Big Fan (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

Patton Oswalt, left, and Kevin Corrigan in "Big Fan," directed by Robert Siegel.
Giants Die-Hard Takes One for the Team
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: August 28, 2009

The little man at the center of the spasmodically funny and bleak love story “Big Fan” doesn’t come with a halo slung over his head. His speeches are written in ballpoint with a heavy hand and delivered with bleats and bellows on the radio. (The words are so deeply inscribed on the page you could read them by touch.) He doesn’t come with a fanfare and, to judge by the square, squat cut of his jib, he’s an unlikely contender. He’s a regular guy or as close to regular as any 35-year-old can possibly be who sleeps under a poster of his favorite football star while tucked under a coverlet imprinted with the names of N.F.L. teams. More

Taking Woodstock (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

Demetri Martin as Elliot Tiber, flanked by Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton as his parents, in “Taking Woodstock.”
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: August 26, 2009

Don’t be misled by the title of Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock.” This likable, humane movie is not an attempt to recreate the epochal Woodstock Music and Art Fair captured in Michael Wadleigh’s documentary “Woodstock.” It is essentially a small, intimate film into which is fitted a peripheral view of the landmark event that took place on Aug. 15 through 18, 1969, on a dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., and has since been exalted ad nauseam for its good vibes. More

For you cheese lovers out there -- You know who you are

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Master Plan

My master plan to run out and see the early evening show of Woodstock has not come to fruition. You might even say it's failed.