DANA STEVENS's avatar

DANA STEVENS

@thehighsign.bsky.social

21766 followers 1491 following 1060 posts

Film critic at Slate; co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast; repped by the Cheney Agency; member NYFCC. Camera Man, my book on Buster Keaton, is out: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Camera-Man/Dana-Stevens/9781501134203

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Paul F. Tompkins's avatar Paul F. Tompkins @pftompkins.bsky.social
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Peter Sarsgaard: We have the same voice, what are we going to do John Malkovich: I. could. get. more. halting? Peter Sarsgaard: Love it

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I actually really liked that episode, & I was not a big fan of "Fishes" last season. Both Abby Elliott & JLC were excellent.

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kottke.org's avatar kottke.org @kottke.org
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There’s a Devil Wears Prada sequel coming… “Gird your loins.” [variety.com]

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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That very good piece (by my esteemed Slate colleague Sam Adams) was part of our research prep for this week's segment on The Bear on my podcast! slate.com/podcasts/cul...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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On this week's Slate Culture Gabfest, we're joined by @junethomas.bsky.social to talk about Season 3 of The Bear, the new Lily Gladstone-starring indie movie Fancy Dance, & the widespread & annoying trend of every company bullying us into downloading another goddamn app:

slate.com/podcasts/cul...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Happy pub day to you both! Can't wait to read this!

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I never made it past the first few eps of Ted Lasso, but maybe!

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I'm not sure this would reverse that trend because the 3rd season is definitely the most directionless. But it also isn't cynically repeating the first two seasons. It's kind of expanding on them in a lateral and not very propulsive way. It has a lot of stylistic tics, but I'll def watch to the end.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I've watched all of it but the last ep of season 3, so I'm about to get my Jamie Lee dose (or overdose). That Christmas ep everyone in S2 loved struck me as painfully overdirected/overlong. But I confess my basic bitch is fully engaged w/ all the plotlines. One thing tho: there has been no season 5?

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Interesting. The style of the flashbacks is so jittery and fragmented that I'm not capturing those details. Where does "Fishes" (S2) fit in that transformation?

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Oh yeah, it's definitely the weakest season. But it hasn't made me sour on the show--it's more like I bring a kind of "OK, let's see what you do next" attitude to each episode/season. I'm not sure I respect the show as a complete work, it's too tonally random, but I like to hang w/ the kitchen crew.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Yes, the argument could be made that the whole show has this structure! It has to do with the interlacing of different time frames, the stand-alone background eps on secondary characters, and just the general moony, lingering attitude of the camerawork/pacing.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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The Bear S3 serves as its own fan fiction. While not entirely sure what I mean by this (or whether a show being its own fanfic is a bad or good thing), I stand by its intuitive rightness.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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That sounds as if you're implying you don't enjoy the interludes at Aunt Meg's house, which would be an impossibility for a critic as astute as yourself. And if you don't like Jami Gertz's "I can't compete with this" speech can you say you've really seen Twister? www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeUU...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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The "you would have to be blitzed to think this is a good idea" primary

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Amy A's avatar Amy A @lolennui.bsky.social
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if it's not from the champagne region of france then it’s just called sparkling fascist tears

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I discovered S.I.M.P. only days after this list went up, and it would have been on the list if I'd known it! I am also a big fan of Ain't Got Rhythm, or anything involving Love Händel. I am going to need to do another deep dive to re-listen to all these songs...thanks for reminding me of P & F! ❤️

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Just realizing that I included the same link twice (to the interview w/ Povenmire & Marsh) rather than adding the correct last link to my top 5 songs list. I know you found it already, but for anyone who's still looking (a vast crowd no doubt, lol): slate.com/culture/2015...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Just last week my now 18-yo daughter was reenacting our favorite moment from that episode, when Doof communicates his dissatisfaction with his cave using only the words "Mmmm" and "Bleh". But I must know, what are your favorite P & F songs? (I made my list well before I had seen the complete show.)

