One week after the Superbowl, the insane controversy about Janet Jackson's right breast is still going strong. Since I last wrote about this subject (Monday 2/2), I have had a little time to reflect on it, and my incredulity has only grown. ...
An email sent to me yesterday read: "James, See that you loved NEW MOON as much as I did. You gotta check out the imdb rating splits. It will blow your mind."First, a word about IMDb ratings: they have their uses but to rely too heavily on them for...
Back in what I'll call "the VHS era," there was an alternative means for videophiles to get their fix - the laserdisc. Despite delivering suprior picture and audio quality than a standard videotape, the laserdisc never gained mass popularity. The ...
Now to an episode-by-episode overview of the new "Doctor Who." As I see it, the 13-epidode season is divided into two sections: the setup (episodes 1-7) and the payoff (episodes 8-13). Most of the bad stuff and the least successful stories comes ...
The BBC Science Fiction TV series "Doctor Who" first came to the United States in 1978, fifteen years after its debut in the U.K. (There were isolated instances of the program being shown pre-'78, but that was the year when Time-Life purchased four ...
Is it too much to ask that children be allowed to empty their trick-or-treat bags and inventory the contents before getting ready for Christmas? Apparently, it is, at least as far as Hollywood is concerned. So, ready or not, Disney is foisting The ...
Over the past 24 hours, I have given some thought as to why I find the Oscar telecast utterly unentertaining and more than a bit of a chore to sit through, and I think I have figured it out. Much as I love movies, I don't care about the trappings of...
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 ...
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...
This is something I have been doing for a few years: selecting a Top 10 for the January-June period. Since a majority of entries in the end-of-the-year Top 10 are released in November and December, presenting a mid-year list allows me to highlight ...
It figures that just as I get around to writing something about the "success" of the UMD format, the news is leaking into the mainstream media about its imminent demise. Oh well - timing is everything, and mine wasn't that good.Actually, though, the...
October 1982. My seventeenth birthday was nearly two years in the future and, unlike many of my contemporaries, I looked younger than my age. On that fateful afternoon, I was standing in the lobby of a single mega-theater (2000 seats), awaiting my ...
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 ...
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...
Here, verbatim, is my live commentary from last night's Oscar telecast. I will post something more analytical in a day or two discussing my overall feelings about the entertainment value of the program and whether the night was as historic as is ...
This year, without the blissful oblivion of the Toronto Film Festival to shield me from the reality of life, I have come to a realization: I dislike September. I'm probably in the minority making such a declaration and, since I was born during this ...