Filters:
Sort by:
Summer Ramblings (2005 Jun 22)

In the northern hemisphere, the calendar has turned from spring to summer, bringing on thoughts of hot afternoons under a blazing sun and lazy, sultry evenings with thunder rumbling in the distance. For me, summer is nature's refund for winter. I ...

Talk about a Long Line (2005 Apr 08)

For those of who waiting with baited breath to hear what I have to say about "24" and "Lost," you'll have to wait another day or two. Something else caught my attention and I have to make mention of it. Last night, my wife told me about a news ...

The 12 (Actually, 13) Movies of Christmas (2005 Dec 06)

Let's face it... most Christmas movies are bad. They're enough to keep any self-respecting movie-lover up all night with visions of The Santa Clause and Jingle All the Way dancing in his/her head. To counter the charge that Christmas movies are all...

The Adam Sandler Story (2005 Aug 05)

It's unbelievable how upset some people can be made by a simple statement. In the midst of my Bay-bashing yesterday, I snuck in the following two sentences: "Adam Sandler's appeal is on the wane - witness the performance of The Longest Yard. (Since ...

The Art (or Lack Thereof) of the Trailer (2005 Apr 05)

Generally speaking, when I arrive at a theater, I like to get there as close as possible to the movie's start. I try to avoid all commercials and most trailers. One theater that I attend has a firm policy of NO commercials and THREE trailers (...

The Character Assassination of Max Baer? (2005 Jun 05)

"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story" - that's a good motto for narrative film makers to follow. While it's always nice to re-create history, sometimes a better story results from some improvisation. However, there are certain lines ...

The Dog Days (2005 Apr 28)

The term "dog days" originally referred to the morning rising of Sirius, the "Dog Star," but it might as well refer to the quality of movies that rise in multiplexes during August. Next to February, there is no worse month in which to be a movie-...

The Economics of a Night at the Movies (2005 Apr 15)

What better topic for Tax Day than to discuss how much it costs to take a date to the movies? (Feel free to ignore the following discussion if you routinely go alone and/or surf from theater-to-theater - a tactic that will allow you to see multiple ...

The Game's Afoot (2005 Nov 29)

Over the years, I have gotten my share of irate e-mails from annoyed devotees who don't think I give video games enough credit. I think at some point, I may have written something along the lines of "this movie has a plot worthy of a video game" - ...

The Gossip Pages (2005 Jun 11)

I have often wondered why people care so much about the private lives of actors and actresses. This is not a recent phenomenon - in fact, it predates movies - but the increasingly intrusive antics of the paparazzi have elevated it to new levels. ...

The Halftime Top 10 View (2005 Jul 01)

The "accepted" time of the year for Top 10 lists is the end of December, but the half-way mark is as good a point as any to give a snapshot of where things stand with most of the summer's big movies already on screens. As I list my mid-year Top 10, ...

The Joke's Up (2005 Apr 02)

One reason I no longer do April Fools' pranks is that they rarely work. I ran into a bunch of them yesterday while perusing on-line and was uniformly unimpressed. None of them were clever, and almost all of them called immediate attention to ...

The Lead Globes (2005 Dec 15)

Every year, I receive a few e-mails asking why I don't provide coverage of The Golden Globes. This year, the nominees answer that question. How is it possible to take seriously an awards show that fails to nominate Munich, while acknowledging both ...

The Living Room Factor (2005 May 14)

There are plenty of things to complain about regarding movie theaters: poor audio & video quality, out-of-frame pictures, sticky floors, indifferent employees, uncomfortable seats, an endless stream of ads before the start of the feature, and so on...

The Longest Month (2005 Dec 24)

For as long as I can remember, January has been my least favorite month. It's a long, bleak stretch from New Year's Day to Memorial Day, and this is only the beginning. On a sunny day, there are about nine hours of light. The daytime high ...

The Mind of the "Enemy" (2005 Nov 11)

I recently had an e-mail dialogue with someone whom I'm tempted to call "close-minded," although that may be an unfair label. The topic of discussion was the recent film Paradise Now, which tells the story of two potential suicide bombers. The film...

The Missing (2005 Jun 13)

It has come to the attention of several of my readers that I am skipping a few of the "high profile" summer releases. These are not accidental misses, but calculated ones. It's true that if I was a paid reviewer, I would have to force myself to ...