Made in America

Spurs vs. Cavaliers, Game Two
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on ABC

The next Michael Jordan? Michael Jordan was an asshole.



The Sopranos - Season Six, Part Two (2007)
rating: 5 out of 5 cravats
on HBO

The Sopranos was a show about one man who relied completely on the people around him to be who he was. The series couldn't have ended more cynically, more sadly, or better than it did. And let's not kid ourselves - more enjoyably, too.

And Peter, you were never better than 2007. Here's to you, you smug, beautiful man.



Killer of Sheep (1977)
directed by Charles Burnett
rating: 5 out of 5 cravats
seen on the screen at the Brooks Museum of Art

Maybe the great movies are about kids. Kids are fun to watch - they seem funny and wise in such effortless ways. But they don't account for relationships, those pockets of revelation in our adult lives. If cinema isn't exactly the "art of woman," shouldn't it at least be the art of love? You can get an innocent kind of love from kid pictures, but what I like so much about Killer of Sheep are the grown-ups at the periphery, how it isn't just hurt and pain, but living in a sense that lets you find some happiness in people.

Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD at JL's

Sansho the Bailiff is a lesson in perfect craft; anyone who wants to make a movie should watch it. But "life is torture?" That smacks of Bicycle Thieves or Umberto D., those unimpeachable world classics that could just as easily pilot a rocket ship as win my heart.