There are certain films that are not merely great to me. They’re not merely my favorite films of all time. They’re so ingrained in the cultural, intellectual, and emotional DNA of “Lee Hurtado” that when you see them, you might actually understand me a little better.
And one of those films is The Last Waltz. Continue reading
The thing about the combination of memory and celebrities is that it really messes with our perceptions of aging. We get so used to seeing our favorite stars as young and in their prime that we’re not prepared for the truth that what time does to us, it does to them as well. No, we try to tell ourselves, that can’t be the same guy.
It gets even more complicated when you’re talking about Dick Clark. Continue reading
Watch this industry long enough (and you won’t have to watch for very long) and you’ll realize that a lot of films fall through the cracks of distribution and release. The reasons vary – sometimes it’s business, sometimes it’s personal, and sometimes it’s somewhere in the middle. Sometimes they’re good films stuck in limbo through no real fault, and sometimes they star Eddie Murphy.
And sometimes one of those “vanished” films can surprise you.
For five years, I’ve been blessed to work with Nikki and Chadd at PDP. And in that time, as Nikki’s unofficial Boswell, I’ve done my best to chronicle the many chapters of her career as a performer, producer, promoter, and teacher.
With that in mind, today’s post will be rather bittersweet, as I’m writing the close to one of those chapters. Continue reading
One of the great marvels of films like The Fugitive or The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is their incredible sense of place. It’s a testament to the talent of the filmmakers involved that Chicago and New York become characters in their own rights; as I’d written of Pelham,
There’s a quality more felt than seen about the film, a sense that what happens in it could only happen in this city, at this time, with these people. And the film’s so much stronger for it.
This is one of the things I love about the San Antonio Neighborhood Film Project (the brainchild of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs). It’s a chance for local filmmakers to bring one of their favorite characters to life onscreen. And it’s a chance for local filmgoers to look at their hometown in whole new lights. So I was looking forward to being a part of last night’s screenings. Continue reading
Many of us, if not most, have at one point or other in our lives shared a fascination with magic and magicians. And many of us, if not most, may outgrow that.
This story is about what happens when you don’t. Continue reading
As I’ve said before, the San Antonio Stage Script Study Group was “one of my favorite Stone Oak Youth Theatre activities”. And in the time we met there, it had developed the kind of following you’d call Small But Devoted. So when the group was put on hold following the end of Nikki‘s tenure at SOYT, it was inevitable that we’d find a new place, a new time, and meet again.
That brief hiatus ended with 2011, as we met again in January to chart a new course for a new year. And in that discussion, we agreed that the time had come for one of the group’s earliest and most promising ideas. Continue reading
“If only you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.”
-Roy Batty
Even at the time, it seemed all too fitting that my first experience with Blade Runner came as an undergraduate. There’s something in the film’s mix of genre tropes, in a visual universe that’s at once startling and familiar, and in a philosophical subtext that’s so blatant it’s practically text, that appeals to the young intellect trying to assert itself before it’s really earned the right to do so.
But that I still revisit it today, some 20 years on, suggests that there’s something more to the film, something in the alchemy of all those elements. Why does Blade Runner still have that hold on me? Why is its power stronger now than when I first saw it? Continue reading
That title is a lyric from a favorite Warren Zevon song, “Lord Byron’s Luggage” (a song that’s also noteworthy for successfully building a rhyme around the term persona non grata). It seemed an apt description for how I’m feeling as I look back on 2011.
It’s not a bad view, as these things go. Continue reading
There are two things about my brother Chris that must be made clear. One: if he recommends a movie to our family, then it will be a very, very good movie; and Two: one of his absolute favorite filmmakers is Wes Anderson.
And so it was that Christmas Eve found us together, watching Rushmore for the first time. Though I’ve loved every Wes Anderson film I’ve seen, I’ll admit that I haven’t seen nearly enough of his work to justifiably call myself a fan. Of course I’ve never let that stop me, but after seeing his second feature, I feel a little more qualified to keep saying it.
Lee Hurtado, Writer 