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# Dale M. Pollock

Dale M Pollock, producer, writer, lecturer

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](http://dalempollock.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [No Escape (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/no-escape-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog feels bad for Owen Wilson these days. After a strong career comeback in Woody Allen's MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011, Movie a Day 6/20/11), he made two films that were highly anticipated and barely registered: ARE YOU HERE (2013), directed by "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner, and SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY (2014),
- [Phoenix (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/phoenix-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog has a new favorite European actress: Nina Hoss, who I am dubbing the Meryl Streep of contemporary German cinema, given the astonishing breadth and depth of her screen performances. Hoss grabbed the screen in BARBARA (2012), directed by Christian Petzold, playing a cynical East German doctor banished to a small town
- [American Ultra](http://dalempollock.com/american-ultra/) - Movie a Day Blog doesn't know what to make of AMERICAN ULTRA (2015, Theatrical), it's such an oddball film. An uneasy marriage of stoner humor and extreme violence (hence the only justification for one of the worst titles of the year), ULTRA raises the question that similar films such as PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (2008) and KICK-ASS
- [White God](http://dalempollock.com/white-god/) - This post will contain Spoilers. Movie a Day Blog has been a sucker for great dog movies ever since OLD YELLER (1957) made me dissolve into tears as a seven-year-old, an embarrassing incident in the neighborhood theater. WHITE GOD (2014, Netflix DVD) is a unique entry in a genre that stretches back to Rin-Tin-Tin, famously
- [The Skeleton Twins](http://dalempollock.com/the-skeleton-twins/) - Movie a Day Blog was not initially a fan of Bill Hader's. I saw occupying a very narrow comedy corridor of meek geekness, without much range. Several films have now proven me wrong, the latest being THE SKELETON TWINS (2014, Netflix Streaming), which I finally caught up with after missing its brief theatrical run. Along
- [The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/the-man-from-u-n-c-l-e-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog thought FANTASTIC FOUR (2015, Movie a Day 8/9/15) would at least take the summer honors for the worst film released, but THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (2015, Theatrical) will give it stiff competition. Guy Ritchie has seen his directing career has gone steadily downhill since his in-your-face-with-a-British-sneer debut films, LOCK, STOCK AND
- [Straight Outta Compton](http://dalempollock.com/straight-outta-compton/) - Movie a Day Blog has a special interest in STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (2015, Theatrical), the viscerally effective biopic of NWA, the pioneering hip-hop rap group of the mid-1980s. The reason is director F. Gary Gray, who directed a film I produced, SET IT OFF (1996), starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett as blue collar bank
- [Irrational Man](http://dalempollock.com/irrational-man/) - Movie a Day Blog sees Woody Allen, aging but still regularly churning out a movie a year, as the Yo-Yo Man of contemporary cinema: up with one film, down with the next. His latest, IRRATIONAL MAN (2015, Theatrical) is somewhere in between the recent extremes of BLUE JASMINE (2013) and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011, Movie
- [Fantastic Four (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/fantastic-four-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog sees a lot of movies. Some are good, some are bad. Few are truly bad, and few of the truly bad are as awful as the latest Marvel reboot of FANTASTIC FOUR (2015, Theatrical). This is all the more disappointing given that the co-writer and director is Josh Trank, who directed
- [Shaun the Sheep](http://dalempollock.com/shaun-the-sheep/) - Movie a Day Blog is a huge fan of Aardman Animation in England, creator of numerous WALLACE AND GROMIT shorts and features, along with the title character of SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (2015, Theatrical). Diehards may claim that no one can replace the zonked-out Wallace and his brilliant dog Gromit, but Shaun makes a strong
- [Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation](http://dalempollock.com/mission-impossible-rogue-nation/) - Movie a Day Blog thinks that MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movies have become as much a feature of summertime as outdoor barbecues and picnic tables. Sure enough, here comes ageless Tom Cruise, running in his manic way throughout MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015, Theatrical)), a title with more punctuation than most texts or tweets. I actually
- [Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/far-from-the-madding-crowd-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog was never quite the Thomas Hardy fan; give me Charles Dickens and his comic English peculiarities over Hardy's dour and hardworking Yorkshire men and women. Still, when strongly suggested as an alternative to the summer's witless faction are, this latest version of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (2015) proved both more
- [Manglehorn](http://dalempollock.com/manglehorn/) - Movie a Day Blog has to go to full disclosure mode to discuss any film directed by David Gordon Green: I became dean of the North Carolina School of the Arts film school right after his graduation in 1998, and I have dined with him, interviewed him and enjoyed his work since his career began.
