Melanie Dishman's archive

Ironically, Hollywood shows that sexual harassment is nothing new

Seeing “The Battle of the Sexes” and “Victoria and Abdul” back to back proves that sexual harassment has been around for ages. Not in same manner as being locked in a hotel room with Harvey Weinstein, but the more garden variety harassment women have put up with for, well, centuries.

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Aronofsky’s latest is worth seeing – once

First things first. This is not a horror film in the true sense of the genre. It’s masquerading as a horror movie because it defies any kind of traditional category other than “carnival ride.” I haven’t had this kind of “WTH” response to a movie since Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut,” which in the end, I decided, was an elaborate practical joke executed purely by the filmmaker for his own pleasure.

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They’re right, you can’t go home again

It must be in the genes because Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the director of “Home Again,” is also the daughter of Nancy Meyers, otherwise known as the queen of romantic comedies — albeit upper middle class and beyond. Everything about a NM rom-com is pretty — pretty people leading pretty privileged lives in pretty homes — and now her daughter offers the same heaping helping of unreality.

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Taylor Sheridan a filmmaker to follow

Taylor Sheridan is probably best remembered as the deputy in “Sons of Anarchy” who didn’t make it past the second season. It’s best to think of him as a writer and director now, and in his two previous films, “Sicario” about the drug trade and “Hell or High Water” with two bank-robbing brothers, Sheridan has solidified his credibility as both.

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Did anyone have a happy childhood?

Everyone has a story. That’s why the memoir business thrives. In recent times, it really can be traced back to Mary Karr’s “The Liar’s Club” (1995), a raw account of her childhood under the care of two very dysfunctional parents who happened to live right here in Southeast Texas. It sparked a memoir renaissance as knowns and unknowns decided they also had stories to tell. Karr milked two follow-ups, one of which, “Lit,” has been purchased by HBO with the hopes that it will be adapted for television.

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