Category Archives: Movies and film

Bruno Mars—as you’ve (probably) never seen him!

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m teaching contemporary literature this quarter at Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the text we’re discussing this coming week is literally hot off the presses—”The Flick,” which is the play that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama last spring and … Continue reading →

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“Unsquare Dance” in Silver Linings Playbook

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I’m showing Silver Linings Playbook in one of my classes this week, and for the first time I really thought about how interesting it is that Dave Brubeck’s “Unsquare Dance” is the song playing as Tiffany walks out to meet … Continue reading →

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The Northern Soul Project – Some Background (post #2)

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

To recap: I stumbled across the term “Northern Soul” a week ago while trying to see if the Dusty Springfield part of the Pet Shop Boys’ “What Have I Done to Deserve This,” was actually one of her old songs.  … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Learning, Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Art -vs- Science: An Artificial Divide

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was paging through the weekend Wall Street Journal this morning and practically jumped out of my chair when I saw Walter Murch’s face looking out from the “Review” section. Murch is an Oscar-winning film editor who has worked on … Continue reading →

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Lana Del Rey: Robbed of the Oscar, as her Maleficent follow-up confirms

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

I was astonished when Lana Del Rey’s haunting “Young and Beautiful” from The Great Gatsby wasn’t even nominated for Best Song. “Young and Beautiful” should have won!  Just one more reminder that awards are not the final arbiter of quality. … Continue reading →

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The marketing campaign that helped The Return of the King sweep the Oscars

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Today’s Variety has an interesting article about how ten years ago The Return of the King was nominated for—and won—an astounding 11 Academy Awards.  Only two other films have won that many Oscars: Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997).  Even more significantly, … Continue reading →

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Tosa All-City Read: Rocket Boys and October Sky

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Katherine Wikoff

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin (an old-city inner-ring suburb of Milwaukee), is having its inaugural “all-city read” this month.  Children ages 8-12 are reading a fantasy adventure, and people ages 13+ are reading Rocket Boys, the 1998 memoir by retired NASA engineer Homer Hickam, … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Downton Abbey (13 days to go) — The Dowager Countess’s “Mom” Jeans

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

Or at least the equivalent thereof. Have you noticed that as other women’s hemlines rise and hairstyles modernize, Violet Crawley (played by Maggie Smith) remains somewhat stuck in a pre-WWI Edwardian time warp?  Her hats are a bit smaller and slightly … Continue reading →

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Countdown to Downton Abbey (36 days to go) – Pharaoh and Isis

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

The title of today’s post refers to the countdown clock on the Masterpiece “Downton Abbey” page on the PBS website.  For those of us anxiously awaiting Season 4 (or “Series 4,” as they say in England, where this season’s episodes have … Continue reading →

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Watching the “Up” Documentary Series (Film #5, 35 Up)

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Katherine Wikoff

This past weekend I watched 35 Up.  As I said in my last post, I’m going to try a different approach in structuring my thoughts on the film this time around by first providing a brief update on each of … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Movies and film, WPLongform (posts of 1000 words or longer) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments