Video View (2007 Dec 11)

New Movies on DVD: This week, it's pretty much all Potter and Bourne. Harry's fifth adventure, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has arrived on DVD along with Jason Bourne's third, The Bourne Ultimatum. Since the Harry Potter films are ...

Video View (2007 Dec 18)

New Movies on DVD: This is the last chance for distributors to get their movies onto store shelves before the holidays, so there are a fair number of late-summer, high-profile titles debuting this week. After today, things get quiet for a while. ...

Voting at the Box Office (2008 Mar 10)

"Programming" Notes: Going forward, additional chapters in the series "My Life as a Geek" will be posted on Thursdays. Also, it's unlikely there will be any weekend ReelThoughts in the near future, since I'm using Saturdays and Sundays to populate ...

Watching and Waiting (2009 Mar 03)

Can there be a March blockbuster? This is a question that hangs over Hollywood, casting its shadow into every nook and cranny. Even those who don't care a whit about Watchmen as a film recognize that the implications of its success (or lack thereof...

Weather Permitting (2007 Feb 13)

With stormy winter weather threatening the northeast, now seems as good a time as any to re-iterate why the word "expected" accompanies projected post dates for new reviews. That date assumes all goes well and that snow, sleet, or ice skating rinks ...

Welcome Back, Doctor (2011 Apr 22)

Once upon a time, the TV show Doctor Who was a cult phenomenon in the United States. Shown at strange hours mostly on PBS stations, the British sci-fi/fantasy show infamous for its (occasional) over-the-top acting and (frequent) bad special effects, ...

Welcome to the Forums (2009 Feb 14)

Regular readers of ReelThoughts know that, for about a year, I have struggled with the concept of somehow making ReelViews interactive. Reader opinion was split: about half of the e-mails I received encouraged me to go in this direction. The other ...

Welcome, Michael (2010 Jun 11)

This entry, which is part narrative and part rumination, will likely come across as indulgent. So be it. Michael Robert Berardinelli was born on May 12, 2010. The evening before he emerged from the cramped but safe confines of his mother's womb, I ...

Welcoming Who (2006 Mar 17)

For those in the United States who (a) don't live near the Canadian border, (b) don't have a region-free DVD player, or (c) don't play around in the land of bittorrents, tonight may represent a first exposure to a unique television show. At 9:00 EST...

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? (2008 Nov 30)

You get asked that question a lot as a kid. When I was little - by that, I mean four or five years old - I wanted to be a construction worker. At the time, the town was doing some major work on the dead-end street where my family lived and I spent ...

What Happens in Park City Stays in Park City (2006 Jan 29)

It has taken several years away from the Sundance Film Festival to give me a perspective that I didn't have when I was attending annually. After four consecutive, frustrating Januarys spent in Park City, I stopped going after air travel became ...

What Is ReelThoughts? (2004 Jan 05)

This is the newest feature offered by this website, and it has a couple of purposes. First of all, it will allow me to have a more open and immediate dialogue with readers. It will also permit me to address any issues that pop to mind without ...

What Theaters Can Do (2005 Dec 19)

Robert Iger is my hero. (Well, one of them.) The guy is unstoppable. Here's a man with some clout in the industry who believes that the release paradigm has to change - that the DVD release date needs to be rolled forward until it coincides (or ...

What Would George Do? (2018 Jun 14)

In 1971, George C. Scott refused the Oscar for "Patton." Would any actor today take such a dramatic stance to support, for example, the #metoo movement?

What's in a Decade? (2006 Jan 26)

Time is a strange thing, as many have remarked. Days (especially those spent on trans-Pacific flights) can seem to take forever, while ten years can pass in the blink of an eye. These days, the average American may have about eight decades of life...

What's in a Title? (2007 Oct 14)

In the near future, I will be moving into a new house. This is the perfect time to upgrade my home theater. My speakers are high end, so they don't need replacement, but I'll trade in my current TV for something sharper and spiffier, swap out my ...

When a Monster Makes Art (2012 Jan 11)

For many years, I have read the writings of Philadelphia Daily News baseball columnist Bill Conlin. For as long as I have followed the Phillies, Conlin has been there, first as a beat writer then as a featured columnist. He wrote about sports in ...