Posts by Wesley Morris

June 10, 2013
Notes From Roland Garros, Pt. 4: The Threat of Terror and the French Open

So there we all were, seated in Court Philippe Chatrier, already in a mild state of alert. Would David Ferrer figure out a way to mount a real challenge to Rafael Nadal, after losing to him 16 consecutive times on clay? Would the overcast sky have mercy on the afternoon and keep the rain to […]
June 6, 2013
Notes From Roland Garros, Pt. 3: Does France Have a Tsonga Problem?

It wasn’t unthinkable that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could beat Roger Federer. On clay. In Paris. At Roland Garros. Maybe it was even likely. Tsonga is one of a handful of men who knows how to play Federer on any surface, how to stand strong under his relentlessness. But Federer relented quite a bit on Tuesday. He […]
June 3, 2013
Notes From Roland Garros

Rafa’s close shave, Federer’s sustained excellence, and the rest of the weekend at the French Open.
May 30, 2013
Au Revoir, Les Enfants: A Report From Roland Garros

The color of the clay at Roland Garros is spray-tan orange. In French, it’s “terre-battue,” as in “beaten earth.” But after the court’s been combed and brushed, it’s basically a glorious patch of suede. When it rains, the suede turns to mud. And off and on for the opening two rounds of this year’s tournament […]
May 28, 2013
Cannes Diary, Days 10-12: Spielberg, Explicit Sex, and a Seriously Shocking Win

The last day at Cannes is a bonanza for moviegoing. The festival screens every film in the main competition for the ticketed public and, later in the evening, stages the closing ceremonies, which culminate with the Palme d’Or. The screenings allow the world’s remaining movie press to catch up with whatever it was they missed […]
May 24, 2013
Cannes Diary, Day 9: Alexander Payne’s Gray New Movie, and — Finally — an Honest-to-Goodness Masterpiece

On the way into the new Alexander Payne movie this morning, it was obvious a lot of us were still recovering from yesterday’s Nicolas Winding Refn killathon. Only God Forgives has its defenders. In me, it’s got someone very sad to have missed the chance to watch the jury watch this movie, especially poor Naomi […]
May 23, 2013
The Trouble With Chicken: Talking Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods, and Racism

On Tuesday, golfer Sergio Garcia made a comment about inviting Tiger Woods over to serve him fried chicken. Woods responded the following day, via Twitter, noting that the comment “wasn’t silly” and was “wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate …” The story instantly became newsworthy, with much of the response coming down harshly on Garcia. Grantland […]
May 23, 2013
Cannes Diary, Day 8: Ryan Gosling’s New Movie Booed Out of France

Now this is more like it. Finally, a movie outrageous enough to make people stand up and boo. The honor goes to Only God Forgives, 90 minutes inside a barrel of Nicolas Winding Refn’s subconscious sexual nightmares. All the slicing and hacking makes it obvious: Refn is scared someone wants to take away his penis. […]
May 22, 2013
Cannes Diary, Day 7: Behind the Candelabra Changes Everything

When a week of constant moviegoing fails to rouse either unanimity or contentious division, the world’s film press gets a little antsy. Where is The Movie? You know, the one that will bring us to tears or to war. Where’s the movie that incites peals of laughter, intentional or otherwise? Where on earth are the […]
May 21, 2013
Small(er) Movie Roundup: Because Why Should Marvel and J.J. Abrams Have Everything?

Sometimes movies slip through the cracks and, for better or worse, I catch up with them. Here’s a handful, from the shirtless to the offensive to the gloriously ecstatic. Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols Ordinarily, two boys who happen upon Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon in the same movie have probably gone to heaven — […]

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