I was originally going to write something about Motherfucking Snakes on a Plane, but that will have to wait... (Better to see it first, then write about it. Or not, as the case may be. Keep in mind that almost no one has seen it, but everyone is ...
Random thoughts that won't fill up an entire column...Contrary to what one e-mailer wrote, advertisements have not taken over my main movie page. Currently, there are four text links (two pairs of two) and one banner ad. It helps pay the bills. My...
It wasn't long ago that the concept of a "sequel" was a rarity. By that I mean the exception rather than the rule. There were a few each year - the lastest James Bond, the next Star Trek, another Rocky or Friday the 13th. But you could count on one...
When I'm asked if I recommend either United 93 or World Trade Center, I begin my response as follows: "If you can handle a movie about 9/11..." The qualifier is not meant to be sarcastic or condescending. It is not intended as a put-down. There are...
August is typically not a good month for movies. So, after looking at the release roster for the next four weekends (Aug 11, Aug 18, Aug 25, and Sep 1), the temptation is to hold my nose and state, "Time to wait for Toronto." Of course, there are ...
I thought about writing something about Mel Gibson today, but what's the point? Everyone else is writing about him. He joins Tom Cruise and Lindsay Lohan in the category of self-destructive celebrities. Gibson's problem is twofold: he's an ...
The following quote has been widely attributed to Good Morning America movie critic Joel Siegel: "Time to go! First movie I've walked out of in 30 fucking years!" The movie that so distrubed Siegel is Kevin Smith's Clerks II, a mildly raunchy but ...
Direct-to-DVD. Those words are not so much a label as they are a Scarlet Letter. If the industry wants to move forward with its stated goal of expanding the video market, the negative connotations associated with this term have to be removed. As long...
There are essentially four types of film critics, and there's not a lot of love lost between members of the different groups. That doesn't mean we can't get along, but it's like putting Democrats and Republicans in the same room. As long as you don...
The Dog Days have begun. They are so-named for that time of the year when Sirius (the "Dog Star") rises around the same time as the sun. That equates on the calendar to the period beginning in mid-July and ending in late August. Movie-lovers looking...
$132 million. I'll be damned. I didn't think it was physically possible for a 155-minute movie to make that much money over a three-day weekend.Consider the following... (All numbers are rounded off) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (or...
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 ...
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 has recently occurred to me that seemingly every superhero movie contains a romantic component. Superman has Lois. Spiderman has Mary Jane. Batman has a new girl in every film (must be those rubber nipples). Reed Richards has Sue Storm. ...
This is the fourth in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. It is the mission of nearly every adolescent boy in life to seek out and locate images of naked women. I'm sure there's a biological imperative ...
This is the third in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. These days, we have come to take it for granted that we can watch a beloved movie almost any time. If it's an older movie, it's probably available ...
This is the second in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. It was the evening of Friday, May 23, 1980. The Memorial Day weekend was officially underway, and I was on my way to see The Empire Strikes Back ...