Stansfield Blog

I am sorry to read about your loss, Chris. One of ...

noreply@blogger.com (Mark L. Eastburn) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 03:52:08 +0000

I am sorry to read about your loss, Chris. One of our best human qualities is our ability to connect with other animals.

So very sorry for your loss. I am feeling it as w...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 22:24:17 +0000

So very sorry for your loss. I am feeling it as well right now. I lost my boy of 15 exactly 19 days ago. He was my NYC kitty that I dragged with me to NC, PA, MD, and now TN. I had a cat as a kid that lived to almost 19 and my parents had another one when I was in my twenties but Ben was mine. There will never be another one for me quite like him. I see you feel the same about Obi.

Thank you...xoxo

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:46:15 +0000

Thank you...xoxo

This was lovely, Chris. I'm so sorry. You were...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:58:45 +0000

This was lovely, Chris. I'm so sorry. You were the first person I thought of last night, but general consensus was that it was too late to call. Let you get a good night's sleep. And I truly tried to get you in to SNL. I know you know, but I just had to say it anyway. I guess to remind myself. Maybe I didn't try hard enough. I thought I was sad. But I understand your sadness so much better. And you knew him and his catalogue so much better. I have no right to grieve. Thank you for taking me to the concerts. And thank you for this post. I love you. And David Bowie would have loved you, conventional or not. (And I disagree strongly with your examples of conventional, though I wanted to dress up, too and didn't for the exact reason you mention). Do you still have all the old video clips & singles I burned for you? Love, Love, Love

A review showing and explaining exactly what the f...

noreply@blogger.com (barrybrady) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 23:21:37 +0000

A review showing and explaining exactly what the film was all about...thanks

A fun, wild ride like only Quentin can provide. Fu...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O.) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:45:11 +0000

A fun, wild ride like only Quentin can provide. Funny, heartbreaking, bloody and profane, I left the theater with a new respect for Don Johnson. You heard me. Good review Christopher.

Thanks for both the compliment and for actually re...

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher Stansfield) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 17:44:56 +0000

Thanks for both the compliment and for actually reading my long winded review!

Sold review, informed and insightful. Noting how i...

noreply@blogger.com (Count Baqula) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 00:36:24 +0000

Sold review, informed and insightful. Noting how it places the hero's journey in a western setting was especially well done. I loved the film and can't wait to see it again.

Yeah I read 111 pages of it, and wasn't really...

noreply@blogger.com (Duncan Pflaster) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:39:18 +0000

Yeah I read 111 pages of it, and wasn't really interested in going much further. I found it uninspired.

Yea totally get what you're saying. Thanks a lot t...

noreply@blogger.com (Durell) — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:16:00 +0000

Yea totally get what you're saying. Thanks a lot that helped.

Kepp reviewing you're good.

There's not really a whole lot of detail to go int...

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher Stansfield) — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:24:00 +0000

There's not really a whole lot of detail to go into. Tituss is very game, but I think he largely suffers from the same problems the rest of the cast has- he's less a character than a caricature and, at least when I saw the show, he seemed uneasy with the Runyon dialect (admittedly, he may have grown into it more as time has passed.) "Sit Down" has been arranged to suit his singing voice, which is to say that it is more gospel-inflected than usual. It's a fun number, but it felt just like that- a number. The song feels disconnected from the circumstances leading to and away from it, if you can understand what I'm trying to say. None of this can be blamed directly on the actor- I think the production on the whole suffers from a lack of effort from the top down.

Hey, I'm the guy u sent the link to on facebook, t...

noreply@blogger.com (Durell K. Griffin) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Hey, I'm the guy u sent the link to on facebook, thanks by the way this was a really great revie, it gave me a lot on insight into the production.
Nicely-Nicley is my favorite character in the show, so i was wondering if u could go into more detail on what u thought on Tituss' overall performance of the character. Also on his big number Sit Down You're Rockin the Boat, which happens to be one of my favorites songs in the show, and how it compared to the '92 version.

Thanks alot
Durell

Tattoos,My settings have apparently been in error,...

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher Stansfield) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:33:00 +0000

Tattoos,
My settings have apparently been in error, and I was unaware you had commented until just now. Thanks so much- I hope you'll keep reading, and I've now added your blog to the ones I keep up with. Just out of curiosity, how did you find me? The mystery of the proliferation of this particular entry has still yet to be solved.

Correction: Though I claim that "Guys and Dolls" h...

noreply@blogger.com (Christopher Stansfield) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Correction: Though I claim that "Guys and Dolls" has been revived many times, it turns out I'm mistaken- before the current revival, the show was only revived twice- once in the seventies with an all-black cast and once in 1992 with Nathan Lane, et al. While the show his ubiquitous in other productions, I was in error in claiming that it has been a fixture on Broadway.

Interesting point about Watchmen's potential as a ...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:26:00 +0000

Interesting point about Watchmen's potential as a series rather than as a movie. Certainly that sort of thing has been done with success in Great Britain and even on pay channels like HBO. A format like that would have had a lot of potential (in fact, I think a lot of the problem with a show like "Heroes" on NBC is that it should have been a story with a clear beginning and end.)

When I saw it in the theater, people were laughing...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:14:00 +0000

When I saw it in the theater, people were laughing all the way through the "Hallelujah" sequence. Myself included. I'm not sure if Mr. Snyder has ever actually had sex after seeing that. I'm not sure I want to know, either.

I agree with your points about the violence; that also seemed far more in-your-face to me than it did in the book (which I read earlier this year specifically so that I could compare the movie to it). I didn't hate every choice of song, though; I liked that "Everyone Wants To Rule The World" was turned into blandly pleasant, nonthreatening Muzak as a way of very subtly foreshadowing the later revelations about Veidt. Also, I think Snyder used "The Sounds of Silence" at least in part because it fit in with the pattern of using pop songs about nuclear annihilation – once again, almost subliminally underlining the omnipresent concern with the impending end of humankind.

Finally, I think the choice of format – one 160-minute film, instead of, say, three 120-minute films – made it impossible to really do justice to the book and its interweaving of multiple threads, plots, subplots, and digressions. No Bernards? The relationship between the psychiatrist and Rorschach reduced to a single 2-minute conversation? The book might not lend itself well to a trilogy, though. I think I would have preferred a one-season TV series of 12 one-hour episodes, where not only could all the subplots and scenes from the original book be included, but the director could take his time and let events unspool at their own pace. It worked well for The Wire and Battlestar Galactica; I see no reason why it couldn't work here. I know that TV producers have traditionally wanted series to run for at least 2-3 seasons so that the reruns can be syndicated, but DVD box-set sales could make those kinds of 1-season narrative arcs financially viable.

Ha!This is very well thought out. I can really hea...

noreply@blogger.com (Mikey in Minneapolis) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:42:00 +0000

Ha!

This is very well thought out. I can really hear your lyrics matching up to the tunes in my head.

Consider yourself a three-fan blogger now ;-)

Chris, Let me be the first to officially welcome y...

noreply@blogger.com (Steven Josselson) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:14:00 +0000

Chris, Let me be the first to officially welcome you to the blogosphere. Very much looking forward to reading your forthcoming essays.

When you get a chance, check out my blog (although it hasn't been updated in ages due to a rather nasty cold).
Steve