Brianland

Lobby display at Lincoln Square Theater in NYC . For the last several years, there’s been one or two movies that really resonated as masterpieces — and this year The Invite kept that streak going.  Knives Out — 2019 Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood — 2019 Hamilton — 2020 Babylon — 2022 Barbie — 2023 A Complete Unknown — […]

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. on the Hunter Thompson & The Beat Generation panel at GonzoFest July, 17, 2026 — photo by Erin Hemmer . On my recent July return to my beloved NYC, I stayed in the old hotel next door to where I basically grew up in New York — the north-west corner of Washington Square Park […]

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poster art by Grant Goodwin . I was asked to be part of the Hunter Thompson GonzoFest 2026 in New York City to talk about how he connected to the Beat Generation.  We ended up doing a kinda roundtable jam on the subject with an all-star cast — Kurt Hemmer moderating, biographers David Wills & […]

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Musicians’ Movie Masterpiece — ‘Round Midnight movie breakdown, background & review . Jazz sparks the synapses and lifts the spirits — and ‘Round Midnight lives up to its genre.  I can barely get through any 15 minutes of this film without it firing me off into unexplored stratospheres of beauty, tingling with goosebump awe. There’s […]

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. The only full concert John Lennon ever played after The Beatles was a benefit for handicapped children held at Madison Square Garden — and fortunately it was filmed by ABC for a TV special that aired in December of 1972.  That multi-camera footage has now been upscaled to 4K, remastered in vibrant Dolby Atmos […]

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A question prompted by repeated viewings of One Battle After Another . . . What do  I  think are the Greatest Movies Ever Made? [as of April 2026 . . . subject to change  🙂 ] Robert Altman’s masterpiece The Player has movie exec Griffin Mills’ list the elements that make a successful film: “Suspense, […]

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2025 on-stage photo by Rick Melnick . From Editor Simon Warner’s introduction . . . We are very pleased to unveil a new feature at Rock and the Beat Generation, a series of interviews gathered under the heading ‘Generation Beat’ which will focus on a number of transatlantic trailblazers who have carried the Beat torch into […]

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One Scene After Another . “To make a film is easy.  To make a good film is war.  To make a great film is a miracle.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . […]

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Casting a Spell . . One Battle After Another is rightly being hailed as a masterpiece for the ages. I saw it on both opening night and closing night in Toronto on different IMAX screens, plus six more times in between at various other theaters. Months before it opened, I saw the photo of Leo […]

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Best Movies Watched in 2025 . Since people seem to love year-end lists — from critics’ picks to people’s own music streaming results — Sky suggested I make one for the best movies I watched this year.  Never did one of these before, but thought I could share some highlights that might lead some to […]

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