Making these predictions has become as annual a ritual as watching the Oscars. I do both with limited enthusiasm. Some people can't understand how I, a film critic, can dislike the Academy Awards. The reason is simple: they bore me. It's not an ...
No contest this year, but that hasn't stopped me from making my annual list of picks.
1. The WGA strike will not be settled but the writers will go back to work. With both sides deeply entrenched, the likelihood of a settlement is slim – at least any time in the near future. However, the repercussions of a prolonged strike could ...
It's all about the green - could there be a better subject for today?I recently read an article in which the author referred to the early 2009 box office as "inexplicable." I must challenge that description. Confusing? Perhaps. Surprising? ...
Over the years, Roger Ebert has maintained a position that he doesn't see any computer/video games as being "art." While I agree with him that I have yet to see a video game I would consider to be art, there are two points to consider: (1) I'm not ...
Can the ratings system be fixed? Perhaps, but only with radical action. Maybe not as radical as what I'm about to propose, but mere "tweaking" will not be enough. Out-of-the-box thinking is required, and there's not a lot of that in Hollywood. ...
I knew when I wrote the review for An Inconvenient Truth that there would be rough waves ahead. I don't enjoy reviewing movies with a political slant because of the volume of negative e-mail those reviews generate. (Actually, it's not the negativity ...
To date, the best movie I have seen this year is Touching the Void. Many critics are mistakenly referring to this as a documentary, but, based on the rules of factual filmmaking, it's not. More than 50% of what's on screen is an impressive re-...
There's a common misconception about film critics - that all we enjoy are stuffy, pretentious films that drag on interminably and are as lively as a stone gargoyle. While that probably describes some of the more esoteric and high-minded critics, it'...
I remember the last big format war: Beta versus VHS. It's the thing that kept my parents from buying a VCR until the path forward was clear. It kept the video recording industry from exploding until 1985, when VCRs could have become big three or ...
It's well documented that I don't give out four star reviews easily. In fact, over the past 28 months, I have accorded this rating to only three movies: Maria Full of Grace, Munich, and United 93. My stinginess can be attributed to two things: an ...
I read an article recently that discussed the propensity for younger members of society to flout certain copyright laws. According to the article, about 50% of the content on the "average" young person's iPod is illegally obtained. Does this mean we...
It's multiplex bashing time again! This is a semi-regular event in this space because the more time I spend in multiplexes, the more irritated I become. At this time of the year, with so many general releases falling into the "not screened for ...
Originally, I wasn't going to write anything about Roman Polanski's capture in Switzerland. It seemed to be a relatively minor news story. After all, his detainment and future extradition (or lack thereof) doesn't impact me directly. He's an old ...
When James Cameron's Titanic opened on December 19, 1997, there were a lot of nervous executives at 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, the two studios that had co-funded the hugely expensive, special effects-laden extravaganza. While most who ...
This past Tuesday came and went with barely a whimper. But do you know what day it was? Not the Ides of March - that was last week. Not St. Patrick's Day - that was Saturday. And not the First Full Day of Spring - that was yesterday (although, to...
The era of good manners is dead. I'm not sure exactly when it happened. When I was a kid, people still said "please" and "thank you." They held open doors, relinquished train and bus seats for the elderly and the infirm, and apologized if they said...