There's a Place for Spielberg's West Side Story, Somehow, Somewhere

Encouraging All to See Spielberg's West Side Story in a theater before it's too late. 

I first saw it when I was in 8th grade. It was in Mr. Moore's Music Appreciation class. And boy! Did I appreciate it. It made me love musicals...forever. I had seen the Disney musicals of the era. I had even seen Grease, an okay musical, one that loses steam early and struggles to land much after "Greased Lightning." But West Side Story...it hit different. It was for me then. I believed in the magic of love. The music of Leonard Bernstein enlivened by Stephen Sondheim's words, metaphors, daggers through the heart of a hopeful boy that would last forever. 

Who Stole the American Dream? The Banking Bourgeoisie and Hell or High Water

A Critical Essay on the 2016 film Hell or High Water

The Speakeasies (or The Year in Movies according to Yours Truly) 2019

The best of 2019 in movies, according to yours truly.

Oscar 2020: The Wills, the Shoulds, and the Should Have Beens

In which I tell you what I think will happen on Oscar night (and what they got and will get wrong.)

Devouring the Oscars -- Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood for Best Picture

In which I make the case for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood for Best Picture.