- [Mad Max: Fury Road](http://dalempollock.com/mad-max-fury-road/) - For the Movie a Day Blog, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015, Theatrical in 3D) was one of this summer's most anticipated films. I worship at the altar of Australian writer-director George Miller, whose entire career has confounded expectations and accomplishments. Who else could make a film like the original MAD MAX (1979), the post-apocalyptic thriller
- [Harakiri](http://dalempollock.com/harakiri/) - Movie a Day Blog has long been fascinated by Japanese cinema. Its incredible sense of innovation within a very formalist structure and society is remarkable. HARAKIRI (1962, Criterion Collection, Netflix DVD) offers testimony to this success with a precise, carefully measured tale of ritual suicide by disembowlment, overt class discrimination and a samurai willing to
- [The Gunman (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/the-gunman-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog can't figure out what's going on with Sean Penn. He makes an odd, disheveled presentation at the Oscars, and now he's trying to be Liam Neeson. That's really the only explanation possible for the existence of THE GUNMAN (2015, Theatrical), which Penn produced (with Joel Silver, no less!) as well as
- [Alan Partridge (2013)](http://dalempollock.com/alan-partridge-2013/) - Movie a Day Blog understands that Steve Coogan can be an acquired taste. When I was first exposed to his very British sense of perpetual outrage, I found him a bit insufferable. But having enjoyed his two road movies, THE TRIP (2010) and THE TRIP TO ITALY (2014, Movie a Day 9/17/14), and admired his
- [Cinderella (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/cinderella-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog went to CINDERELLA (2015, Theatrical) grudgingly, wondering aloud why in God's name we needed another Cinderella movie. Hadn't she just been parodied in INTO THE WOODS (2014, Movie a Day 12/19/14)? Hasn't Disney made multiple animated versions after the classic 1950 original, several going direct to home video? Does it always
- [The Boxtrolls](http://dalempollock.com/the-boxtrolls/) - Movie a Day Blog has a special admiration for the Laika animation studio in Portland, OR. They do, in my opinion, the best stop-motion animation in today's marketplace, although there's plenty of growing competition. THE BOXTROLLS (2014, Netflix) isn't one of their best movies -- I personally prefer CORALINE (2009) and PARANORMAN (2012, Movie a
- [Big Hero 6](http://dalempollock.com/big-hero-6/) - Movie a Day Blog is never a sore loser with its Oscar predictions and personal votes, with only some exceptions (cursed be Eddie Redmayne!).' Although I favored THE BOX TROLLS (2014) for Best Animated Feature, I wasn't disappointed to see BIG HERO 6 (2014, DVD) win. It made it a clean sweep for Disney Animation
- [Tangerines](http://dalempollock.com/tangerines/) - Movie a Day Blog feels that in this very strong year for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, the most overlooked film had to be TANGERINES (2013), which was also one of the best. The winner was IDA (2023) and WILD TALES (2014, Movie a Day 2/21/15) made a strong run at the end. I've
- [Wild Tales](http://dalempollock.com/wild-tales/) - Movie a Day Blog has been hearing that if there is one film that can upset the overloaded Best Foreign Film applecart, it's WILD TALES (2014, Theatrical), the Argentinian entry that is by far the most fun nominee to watch. That doesn't make it the best film, however. WILD TALES is really six wild tales,
- [Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2015](http://dalempollock.com/oscar-nominated-live-action-shorts-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog has posted on the Academy Award nominated categories of Best Animated Short and Best Documentary Short. Now it's the turn of the Live Action shorts (2015, Theatrical), and I must admit that I found the field in this category inferior to its short film siblings. It's east to predict what will
- [Kingsman: The Secret Service](http://dalempollock.com/kingsman-the-secret-service/) - Movie a Day Blog is a fan of British filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, despite his excesses in violent gore. He possesses one of the darkest senses of humor around, as evidenced by his directorial resume: LAYER CAKE (2010), KICK ASS (2010) and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011). Both his virtues and his defects are on ample display