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Thanks so much, Dan! I am currently in vacation, on a mother-daughter trip to Portugal, so yes, it has been a great day.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Thanks, Michael! Not sure how you knew it's my b-day but maybe I mentioned it on the podcast at some point? Anyway, I'm on a mother-daughter trip w/ my kid & having a fun day!

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Libraries forever, Mayor Eric Adams never

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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This is messed up. As I remember TDS was at the forefront of shows releasing clips the next day online--they were doing it before any other show I watched anyway. This all seems like part of the plan every media/entertainment company seems to have to erase its own institutional history. & for what??

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I happen to love my agent but I have no advice on how to seek one out--I found mine through the editor who bought my book & talked to no one else. I'd say you should like/be interested in doing something analogous to at least some books on their list, & you should respect their taste & trust them.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Ha! I feel you there, but actually the Gladwell interview was one of the more comprehensible parts, in that at least he provided some cultural context for why the movies were important at the time.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Ha, thanks! It was so bad & so unintentionally exposing of poor Andrew McCarthy's insecurities about his career that I couldn't believe J & S were treating it like a normal doc. Poor Andrew. I really did want to think the best of him.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Completely agree, & I don't even like this adaptation! Keira Knightley lacked the ironic edge of a good Elizabeth Bennet, but Donald Sutherland ruled as her thoroughly over-it-all dad.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Yes--not to mention the meaning of this specific sex act at this moment in the couple's life, & its relation to their grief.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I approve the inappropriate movie choice of whoever it was!

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I can't believe they showed this to middle schoolers!! Sex scene aside, there is the dead kid, the scary dwarf, the terrifying ending--way too heavy for preteens all around. Well, at least you had early exposure to great cinema...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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All very strong contenders! That ending of Day of the Locust is freaky as hell.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I'm assuming it's this and Invasion of the Body Snatchers? What is the third one?

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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That image was hidden for "adult content"--actually an accurate description, even if the shot only shows Christie & Sutherland from the shoulders up. That scene, & the whole of Don't Look Now, truly are "adult," built around the kind of ambiguous situations and complex ideas that matter to grownups.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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The first thing I thought of was the sex scene near the beginning of Nicolas Roeg's 1973 horror masterpiece Don't Look Now. One of the great examples of a nude scene that does far more than just provide a hot eye-candy interlude, even if Sutherland & Julie Christie were both plenty easy on the eyes.

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Tim Onion's avatar Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social
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Hi! The Onion is bringing back our Writing Fellowship.

The fellowship has produced some of the biggest names in comedy, at The Onion and elsewhere.

It was a casualty private equity. We are reviving it.

The program is six months long and includes health insurance.

jobs.gusto.com/postings/the...

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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The director of Days of Heaven is Terrence Malick. Néstor Almendros is one of the two cinematographers who worked on it. The other is Haskell Wexler.

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Katie Slivensky's avatar Katie Slivensky @kslivensky.bsky.social
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Everyone rightfully excited about the #Elephant "name" news, but the elephant news that really got me this week was over at Sheldrick. Recent orphan Toto was brought to them by PREVIOUSLY RESCUED ELEPHANTS who found him and knew just where to take him. ❤️ www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/orphans/toto

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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That is basically the topic of the conversation? Whyyyyyy

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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He’s a Texas Monthly stalwart & also recently interviewed Linklater about the new movie & their longtime friendship for the magazine! I can’t search for the link right now because I’m in transit, but it’s easy to find.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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I haven’t lived there since 1988 but still consider myself a Texan, follow the news there closely, & root for it to become the blue state that, without massive voter suppression, it would be.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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Great! It will make you want to watch all the many Weimar-era classics it shows clips from.

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DANA STEVENS's avatar DANA STEVENS @thehighsign.bsky.social
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After you watch Hit Man (which is now streaming on Netflix, & also still in theaters in many cities), read the Texas Monthly profile that served as its inspiration. By the same writer, Skip Hollandsworth, whose true-crime journalism inspired the way-underseen Richard Linklater movie Bernie.

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