By way of Roger Ebert, we learn of Matthew Dessem, a man with a goal; to watch every single movie in the Criterion Collection, and write about them.
Understand that Dessem’s essays are advanced and ambitious. These aren’t three-paragraph plot summaries. He watches the extras, reads the literature, provides detailed analysis, find still photos and grabs individual shots from a computer screen.
I had a chance to read some of the essays on Dessem’s site, and I agree with Roger; these are serious essays, not hack work.
Best quote from the article:
“My absolute favorite commentary track on any Criterion title so far,” he said, “is the one with NASA consultant Dr. Joe Allen and asteroid consultant Ivan Bekey (as well as the cinematographer, Joe Schwartzman) talking about ‘Armageddon.’ It’s basically two-and-a-half hours of these guys saying, over and over again, ‘We told Michael Bay that this scene was completely scientifically inaccurate, but he went ahead and did it anyway’.”
If you’re going to read just one of Dessem’s reviews, I recommend the Armageddon one. The movie’s an easy target, but I think he does a good job of trying to engage with it, while at the same time not neglecting the movie’s many stupid moments.
Yesterday’s WP had a nice article about Betsey Apple, wife of the late NYT writer and bon vivant R.W. Apple. She’s preparing to auction off his wine collection:
And yes, Betsey says, they all belonged to her husband and not to his employer, an important distinction given that he was a legendary expense account artist who may or may not have buried a fur coat on one of his expense reports when he was posted in Moscow.
and also promoting his new book
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the legendary Mr. Apple, Calvin Trillin’s New Yorker profile is available online, and well worth reading.