- [Oscar Nominated Documentary Shorts 2015](http://dalempollock.com/oscar-nominated-documentary-shorts-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog finds this year's complement of Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts to be the strongest in recent memory. They also indicate a new and interesting development in the personal documentary that serves as the visual memoir, a cousin but not a sibling to its literary counterpart. The most riveting short (at 40 minutes, this
- [Timbuktu](http://dalempollock.com/timbuktu/) - Movie a Day Blog finds it not so remarkable that TIMBUKTU (2014, Theatrical) is the first African film nominated for an Oscar directed by a non-white director. After all, look at this year's slate of lily-white nominees in all the creative categories of the Academy Awards, and the Academy's failure to honor a native African
- [Leviathan (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/leviathan-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog was not surprised to read news reports that the Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film from Russia would probably not be widely shown in that country, if at all. LEVIATHAN (2014, Theatrical) is a strong if depressing indictment of the corruption, privilege and abuse of power that still rule small
- [Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (2015)](http://dalempollock.com/oscar-nominated-animated-shorts-2015/) - Movie a Day Blog was beginning to despair about this year's nominees for the Best Animated Short Academy Award until the final entry came along. A SINGLE LIFE (2014, Theatrical) was in my estimation the most innovative and effective of all the cartoons I watched. It's less than two and a half minutes long, a
- [The Interview](http://dalempollock.com/the-interview/) - Movie a Day Blog wants to point out that it did not purchase the video on demand version of THE INTERVIEW (2014, Netflix Streaming), and did not venture out to see it in an art theater, the only ones willing to play it. I saw no reason to reward Sony Pictures for their, and the
- [Black or White](http://dalempollock.com/black-or-white/) - Movie a Day Blog can't blame Kevin Costner for trying to reignite his film acting career, taking some lessons, as every actor his age is doing, from the miraculous reincarnation of Liam Neeson as an action star. Unlike Neeson, Costner is still trying to prove he has potent dramatic chops, too, and his latest example
- [Project Almanac](http://dalempollock.com/project-almanac/) - Movie a Day Blog has never been a fan of the found-footage trend that now dominates exploitation cinema. It has been explained to me that it's a generational preference; a normally-shot film now seems boring and cheesy, while found footage, in the era of manufactured reality television, somehow feels more "real." That's a windy introduction
- [The Gambler (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/the-gambler-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog is a firm believer in the adage that there is no sense in remaking a good movie. A second effort will inevitably be compared to the original, and will usually come up short. Such is the case with THE GAMBLER (2014, Theatrical), which does a bad job of trying to retell
- [Foxcatcher](http://dalempollock.com/foxcatcher/) - Movie a Day Blog constantly surprises ourselves by the films we neglected to write about when we first saw them. The latest, and a significant Academy Awards contender, is FOXCATCHER (2014, Theatrical), Bennett Miller's meditative essay on money, power and sex, all among men. Miller is almost 50 but has only directed four feature films,
- [Citizenfour](http://dalempollock.com/citizenfour/) - Movie a Day Blog is well on its way to its goal of posting on every film nominated for the Academy Awards this year, in every category. (Look in the Movie a Day Blog Archive for previous posts.) Much work awaits, but the effort is rewarded by a film such as CITIZENFOUR (2014, Theatrical). This
- [Whiplash](http://dalempollock.com/whiplash/) - Movie a Day Blog loves when an independent film comes along and steals the thunder from much larger and more heavily-pushed Academy Award contenders. That's why the success and recognition of WHIPLASH (2014, Theatrical) is so gratifying; think what it must feel like to writer-director Damian Chazelle. Even if he didn't get a Best Director
