Note: This should not be misconstrued as a plea for help. I'm far too anal to cede control of any part of my main website to someone else. These are merely reflections about how much more is involved in the management side of running the site than ...
Reminiscences about old monster movies and how I first saw them - the infamous (and now defunct) Saturday afternoon TV show, "Creature Double Feature."
One question I am asked often enough that it should probably be entered into my FAQ goes something like this: Do you ever change a rating after going back and seeing a movie for a second time? The answer is "yes," but only rarely. The truth is that...
This past week, Robert Iger became the latest voice to join a growing chorus advocating a major overhaul of the current movie distribution system. With DVD sales outstripping ticket sales, the time has come to stop thinking of home video as a "...
This is one of those commentaries that, if written in a "real-world" publication, would generate limited (if any) controversy. But this isn't the real world. This the Internet, and the Internet is a place where all sorts of baseless rumors and ...
Generally speaking, consistency is a desirable quality in a film critic. It's how individuals use reviews to determine the likelihood of liking or disliking a movie. If a reader doesn't have a barometer for a critic, it's impossible to tell how ...
Ethics are a curious thing, since they define how we live our lives. Consider for a moment the importance of ethics across a wide span of life, from big business to politics to religion. Everyone has to develop their own personal code. I'm not ...
Over at rogerebert.com, the argument rages on: Can video games be art? This discussion is into its second year, and has its genesis further back. A few e-mails have asked my opinion about this issue. They presume - rightly or wrongly - that since I ...
"Beyond the darkness, beyond the human evolution, is Khan - a genetically superior tyrant. Exiled to a barren planet, banished by a starship commander he is destined to destroy, left for dead, he has survived."With those words, Star Trek II: The ...
June 9, 1989 should have been a special day, or at least a more special one than it was. My life was in flux at the time. I had just completed four years of undergraduate study and had entered the working force (my new place of employment would be ...
Backslider (n): One who slides back or falls away; one who abandons gradually the faith and practice of a religion that has been professed.When it comes to Star Trek, I must admit to being a backslider. Some might think the use of a term normally ...
I'm a planner, so the sudden, emergency need to move my website from movie-reviews.colossus.net to reelviews.net came as an unwelcome surprise, but it also galvanized me. As most of you who are reading this know, ReelViews has moved, and the ease ...
This past week's snowstorm, with its foot of snow, howling winds, and frigid temperatures, brought back memories of a similar (although bigger) storm a little more than 18 years ago. The snow totals from that epic early 1996 blizzard were more than ...
Brokeback Mountain is going to win the Best Picture Oscar. This is a bigger lock than Titanic or The Return of the King. It's pointless to ask whether it deserves the recognition - that's not what Oscar victories (or nominations, for that matter) ...
[Note: I don't want to get drawn into tedious arguments about whether the next decade begins in 2010 or 2011. Purists will argue that it starts in 2011 and, in an absolute sense, they're correct. But who really cares? Relativistically, any 10-year...
One unfortunate aspect of living so far from screening locations is that I occasionally have to miss a screening for one reason or another (a 2-hour movie eats up about 5 hours of my time). Admittedly, I don't have an overwhelming desire to see ...
Consider this to be my initial first-hand report on Blu-Ray, and its nature may surprise a few people. To start, it's necessary to note that for many videophiles, the fervor that accompanies adherence to a new technology or format borders on ...