Brevity is the soul of wit, some such witty bastard once remarked. It is also the soul of bed rest, something I'm finding in short supply as I attend this year's New York Film Festival. So forgive the brief header today, and let's get to the goods.

Continung series today include Film Forum Jr. and the Tennessee Williams trib at Film Forum, 1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year at IFC Center, Final Girl at the Nitehawk Cinema, Retro Metro at BAM Cinématek, Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien at Museum of the Moving Image, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz: The Essential Iconoclast at the Walter Reade Theater. The wim wam be thus;

THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN

Synopsis: A bandit is captured and sentenced to 10 years in the hoosegow shortly after stealing and stashing half a mil. After one dishonest prison warden is killed trying to beat the cash's whereabouts from him, a new, seemingly incorruptible warden takes over, though by now every inmate is hell-bent on breaking the bandit out to collect the dough.

Day three of the Joseph L. Mankiewicz series at Lincoln Center, what I am now short-handedly referring to as the Mankrospective, is in the books, and the ensuing report follows shortly. This moment's focus, however, belongs to the enirety of NYC's rep film sha-boopieings. Hashtag Robert Preston.

Ongoing series today include 1939 - Hollywood's Golden Year at IFC Center, Final Girl at the Nitehawk Cinema, the Tennessee Williams trib at Film Forum, Also Like Life: The Films of Hou Hsiao-hsien at Museum of the Moving Image, and Retro Metro at BAM Cinématek. The kino rapscallionism be thus;

PEOPLE WILL TALK

Synopsis: a once-provincial and now prosperous, though eccentric, metropolitan doctor must defend himself against the accusations of his peers.

Day three of the Joe Mank Retro gets underway later today at this year's 52nd annual New York Film Festival. As I'm attending the bulk of that series I'm left with very little else to banter about in today's header. Although, ironically, it has also given me something to fill this space. I will leave the greater philosophical
debate/bitchery to you, the faithful reader. To those not so claw-inclined here be the day's doings!

First things first: the screen at Alice Tully hall is friggin' huge. Monolithic. Way bigger than I'd imagined.

For those of you who only read these posts sparingly, and I know your names b'gawd, a reminder that these headers are gonna be a might trim for a week or so, as I'm also providing daily coverage of the 52nd annual NYFF, which roughly translates to the New York Film Festival for those of you who can't bear acronyms.

So post haste, ongoing series today include the Tennessee Williams trib at Film Forum, Joseph L. Mankiewicz: The Essential Iconoclast and Revivals at the Film Society, Acteurism: The Emergence of Ann Sheridan, 1937-43 at MoMA, Retro Metro at BAM Cinématek, and Chelsea Classics at the BowTie Chelsea Cinemas. The mishegoss be thus;

There are directors who arouse the passions of the cinema fanatic, to the extent that they carry ammunition into any potential battle they may enter in their defense, filmmakers who left their permanent and prominent mark not only on their own work but on cinema as a whole. There are others who exerted a large degree of control over their careers and came away with a respectable CV as result, invoking admiration if not excitement.

Whassap Stockahz!?!

I know what you're thinking; how in Buddah's name is it October already? How has baseball already entered the playoff season, the midterm elections' final lap arrived, the Xmas decorations invaded the local Duane Reade, let alone the Halloween candy that appeared stacked like hay bales at the beginning of September? Dear god, we seem to collectively wail at Winter's first spine chill, how have we gotten here so fast?

Again, I ain't got much for the header today, as I'm prepping the October calendar, the accompanying podcast, and my write-up of the Joe Mankiewicz retrospective at Lincoln Center, of which I'll be attending nearly ALL the scheduled unspoolings. Sucks to be me, I know.

Ongoing series today include the Tennessee Williams trib at Film Forum, Alain Resnais: Time, Memory & Imagination at the French Institute/Alliance Française, and the exceptional Journalists in Film at the Nitehawk Cinema. The goods be thus;