- [The Theory of Everything](http://dalempollock.com/the-theory-of-everything/) - Movie a Day Blog believes the most overrated and most over-nominated Academy Awards contending film is THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2014, Theatrical), James Marsh's unusual but ultimately unsatisfying domestic drama about the physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane. This is not to besmirch at all the reputation and very deserved nomination of Felicity
- [Blackhat](http://dalempollock.com/blackhat/) - Movie a Day used to be an admirer of director Michael Mann for his showy, no-holds-barred visual and dramatic aesthetic, as reflected in films such as THIEF (1981), HEAT (1995), and COLLATERAL (2004), one of the first major features to shoot digitally. He made countless women around the world swoon to Daniel Day Lewis' bare
- [Selma](http://dalempollock.com/selma/) - Movie a Day Blog was surprised to discover when posting about UNBROKEN (2014, Movie a Day 1/12/15) that somehow I had failed to write my thoughts about SELMA (2014, Theatrical), an important and well-made film that deserves serious attention. Timing is everything in the movie business, and at first it seemed that SELMA's couldn't be
- [Unbroken (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/unbroken-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog can't exactly feel sorry for Angelina Jolie, but things have not been going her way. First she gets dissed in hacked Sony emails by producer Scott Rudin, who rarely has a good word to say about anyone. Then her early-Oscar-favorite films UNBROKEN (2014, Theatrical) loses all of its gas, and unlike
- [American Sniper](http://dalempollock.com/american-sniper/) - Movie a Day Blog faults itself for not taking Bradley Cooper seriously enough as an actor. He started in television and for years he acted like a TV performer: lots of surface dazzle, but not much substance. This is the guy, after all, who starred in THE A TEAM (2010) and did all three HANGOVER
- [Still Alice](http://dalempollock.com/still-alice/) - Movie a Day Blog had been hearing all fall that Julianne Moore was a lock to win the Best Actress Oscar this year for her unflinching performance in STILL ALICE (2014, Theatrical) as a victim of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. There are several other strong female roles in films this year, such as GONE GIRL (2014,
- [Mr. Turner](http://dalempollock.com/mr-turner/) - Movie a Day Blog is unaware of any filmmaker who has ever worked in the style perfected by British writer-director Mike Leigh. He comes up with a concept, gathers a group of actors who improvise, brainstorm and build their characters and their story from the ground-up. Leigh then goes off and writes a script, the
- [Two Days, One Night](http://dalempollock.com/two-days-one-night/) - Movie a Day Blog has always been fascinated by the concept of two brothers working together as film directors on one film. There are a surprising number of successful examples, from Joel and Ethan Coen to Jay and Mark Duplass, not to mention the Taviani brothers from Italy, the Quay Brothers from England and numerous
- [Big Eyes](http://dalempollock.com/big-eyes/) - Movie a Day Blog remains a die-hard Tim Burton fan, however uneven his recent work has been. Burton has always possessed a fully cinematic imagination, from his very first animated short VINCENT (1982), made while he was a student at CalArts, to his special effects extravaganza (and worldwide boxoffice hit) ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010). But
- [Inherent Vice](http://dalempollock.com/inherent-vice/) - Movie a Day Blog thinks maybe you have to be Jeff Lebowski (the Dude, not the old, stern fraud in a wheelchair) to really appreciate INHERENT VICE (2014, Theatrical), since the protagonist played by Joaquin Phoenix is a not-distant relative to the title character of the Coen Bros.' cult favorite, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998). Like
- [The Imitation Game](http://dalempollock.com/the-imitation-game/) - Movie a Day Blog loves it when an actor not only lives up to his hype, but exceeds in by delivering an even more superlative performance than expected. Benedict Cumberbatch fulfills this destiny with THE IMITATION GAME (2014, Theatrical), a very good if not great oblique biography of Alan Turing, the British mathematician who broke
- [Wild](http://dalempollock.com/wild/) - Movie a Day Blog generally tries to avoid reading popular books because before they are adapted into movies. This strategy worked well with GONE GIRL (2014, Movie a Day Blog 10/7/14), where I knew none of the impending twists and turns, and therefore enjoyed the movie more than the book readers I spoke to, many
