IF you’re the kind of grownup who enjoys smart, well-drawn children’s novels, you might be as excited as I am to hear the Brian Selznick has a new novel, Wonderstruck, coming in September.I met Selznick a few years back on the publication of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, his nearly wordless book about an orphan hiding out in a Parisian train station. (I have another, more recent connection with … [Read more...]
Taxi Driver It Is
THOUGH I am a Raging Bull man myself, happy to see Taxi Driver take the win in my Favorite Scorsese Film poll.At least one voter was frustrated he could not vote for The Last Waltz, the director's swan song for The Band and a whole generation of rock, blues and folk musicians. I love that film as well -- in fact the complaining voter took me to see it when I was 10 years old at the Brattle theater … [Read more...]
Contemporary Classical Music and "Shutter Island"
Mostly, Martin Scorserse is associated with rock 'n' roll, especially the early Rolling Stones and Phil Spector. But he's turned out one of the best contemporary-classical soundtracks in history with the music for Shutter Island.A lot of people, some of them licensed film critics, really didn't like Scorsese's new film, which stars Leo Di Caprio investigating a home for the criminally insane swept … [Read more...]
Martin Scorsese vs. "Shutter Island"
THIS winter in LA it has been raining, as we used to say in high school, like a mofo, and every times the heavens open I think of the upcoming Martin Scorsese film, Shutter Island. The film, which opens on Friday the 19th, is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane that is so gripping, so full of twists and turns, that it almost ruined a vacation last summer since I kept retreating to the basement to … [Read more...]