james wolcott takes on one of the enduring questions of our time on his blog, namely what the fuck is ed burns doing making movies? the brothers mcmullen was a joyously entertaining film on first viewing, especially if you had a feel for the whingy, faux-macho family dynamic presented in the film. the tell, though, about the film itself and burns in general was the fact that on subsequent viewings much of the joy evaporated, and the follow up film, she's the one, was lame and hollow. (somebody's gotta do a monograph on the relationship between tom petty and films. she's the one, the postman, if tom petty's all in, you know it's gonna be an epic disaster.) wolcott is all over the decline and death of burn's directorial career. he's now doing $10,000 camcorder movies, and i struggle to imagine what might be next. youtube-only star vehicles for rebecca black? burns is like a slightly more well-behaved kevin smith, and i'm sure both of them sometimes wish their first film was also their last--just like the rest of us do all the time.
it wasn't all hearts and flowers for maxine bahns.
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