- [The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies](http://dalempollock.com/the-hobbit-the-battle-of-the-five-armies/) - Movie a Day Blog feels that no one must feel more relieved by the end of THE HOBBIT trilogy than Peter Jackson. After all, he has spent the last 13 years creating his own cinematic mythology from J.R.R. Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS and its slim predecessor volume, THE HOBBIT. Come to think of it,
- [Into the Woods](http://dalempollock.com/into-the-woods/) - Movie a Day Blog believes that it is increasingly difficult to come up with a film musical that clicks with contemporary audiences the way the classic Hollywood musicals did with their fans in the 1940s and 50s. Rob Marshall overcame that hurdle with his film adaptation of CHICAGO (2002), which won six Oscars, including one
- [Goodbye to All That](http://dalempollock.com/goodbye-to-all-that/) - Movie a Day Blog always appreciates when a writer finally gets to direct his own work, and does a good job of it. Angus MacLachlan earns his stripes on GOODBYE TO ALL THAT (2014, Theatrical), an audience-pleasing comedy with enough drama to make the characters and their evolving situation realistic and empathetic. Paul Schneider, a
- [Exodus: Gods and Kings](http://dalempollock.com/exodus-gods-and-kings/) - Movie a Day Blog doesn't exactly feel sorry for Ridley Scott. After all, he's a millionaire several times over and is still actively making big movies at the age of 77, a claim few of his contemporaries can make. His problem is that he wants to direct big, sweeping epics that touch on the major
- [Nightcrawler](http://dalempollock.com/nightcrawler/) - Movie a Day Blog finds it exciting to watch an actor shape his persona and career into something almost tangible, a way of identifying him for years or even decades to come. Jake Gyllenhaal is beginning to do that, as evidenced by NIGHTCRAWLER (2014, Theatrical), his latest and most succesful portrayal of a modern urban
- [Force Majeure](http://dalempollock.com/force-majeure/) - Movie a Day Blog looks forward to the Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film competition as much as any aspect of the Oscars. Watching the films different countries nominate, sometimes for artistic and sometimes for political reasons, is a fascinating exploration of global cinema. A strong contender for this year's slate of five nominees has
- [The Double (2013)](http://dalempollock.com/the-double-2013/) - Movie a Day Blog has a theory why there are so many doppelganger movies surfacing recently; it's the same reason the future is always dystopian in current science fiction. We seem divided from our natural selves, and the despoiling of an entire planet is just one reflection of that. THE DOUBLE (2013) is the latest
- [Magic in the Moonlight](http://dalempollock.com/magic-in-the-moonlight/) - Movie a Day Blog knows that it is not fashionable to admire Woody Allen. His stepdaughter's allegations of sexual abuse have a plausibility that Allen's courtship and marriage to his own stepdaughter helped create. The problem of separating artist from art would be more acute if Allen were making very good movies, work at all
- [Love is Strange](http://dalempollock.com/love-is-strange/) - Movie a Day Blog is surprised by how distinct and separate the gay film market is from the mainstream movie-making and -showing business we generally refer to as Hollywood. The classification now contains various genres of films for the LGBT community, from romantic comedies to thrillers and horror films. One director who has made some
- [Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)](http://dalempollock.com/birdman-or-the-unexpected-virtue-of-ignorance/) - Movie a Day Blog loves being poleaxed by a movie: stunned into silent and total belief in the story being told on screen. Such was my experience with BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE). 2014, Theatrical), the most audacious, creative and successful film I have seen this year. Kudos to writer-director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
- [Interstellar](http://dalempollock.com/interstellar/) - Movie a Day Blog is fascinated by the frenzy that develops around certain highly-anticipated films as they are ready to be unleashed on a fervent group of fans. My students wanted me to cancel class so they could attend INTERSTELLAR (2014, Theatrical), an occurrence I'm sure took place on colleges across the country, not just
