Francis Ford Coppola’s Advice to Young Filmmakers (2008)

“I think my best advice is really contained in the story of what happened to me when I wrote the screenplay of the film, Patton. One of the reasons they explained that they didn’t like it was the opening. I … Read More

A Fair & Balanced Assessment of Taylor Swift’s Celebrity Persona

October 27, 2014 – Taylor Swift celebrates the release of her new album, 1989, with an iHeart Radio Secret Session performed from high atop a sprawling rooftop in Lower Manhattan. After opening with an aptly-titled “Welcome to New York,” the … Read More

Moving On: The Apartment

It is the mornings I remember most, those mid-May sessions drinking coffee in the kitchen; windows open, curtains flagging, the salt-air breeze mingling softly with caffeine. There was no work, or very little of it during the week. The weather … Read More

19 Plot Devices ‘Furious 7’ Completely Stole from Better Movies (or Other Pop-Culture Entities)

1. A Mamacita waving her kerchief to signal the start of a drag race. (Grease) 2. The hero dropping several stories out a window with a woman in his arms, landing on the roof of a car back-first to protect … Read More

Marlon Brando on Success & Failure (1957)

“Too much success can ruin you as surely as too much failure. Of course, you can’t always be a failure. Not and survive. Van Gogh! There’s an example of what can happen when a person never receives any recognition. You … Read More

Moving On: Manslaughter

By Bob Hill John Vollrath filed out of Club Kaladu along with his girlfriend and his sister. Chris and Adam Short followed suit a moment later, slipping out a north-side exit with Joseph Mader a few feet behind. The three of … Read More

Lou Reed on Rewriting (1989)

“Rewriting really makes you focus. Haggling for weeks over a word. Just focusing. I tried all the vocals out before I ever went in the studio, and I’ve gotten pretty good at this, so that if I hear it in … Read More

Answered Prayers

Click through for full-image gallery. … Read More

What to Expect During the Final 7 Episodes of ‘Mad Men’

One can see it throughout “Waterloo” – the closing episode of Mad Men, Season 7.1 – this era, these characters, Matthew Weiner seeks to bring them all back to circle. Most things being cyclical in nature (as Jon Hamm and … Read More

Moving On: The Long Walk Back

It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the majority of college students were enjoying one last night at home, eating leftovers, watching cable on the floor. Marci and I were not enrolled, nor were we sentimental. And as such, we … Read More