Author: Andrew Rostan

The Smartest Guys in the Room: Remembering George Martin and Keith Emerson

Leave a Comment

 

Celebrated personages have been dropping like flies lately, from that Oscar-winning savior of airplanes George Kennedy to Sir Ken Adam, the man who designed the greatest James Bond sets and a war room made for fighting. As friend of the Recorder Fred Pelzer tweeted at me, “We’re hitting peak baby boomers. It’s going to be this way for the next while.”

George in Old Age Emerson Live

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two deaths in the past week especially stood out to me as the product of being raised on the rock ‘n’ roll my parents and my uncles. Sir George Martin, born in 1926, and Keith Emerson, born in 1944, were two musical figures who could both be considered the smartest guys in the room: they were men of technical brilliance and great creativity that outshone many. They used their gifts in very different and rewarding ways.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: 70 Millimeters of Sheer Adventure

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

lawrence-of-arabia-charge-on-aqaba

The Oscar nominations are in for the present. The winners on the 28th will help shape the future of Hollywood. Let’s look back now at the past.

Seeing movies on actual film is an essential part of loving them—one of the only things I admired about The Hateful Eight was Quentin Tarantino’s effort to create an experience you could never recapture in home theaters or digital. The Music Box Theatre, a Chicago institution where we have seen many modern classics and revivals, knows this. It will be hosting its annual 70mm Film Festival from February 19th to March 10th, showing fifteen features on a 41-foot screen with 7.1 channel surround sound, all projected in the greatest format known to humankind.

Needless to say, attending this festival is a strong recommendation, and it runs long enough to give Chicagoans plenty of chances to see a great film. To help you pick, here is our brief guide to what will be shown and what makes it ideal for the 70mm treatment.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: The Devastating Brilliance of “45 Years”

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

45-years

My Addison Recorder brethren know that I cry at movies too easily. Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, one of the finest films of the year, did not make me cry. Instead, it left my body numb with an overload of emotions and memories I do not always think about or want to think about, culminating in a last five minutes that left my insides shaking like I was ascending the tallest roller coaster on Earth.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: Catching Up With Oscar

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

Hanks and Rylance

 

Hopefully, you’ve all read Alex and I talking about the Oscar nominations. That piece reminded me I had a bit of catching up to do with some of the films that might walk away with little gold men, including one Best Picture nominee to complete our cycle of reviews. Hence, I talk about that movie and two others that are readily available for home viewing.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: Gunslingers, Puppets, and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

For my final column before the Academy Awards nominations are announced, I want you, fair readers, to imagine a Venn diagram. One circle is that fascinating genre, the Revisionist Western. The other circle is of films starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, who has never become a major star but has rewarded the cinema faithful with an fascinating career marked by great choices and performances. (If you haven’t seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, then stop reading right now and instead watch that.) I’m going to start with a film in the intersection of those circles, then branch off into two films that occupy the other circles, all of which went into wide release this weekend…and I save the best for last.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: Three Leading Ladies

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

Carol Poster

The first movie piece I write in 2016 is about three women: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Daisy Ridley. If you haven’t seen their films yet, then you need to pony up at your cinema or IMAX during this delightfully lazy weekend, and this is why…although I realize many of you have already seen Miss Ridley three or four times.

(With respect to Charles Pierce, here is the optional soundtrack for reading this piece.)

[Read more…]

“The Assassin” and “A Very Murray Christmas:” Woman with a Weapon and Man with a Microphone

Leave a Comment

Welcome back to Mr. Rostan at the Movies: Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

Murray Clooney Cyrus

My Christmas treat for those who have stuck by me (and Alex and Travis) during this remarkable year for film is a look at two very different productions, a work of cinematic art to seek out in small cinemas or on demand, and a delightful holiday special to take an hour out of your stressful life to experience, both helmed by master directors.

[Read more…]

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: “The Danish Girl”

Leave a Comment

Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, and he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every week, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

The_Danish_Girl_trailer

My critical role here at the Addison Recorder runs headlong into my long, complex history with The Danish Girl, a film that has followed me around for nearly a decade and left me with me an impression as great as that made by Red Desert. I recommend this movie, but I am grateful today to have this venue to explain why.

[Read more…]

ALL The Genres: The 2015 Album of the Year Nominees

Leave a Comment

taylor-kdot-badblood-thumb

Here’s one of the biggest surprises of 2015 for me: one of the organizations best reflecting the American people is the NARAS. The five nominees for the Album of the Year Grammy each come from a different genre: pop, rock, rap, country, and the blend of soul and electronica that Abel Tesfaye creates. Moreover, for the first time in the three years I have written this round-up, every nominee topped the Billboard album charts. What you’re about to read is truly populist representation. You might agree it’s among the best of the world’s music. You also might find some of it pandering, annoying, or unlistenable. Me, I would have added Florence + The Machine, Father John Misty, and the first bootleg of the Grateful Dead’s Soldier Field shows—but who wants to carry the mantle of American taste on their shoulders?
That said, comments welcome!

[Read more…]