- [Early Summer](http://dalempollock.com/early-summer/) - Movie a Day Blog is doing an independent study these days on the famed Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, whose films inspired filmmakers as diverse as Terrence Malick and Paul Schrader. We are going through select Ozu titles in chronological order, and it's fascinating to see his visual and dramatic aesthetic evolve through different periods. EARLY
- [Before I Go To Sleep](http://dalempollock.com/before-i-go-to-sleep/) - Movie a Day Blog has great admiration for Nicole Kidman. She is one of the few actresses to take real chances in the roles she chooses, in both independent and mainstream films. I think she's the most underrated screen performer of her generation -- by contrast, just look at Gwyneth Paltrow. Can you imagine her
- [The Two Faces of January](http://dalempollock.com/the-two-faces-of-january/) - Movie a Day Blog has become a great admirer of the late British mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith. An eccentric individual in her own right, her books have inspired several outstanding films, most notably STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999). So my interest was piqued by a new Highsmith adaptation I
- [Dear White People](http://dalempollock.com/dear-white-people/) - Movie a Day Blog has a long history with black cinema. I produced an iconic black action drama, SET IT OFF (1996) starring Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett, and another mostly-black film with Denzel Washington, THE MIGHTY QUINN (1989). I am a longtime fan of Blaxploitation Cinema, a sometimes-genuine explosion of black culture and politics
- [Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff](http://dalempollock.com/cameraman-the-life-and-work-of-jack-cardiff/) - Movie a Day Blog knows that documentaries about filmmakers can often be boring and technical to those not involved in the business. This is not true of CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF (2010, Netflix DVD, TCM), a fascinating look at an artist whose medium is not canvas or metal, but light itself.
- [Fury (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/fury-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog takes some weird pride in viewing FURY (2014, theatrical) as an amalgam of two films I produced, THE BEAST (1988) and A MIDNIGHT CLEAR (1992). As in THE BEAST, the primary focus of FURY is on a tank crew, how they interact and interrelate, and the toll war takes on them
- [Filth](http://dalempollock.com/filth/) - Movie a Day Blog loves a blunt title, and FILTH (2013, Netflix Streaming) certainly lives up to its disreputable billing. Once again, we're on a downward spiral of a power-hungry cop fighting a losing battle with his demons, and taking us prisoner along with him. James McAvoy is an Edinburgh detective gunning for a big
- [Who Is Dayani Cristal?](http://dalempollock.com/who-is-dayani-cristal/) - Movie a Day Blog knows that the definition of what constitutes a documentary film is shifting. No longer simply cinema verite or advocacy, documentary has become more personal, more idiosyncratic, and frankly, more interesting. Films such as Sarah Polley's STORIES WE TELL (2012), that actually cast actors to play her parents in a documentary about
- [Chef](http://dalempollock.com/chef/) - Movie a Day Blog now tries to make an informed decision every time an interesting-sounding movie is released theatrically: is this a big screen experience, best seen in a theater with an audience, or is an acceptable video title, to be watched at home (I refuse to honor the third category, watching on the go).
- [Time Traveller (2010)](http://dalempollock.com/time-traveller-2010/) - Movie a Day Blog takes film recommendations from my students seriously, so when one of them rhapsodized about a movie called THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (2006), I sought it out. Lo and behold, it seemed to turn up on Amazon Instant as TIME TRAVELLER: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (2010). Close enough,
- [D'artagnan is the Champion](http://dalempollock.com/dartagnan-is-the-champion/) - Movie a Day Blog has to give full disclosure: Melissa Palmer worked as my assistant for a period in the late 1990s, and she was a wonderful employee: smart, efficient and personable. Now it turns out she's a talented documentarian based on the screening I saw of her first film, D'ARTAGNAN IS THE CHAMPION (2014).
