How Hollywood Became the McDonald’s of Movies
The Big Picture has a broad yet unmistakable viewpoint regarding the artistic fallout of the trends it chronicles, and that outlook is despairing.
The Big Picture has a broad yet unmistakable viewpoint regarding the artistic fallout of the trends it chronicles, and that outlook is despairing.
In her twenties, Florence Gould danced in the Folies Bergere. In her thirties, she dazzled her guests in sequined pajamas designed for her by Coco Chanel. In her forties, during WWII, she served as a collaboration grande horizontale for high-ranking Nazis in Paris. In her fifties, as the war ended,…
The Angola Rodeo survives when other prison rodeos have closed because, of all places in America, Angola is the perfect stage.
As our historical record evolves from letters written in quill and ink to status updates, what we will mourn remains to be seen.
Rejoice, we are told: Television has never been better. And all that is old becomes new again.
“When I was 25, I walked in on my grandma’s killer. She was already dead. Her breasts were cut off. He was still on top of her, raping her, when he heard me come in that night. He tried to get away, but I wrestled him to the ground. I…
The producers of the Epix TV series Get Shorty, about (small) organized crime going to Hollywood for new opportunities, say it is merely “influenced by” the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name. They even suggest that a security guard at the studio in the…
As a mother, each month I write a letter to my almost 2-year-old daughter Lucinda, a practice I began nine months before her arrival. I am terrible at keeping her baby book up to date, but I am very good at writing Luci her monthly letter. I learned this letter-writing…
With the second season of the new Get Shorty TV series now available, I wanted to revisit Elmore Leonard’s 1990 novel (previous post) and the 1995 movie of the same name. What happens when a narrative spine is used to make a new animal? In…
“When I was eighteen, my boyfriend figured it would be a good idea for me to start dancing in a strip club. We were both strung out on cocaine, so I said yes. I had no choice, anyway. He beat me half dead when I ran out on him, and…