Like a dog to its vomit, I keep coming back to rants about the same pet peeves. Maybe it's because I spend so little time at general admission multiplex movies, but it's tough to surpress a wince of outrage every time a commercial appears on screen...
The "accepted" time of the year for Top 10 lists is the end of December, but the half-way mark is as good a point as any to give a snapshot of where things stand with most of the summer's big movies already on screens. As I list my mid-year Top 10, ...
A certain degree of eccentricity is expected from celebrities. After all, considering their offbeat career choices (they spend their time pretending to be someone else) and stratospheric salaries, it's unreasonable to think they'll be "just like ...
As amazing as it is to consider, box office receipts of $125 million in 12 days are viewed as disappointing. I'm sure the executives at Warner Brothers aren't in mourning, but there is no doubt that Batman Begins has underperformed. Expectations ...
In the 1980s, I was a big Star Trek fan. Not the kind who would dress up as Spock to attend a convention, but one who had seen all of the episodes multiple times and could rattle off an alarming number of quotes. A few weeks before the much-...
I was at a concert this past Saturday evening, and a little thing got me thinking about how much culture has changed since I was a kid. Change happens so slowly that it's almost imperceptible to those who are living through it. But when you examine...
In the northern hemisphere, the calendar has turned from spring to summer, bringing on thoughts of hot afternoons under a blazing sun and lazy, sultry evenings with thunder rumbling in the distance. For me, summer is nature's refund for winter. I ...
Based on a sampling of e-mails I received this morning, I am in the position of having to defend my decision to review Herbie Fully Loaded while ignoring The Perfect Man. Both are targeted at pretty much the same demographic, although one could make...
It's a well-known truth that there are no new stories to be told. But I wish Hollywood would do a better job of dressing up the old ones so it doesn't seem like every movie is a carbon-copy. As if it isn't bad enough that seemingly 1/3 of the high-...
You have to hand it to publicists (the smart ones, anyway): give them an opportunity, and they'll slurp it up... Recently, I was watching TV and an ad for a movie (I think it was Unleashed, but I'm not 100% sure) came on screen. Included among the ...
These days, it seems that almost every TV show known to man is available on Region 1 DVD. Even some of the most abysmal excuses for entertainment are showing up. ("T.J. Hooker," anyone?) Oddly, however, four of my favorite TV shows from the mid-to-...
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...
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 have often wondered why people care so much about the private lives of actors and actresses. This is not a recent phenomenon - in fact, it predates movies - but the increasingly intrusive antics of the paparazzi have elevated it to new levels. ...
Jet-lag is an annoyance, and my recent penchant for taking evening naps cuts into my writing time. I saw two 7:30 movies this week, and, without coffee, never would have stayed awake through either. That's the explanation for this week's slowdown ...
Just a few random thoughts about the book. If you're not interested, you can skip to tomorrow, when I'll provide my thoughts about the final episodes of a few TV series.The Price of the Crown was written in late 1990 and early 1991, approximately a ...
"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story" - that's a good motto for narrative film makers to follow. While it's always nice to re-create history, sometimes a better story results from some improvisation. However, there are certain lines ...