The timing is good for my father’s Nina Simone theme week because it happens to coincide with my parents’ 53rd wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!
For today’s SOTD, I chose Simone’s most famous love song, ‘I Loves You Porgy’ from the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. She initially recorded the song for her 1958 debut album, Little Girl Blue, though today’s version is a live performance from 1960.
My father recently sent me a link to today’s SOTD accompanied by a single statment: “for your consideration.” Well, I can’t say no to my dad!
I replied that, given Ms. Simone’s stature and the almost complete absence of her songs on my blog, a theme week might be in order. He agreed, and promptly fired off four more potential song choices.
One of those was his favorite, ‘Feeling Good,’ which was written about here by guest blogger Madison as the accompaniment to a scene from the show Legion.
Few films in recent years have received as much lavish praise as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma. A compilation of critics’ top ten lists has it in the #1 spot with a 200-point lead over the next title. It has been repeatedly called a masterpiece and even, by more than a few writers, one of the greatest films ever made.
Can any movie possibly be worthy of all that hype? Can Roma live up to those expectations?
My answer: It doesn’t, until it does. And then it somehow surpasses them.
The final segment of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, to paraphrase Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, really ties the film together.
‘The Mortal Remains’ depicts a quintet of passengers riding in a stagecoach to a mysterious hotel. Two of the passengers, the Englishman and the Irishman, are revealed to be bounty hunters (or “harvesters of souls,” as they put it) while the other three are a trapper, a gambler and an upright religious sort. Each offers a monologue on, essentially, the meaning of life.
The penultimate segment of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, titled ‘The Gal Who Got Rattled,’ is the film’s longest. In fact, I could see this one being effectively fleshed out to feature length had the Coen Brothers wanted to go in that direction.
Starring Zoe Kazan as Alice Longabaugh, a young woman following the Oregon Trail to the vague promise of an arranged marriage, and Bill Heck as Billy Knapp, one of the cowboys charged with escorting the caravan, this is one of the most earnestly romantic stories the Coens have ever told.
Meet Me In Montauk 