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Network Programmer: Home Edition (2006 Nov 26)

When I was a child, the concept of "television" was a simple one. Certain programs were linked to certain nights, and that was it. If you liked a show, you tried to see it. If you loved a show, you made sure you were available. There were no second...

No Longer the Largest Non-Commercial Site on the Net (2006 Feb 17)

The naked Oscar nominees will have to wait a day or two, but I will get to them. First, however, it's necessary to inform everyone that I have decided to go commercial - sort of. No banner ads or pop-ups; just a couple of text links. But they are ...

No Winners (2006 Oct 19)

Of the many things that have become clear as Sony and Toshiba fire the opening salvos in what is sure to be a long, ugly format war, one stands out above all others: there will be no winners. Victory would provide redemption, but there's not likely ...

Nostalgia 101: Before Home Video (2006 Jun 16)

This is the third in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. These days, we have come to take it for granted that we can watch a beloved movie almost any time. If it's an older movie, it's probably available ...

Nostalgia 101: Big Theaters and Movie Palaces (2006 Jun 13)

This is the second in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. It was the evening of Friday, May 23, 1980. The Memorial Day weekend was officially underway, and I was on my way to see The Empire Strikes Back ...

Nostalgia 101: Drive-Ins (2006 Jun 11)

This is the first in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. Keep in mind, of course, that nostalgia is an age-related subject. I can't wax nostaglic about things I wasn't born for, and the 1990s feel too ...

Nostalgia 101: Skin-a-Max (2006 Jun 21)

This is the fourth in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. It is the mission of nearly every adolescent boy in life to seek out and locate images of naked women. I'm sure there's a biological imperative ...

Obligatory Oscar Nominations Commentary (2006 Jan 31)

Since I'm a film critic, I'm duty bound to write something about the Oscar nominations. I'm not going to go through them one-by-one as if I'm working my way down a shopping list. As long-time readers are aware, few things bore me more than the ...

One Year Later (2006 Mar 16)

With those three words, placed on screen 70 minutes into the 90-minute season finale of TV's Battlestar Galactica, everything changed. A schism developed amidst the series' fan base: those who loved what the show's producers did and those who hated ...

Overdosing on Borat (2006 Oct 06)

Somewhere under all the hype, buried beneath the screening invitations to the President, the comments by the Anti-Defamation League, and the press releases from Kazakhstan, there is a movie. However, it's getting difficult to remember that. Borat ...

Picking DVDs (2006 Oct 14)

Every once in a while, someone writes to ask how I choose which older DVDs I review. After all, there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it. At the moment, as I engage in an alphabetically themed stretch, there are two rules: (1) The movie ...

Raise the Orange Lantern?? (2006 Feb 23)

I know, I have promised something about naked Oscar winners, but I instead have delivered a DVD rant... Please be patient. Or take a cold shower. Or both.I started buying DVDs in 1997. Over nine years, my collection has grown from a few dozen to ...

Rewinding 2006: Performances (2006 Dec 26)

Rather than go through the pointless exercise of splitting performances into different categories, this year I have elected simply to take the ten most memorable performances and give them equal weight. They are arranged alphabetically; no ranking ...

Rewinding 2006: The Bottom 10 (2006 Dec 28)

One can't toss out a Bottom 10 list without putting it in context. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what constitutes "one of the worst films of the year," and some of these lists become heavily politicized. There are list-makers who ...

Rewinding 2006: The Top 10 (2006 Dec 30)

Like all lists, Top 10s are extremely personal. I would be surprised if anyone else (critic or otherwise) has an identical Top 10 list to mine. But therein lies the enjoyment of examining individual Top 10 lists: they provide insight into the ...

Seeing the Movie Instead (2006 Apr 16)

Yes, I'm that one person. The one person who has not read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. While everyone else chatters about the plot's twists and turns, and whether or not it's an affront to adherents of traditional Christian theology, I remain ...

Sequel Turkeys (2006 Nov 23)

Once question that has always aroused my curiosity is whether a bad sequel can damage an entire franchise. Or, to put it another way, can a single mediocre movie in a series of otherwise enjoyable films change a viewer's impression of the series as ...