- [Gone Girl](http://dalempollock.com/gone-girl/) - Movie a Day Blog had a horrible feeling about 10 minutes into David Fincher's new film, GONE GIRL (2014). The dialogue by screen adapter and original novelist Gillian Flynn sounded like warmed-over Ben Hecht-Charles Lederer banter from HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940), and I thought for once Fincher might have lost his way. Nope, he's too
- [Together](http://dalempollock.com/together/) - Movie a Day Blog realizes that just as Swedish detective fiction has proved enormously popular, so has Swedish filmmaking. No longer simply Ingmar Bergman's province of the dark Scandinavian soul, Swedish films are now cutting edge in how they present crime (the GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO trio of adaptations) and even vampires (Tomas Alfredson's
- [The Fabulous World of Jules Verne](http://dalempollock.com/the-fabulous-world-of-jules-verne/) - Movie a Day Blog is teaching a course in the History of International Animation, which is always great fun because of the innumerable forms animation can take across the globe. Most animations fall into recognizable patterns: hand-drawn or 2-dimensional, computer-rendered 2D and 3D animation, etc. Then there are the true oddities that refuse to easy
- [Le Week-End](http://dalempollock.com/le-week-end/) - Movie a Day Blog has to admit to growing identification with the swelling ranks of movies about aging baby-boomers. Whether it's Geezer Mumble Core, as in LAND HO! (2014, Movie a Day Blog 9/15/14)), or Geezer communal living, as in THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011), just what's happening to their generation is clearly preoccupying
- [Terror at the Mall (2014)](http://dalempollock.com/terror-at-the-mall-2014/) - Movie a Day Blog admires HBO for continuing to churn out one fascinating documentary after another under the stewardship of Sheila Nevins. Rarely does an HBO Documentary Films production disappoint, and the latest compelling example is TERROR AT THE MALL (2014), a riveting account of the violent takeover one year ago of an upscale shopping
- [Nymphomaniac : Vol. II](http://dalempollock.com/nymphomaniac-vol-ii/) - Movie a Day Blog promised an examination of both parts of Lars von Trier's controversial deep-dive into excessive female sexuality, since he really intended it to be one four-hour-plus film. Von Trier's exploration in NYMPHOMANIAC: VOL II (2013,Netflix Streaming) of the erotic misadventures of Joe, this time played almost exclusively by the enigmatic actress Charlotte
- [The Model and the Marriage Broker](http://dalempollock.com/the-model-and-the-marriage-broker/) - Movie a Day Blog has made its deep and abiding love for classic cinema quite clear since we started doing this blog four years ago, and one of our favorite directors has always been George Cukor. A master of the "woman's picture," Cukor was among the most sensitive filmmakers in the studio system to the
- [Tusk](http://dalempollock.com/tusk/) - Movie a Day Blog can feel its nasty juices heating up, a condition of extreme displeasure with cinematic failure. The latest and most deserving victim is TUSK (2014), Kevin Smith's newest and stupidest film to date, a hopelessly lame exercise in stoyrtelling, acting and direction. There have been many Kevin Smiths in movie history: directors
- [Enemy](http://dalempollock.com/enemy/) - Movie a Day Blog is all for the obscure and elusive in cinema when it works. But when surrealism, exaggeration, unreality and symbolism fail to gel into something that is at least comprehensible, the frustrated viewer is left with a feeling of having wasted one's time. I am that frustrated viewer and ENEMY (2013) is
- [The Trip to Italy](http://dalempollock.com/the-trip-to-italy/) - Movie a Day Blog has always admired the daring of British director Michael Winterbottom in his willingness to mix fact and fiction in his films, from his early work such as WELCOME TO SARAJEVO (1997) to 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (2002). Winterbottom is also content to disappear from his work almost entirely, as he does
