You Gotta Act: The Extreme Sincerity of Meredith Hagner
“Here’s to hoping that Meredith Hagner will continue to make us laugh while taking her ludicrous characters seriously for many more years, just like Marilyn Monroe did before her.”
You Gotta Act: John Cusack’s Passionate and Pragmatic Approach to His Craft
“Looking at Cusack’s entire body of work helps one realise that, with age and experience, he has built an increasingly complex and multifaceted persona, playing off his image in order to counter expectations and, probably, to remain excited by his job.”
“Well, Childhood’s Over” – Claiming Adulthood with Some Help from Greta Gerwig
An Essay by Marshall Shaffer
Oak Cliff Film Festival Review: Alex Ross Perry’s ‘Golden Exits’
“In ‘Golden Exits,’ the miserable find company in the spaces they inhabit. Nothing is shared; nothing is collective.”
Vague Visages Is FilmStruck: Bill Arceneaux on Woody Allen’s ‘Bananas’
“Maybe the best way to counter ridiculousness is with ridiculousness.”
‘Stardust Memories’: Woody Allen’s Comic Catharsis
“He may be suggesting that emotional and social anxiety is widespread and prevalent, but the key distinction is that not everyone can translate these uncertainties into comedy gold.”
Biography and Authenticity in the American New Wave
“The lucidity and frankness with which this new wave of filmmakers can dissect their own lives speaks volumes to their talents, boding well for their efforts to come.”
What I Learned from Martin Scorsese’s ‘Life Lessons’
“Martin Scorsese’s ‘Life Lessons’ benefits more from analysis as a self-standing artistic expression than as a counterpoint to the other installments of ‘New York Stories.'”
Neaux Reel Idea: The Southern Sage
Neaux Reel Idea is a Vague Visages column by Bill Arceneaux, in which he explores the cinema of his native New Orleans.
Fall TV Review: “Marry Me” (NBC)
Q.V. Hough reviews the new NBC comedy.