monsters’
My essay “Monsters Built the Mexico Wall Trump Never Will” was published at Eyes Wide Open: What kind of movie will best describe the Trump presidency for future generations? Will it be high-minded drama replete with sarcastic asides, soaring speeches, and a grand view of the arc of history ala Aaron Sorkin? Maybe trashy overkill gutter-punk …
January 20, 2019
Writer’s Desk: Drinking vs. Yoga
As a general rule, writers enjoy drinking. According to Katie Herzog in The Stranger, besides the role models of Dorothy Parker, et al, there’s one very good reason for this: …writing is easy. Have you ever tried mining coal with a hangover? Or changing a bedpan? How about convincing 30 kindergarteners that it’s time to take a …
January 15, 2019
Screening Room: ‘Fyre’
Fyre was supposed to be the great music festival of 2017. Instead it turned into a social media schadenfreude disaster. Now Chris Smith (of American Movie fame) made a documentary out of it. Sometimes we get lucky that way. Fyre opens in limited release and will be available on Netflix this Friday. My review is at Slant: …
January 13, 2019
Writer’s Desk: Whatever Works
Successful writers have their preferred tools. A kind of pencil. Style of desk. The best music to run in the background. Some writers looking for ways to get ahead in the game often go looking for answers in those habits. They will be frustrated, because whatever works for one writer likely will be dead on …
January 12, 2019
Screening Room: ‘Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin’
My review of the new documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin was published at PopMatters: Hard times are coming,” author Ursula K. Le Guin said in her fiery 2014 speech accepting the National Book Foundation award. Her tone was somehow somber, yet also chipper, as though she had already acknowledged the worst and now was girding for battle. …
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January 6, 2019
Writer’s Desk: Be Nice to Your Editor
Matt Zoller Seitz is one of our greatest critics. That means he doesn’t just have a vivid viewpoint on movies but that he’s first and foremost a lucid, enjoyable, and thoughtful writer. In a piece he published on RogerEbert.com a few years back that listed some great advice for young critics just starting out—including “Just …
