Overstreet’s Favorite Recordings of 2022: The Top Ten
February 24, 2023
This year, my countdown of the previous year's best music has been a marathon of four posts: Honorable Mentions, #36 through #21, #20 through #11... and now this one. Here are my ten favorite albums of 2022. Sample tracks from each one and see if any of them speak to you. Then, post notes about your own favorites in the Comments if your favorites differ from mine!
0 Comments32 Minutes
Stuck in the middle with Tár
November 5, 2022
Director Todd Field's return to the big screen is an unforgettable spectacle. And it is, almost inarguably, the greatest performance of Cate Blanchett's remarkable career. Some will call it a masterpiece. I'm not so sure.
0 Comments15 Minutes
Two new essays in one week: The Enlightened Replicant and the Liberated Marionette
September 26, 2022
New writing is heating up my laptop these days. I have two new essays — my first ever contribution to my favorite film-essay website, Bright Wall Dark Room, and the second in my new series on faith and fantasy at The Rabbit Room, a reflection on Disney's 1940 feature Pinocchio.
0 Comments1 Minutes
Newsic: New song from Tom Skinner, Thom Yorke, and Johnny Greenwood
January 12, 2022
This isn't an easy song to sing along with. It shouldn't be. But it represents a meaningful anger, a broken heart, a soulful lament, a rage expressed in love for those who have been wronged.
0 Comments1 Minutes
Sunday Song: Von Bieker and Knathan Ryan sing their quarantine longings
September 12, 2021
Knathan Ryan and Dave Von Bieker are two friends whose music pops up in heavy rotation during my morning commutes. Their hopeful spirits inspire me; their artistry is personal, bright, and energetic; and their new songs hit just right in a time of quarantine fatigue.
0 Comments7 Minutes
Leo Carax’s Annette sparks a conversation with “Catholic Cinephile” Evan Cogswell
August 24, 2021
In the latest episode of the Looking Closer podcast, “Catholic Cinephile” Evan Cogswell makes an argument that Annette is a great musical and, in fact, his favorite film of the year so far.
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Sunday Song: Listening Closer to Rhiannon Giddens and Nick Cave
June 27, 2021
Here are two of my favorite 2021 songs so far, one from Rhiannon Giddens, the other from Nick Cave.
0 Comments5 Minutes
Persuade Me: Should I see A Quiet Place Part II… or not?
May 27, 2021
I'm not making a priority of seeing A Quiet Place Part II. You're invited to try to change my mind.
1 Comment6 Minutes
Lee Isaac Chung Week, Day Four: two epic conversations with the director of Minari
February 25, 2021
In June of 2009, I met Lee Isaac Chung for the first time. We talked about his first feature film Munyurangabo. Nine summers later, I sat down with Chung to talk again — this time about his unpredictable and surprising journeys since then. The recording of that interview is now available for you thanks to Image.
2 Comments56 Minutes