- [Land Ho!](http://dalempollock.com/land-ho/) - Movie a Day Blog has difficulty objectively viewing the work of alumnae of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking, since I inevitably end up rooting for their success. That doesn't mean I always like their movies, as Aaron Katz, the co-director of LAND HO!(2014) would attest since we turned
- [Nymphomaniac: Vol. I](http://dalempollock.com/nymphomaniac-vol-i/) - Movie a Day Blog never knows quite what to think of Danish director Lars von Trier. On one level, he is an accomplished and skillful film director, able to extract wonderful performances from actors who seem always a bit unsure of just what they've gotten themselves into. On the other hand, von Trier is an
- [Calvary](http://dalempollock.com/calvary/) - Movie a Day Blog has long admired the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, who can do everything from the HARRY POTTER movies to serious drama, as evidenced in his last collaboration with writer-director John Michael McDonagh, THE GUARD (2011). Their new film together, CALVARY (2014) -- I came up with a lot of Westerns on IMDb

## Pages

- [Workshops and lectures](http://dalempollock.com/workshops/) - Summer 2026 ARTtalk: “Curating Global Cinema,” Dale Pollock June 30, 20264:00 pm - 5:00 pmTurchin Center for the Visual Arts Calle Malaga June 30, 20267:30 pmSchaefer Center for the Performing Arts Sentimental Value July 14, 20267:30 pm Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts Sirat July 21, 20267:30 pm Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts _________________________________________________________________________________________ Spring 2026
- [TV & Radio](http://dalempollock.com/appearances/) - CURRENT TV APPEARANCES: Dale Pollock appears on WXII-TV reviewing current films and TV series. Below are links to some of the most current reviews: http://What to watch: Dale Pollock gives his 'popcorn rating' on latest movies and shows - WXII ARCHIVE: http://www.wxii12.com/article/what-to-watch-with-dale-emilia-perez-and-more/63184331 _____________________________________ "OnMic" podcast with Jordan Rich, Dale Pollock is interviewed about CHOPPED: A
- [About Dale](http://dalempollock.com/about/) - Buy CHOPPED on Amazon Audiobooks now available on Amazon! Dale M. Pollock Dale Pollock was born in Cleveland, Ohio, earned a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University in 1972 and eventually earned his masters in communications from San Jose State University. In 1977, he began his career writing for Daily Variety. He became
- [Books](http://dalempollock.com/books/) - We are thrilled that the audiobook version of "Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas" is now available on Amazon books. Big thanks to our excellent narrator, #JordanRich! https://www.amazon.com/Skywalking-Updated-Films-George-Lucas/dp/B0DDZBRFHQ _____________________________________ CHOPPED: A NOVEL https://www.audible.com/pd/Chopped-Audiobook/B0D2JMHBMG A vintage crime/murder mystery/romance novel based on Dale's wife's great-great-grandfather, Dr. James Winchell Stone, and the infamous Webster-Parkman murder trial
- [In The News](http://dalempollock.com/about/168-2/) - Dale M Pollock retired as Emeritus Professor in the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in August 2020. He continues to write, review films, and lecture on the power of the film experience. ________________________________________________________________ We are thrilled that the audiobook version of "Skywalking: The Life and Films of
- [Films](http://dalempollock.com/films/) - Bats (1999) (executive producer) As a result of a government experiment gone wrong, bats have suddenly become intelligent, vicious, and omnivorous, and are attacking people near Gallup, Texas. Bat specialist Sheila Casper and her assistant Jimmy are brought in to aid the local sheriff (Lou Diamond Phillips) but can they stop the bats before the military
- [Contact](http://dalempollock.com/contact/) - Email Dale: dale.pollock@gmail.com Dale M Pollock's Wikipedia Page https://www.linkedin.com/feed/ Friend Dale M Pollock on Facebook

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