Author Archives: davetcourt

Film Journal 2023: Dumb Money Directed by Craig Gillespie Based on a true story.Sometimes these words hold more or less weight when it comes to the particular adaptations of these stories. Here the weight is considerable because of the nature of the subject matter. The story concerns a point of particular corruption, a moment overContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Dumb Money”

Film Journal 2023: Flora and SonDirected by John Carney To say this is a charmer would be an understatement. It’s also one of Carny’s most mature films to date, which of course looks backwards to his break out hit Once. He’s a long ways from the very modest budget of that two person indie romance,Continue reading “Film Journal 2023: Flora and Son”

Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War Directed by Olena Tumanska I was a little uncertain about this documentary in the early going. It starts off extremely slow and unintentive. At a base level it follows a handful of Ukrainian mothers as they flee to Canada during the current war. They areContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War”

Film Journal 2023: The Exorcist: Believer Directed by David Gordan Green Part of the exercise for me going into this sequel (or requel I suppose) was trying to balance the fact that this was going to be a film that tries to do it’s own thing in the shadow of a genuine classic. I knewContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Exorcist: Believer”

Film Journal 2023: Black White and the Greys Directed by Marchelle Thurman and Casey Nelson One of the essential questions that emerged from the pandemic is, when is too soon to start telling pandemic related stories. We could ask this question in relationship to the tragedy of the virus, or in relationship to the culturalContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Black White and the Greys”

Reading Journal 2023: Virginia Woolf: An Inner LifeAuthor: Julia Briggs Briggs approaches this biography of Virginia Woolfe by telling the story of the writer through the story of her writing. This isn’t necessarily a novel approach, and it has been one bofore. Yet, it is uncommon enough to capture the uniqueness of the approach, befittingContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life”

Reading Journal 2023: The Door-To-Door BookstoreAuthor: Carsten Henn The Door to Door Bookstore became available from my list of library holds, so I embraced it as a nice buffer between my seasonal horror reads. Figured it would be a nice break and a good fit for fall. This might be the most good hearted bookContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Door-To-Door Bookstore”

Reading Journal 2023: HollyAuthor: Stephen King Few authors are more automatic for me than King, which can be a bit exhausting given the sheer rate in which he writes and releases new material. Automatic buys though inevitably come with expectations. Expectations born from a history that proves even his weakest efforts are stronger than manyContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Holly”

Film Journal 2023: Mr. Dress-Up: The Magic of Make BelieveDirected by Robert McCallum There’s not a whole lot to speak of I terms of creativity and structure. This is about as straightforward as they come when it comes to documentaries. That doesn’t really matter though when your subject is one if the truly good humansContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Mr. Dress-Up: The Magic of Make Believe”

Film Journal 2023: The Fall of the House of Usher Directed by Mike Flanagan Flanqan’s stark and rapid fall from favor in my eyes might be the far more interesting story than this take on an Edgar Allen Poe adaptation. My love for Dr. Sleep met with my general disinterest in the rather tepid andContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Fall of the House of Usher”