Bob here. I met Andi Cumbo-Floyd through Twitter, where she holds weekly discussion with other writers. She’s one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve interacted with, and her writing reflects that. Besides her ongoing pursuit of creative nonfiction, Andi is also a teacher and editor. She recently launched a new online community for writers, and she maintains an artistic commune of sorts on her 10-acre farm in Virginia. I’m delighted to feature her on my blog.
Author: robertjpeterson
Documentary Review: Room 237
Room 237, a delirious trip down multiple rabbit-holes of film fandom, provides me with constant assurance that no matter how obsessed I may become with a movie, there’s always someone more obsessed.
Upstream Color And The Problem of Context
I know I’ve already asked this question, but I wonder how much I would have liked Upstream Color (UC) if I hadn’t known anything about Shane Carruth?
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A Sophomore Year Burner’s Perspective on Burning Man
As a species, we crave ritual.
I just returned from Burning Man, my second trip in as many years to the famed arts and music festival based in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada. I’ve got some thoughts to share, but before I launch into them, I want to offer some …
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Movies I Love, Movies I Hate: Sam Neill
Over on Facebook, there’s a new meme going around that asks users to take an actor and name a movie (featuring said actor) that they love, like, hate, and hate to love. (Individually, of course. Not all at once.) William Bibbiani, film chief at Crave Online, was good enough to assign me Sam Neill.
Review: Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing
I wonder how I would have liked Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing if I hadn’t known anything about it?
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Man of Steel: A Spoiler-Filled Review
In this SPOILER-FILLED review, I look at Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman legend and try to place it in the larger context of moviemaking today.
Comics fans need to stop looking for their Lord of the Rings in the mind of Christopher Nolan. I’ll come back to that idea later, but first let’s look at Zack Snyder’s grim, bloody and — most important — cold new movie, Man of Steel.
Primary Colors, Oddball Casting and Character Actors (And Acting)
A random surf through the Netflix archives reminded me of one of my favorite maxims in movies: Oddball casting works.
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Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s a Hick?! Talking About Accents in Acting
My Internetting revealed to me this morning that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, aka Jaime Lannister, played one of the Deltas in Black Hawk Down. If you want to hear the multilingual actor doing a country-redneck accent, check out the video below.
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Arrested Development Season Four: An Unwieldy, Beautiful Mess
What was pitched as an artistic choice turned out to be one of necessity — and we’re all the better for it.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Here’s my favorite joke from the original run of Arrested Development: While planning a charity event, George Bluth Sr. asks his family to recommend an organization or cause to benefit. Everyone recommends something self-serving in the secret ballot, except one family member, who suggests “cervical cancer.”
“Oh, I wonder who wrote that one down,” George Sr. deadpans as the camera cuts to Michael.
I love this moment, not only because it’s funny and indicative of the family’s self-involvement, but also because this is how we find out the cause of Tracey Bluth’s death — through comedy.
For me, comedies are always best when they’re dramas (or outright tragedies) first. The fourth season of AD didn’t deliver as much tragedy as I would have liked, but it did finally reveal Michael’s late wife amidst a hectic, muddled, misshapen new season that was frustrating and funny, off-kilter and canny.
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Robert J. Peterson, Author 