This is the first in an open-ended series looking back at film-related subjects from 20-30 years ago. Keep in mind, of course, that nostalgia is an age-related subject. I can't wax nostaglic about things I wasn't born for, and the 1990s feel too ...
I knew when I wrote the review for An Inconvenient Truth that there would be rough waves ahead. I don't enjoy reviewing movies with a political slant because of the volume of negative e-mail those reviews generate. (Actually, it's not the negativity ...
The main issue associated with reviving VideoViews (the site's DVD-related review page) hasn't been setting it up (it's only one page, and that one page has been cloned from the main new reviews page), but the weekly commitment necessary to update it...
(Contains spoilers for: season five 24, season two Lost, season two House.)With the approach of June, television enters the "summer season." When I was a kid, this was the "rerun season," when everything on TV was a repeat because no one stayed ...
SPOILERS AHOY!Now that I have seen the movie, I can address a few issues that I couldn't beforehand. For purposes of this column, I am assuming that the reader has either (1) also seen the movie, or (2) doesn't care if I give things away, like the ...
There are three kinds of Star Wars fans:(1) The obsessive die-hards. Those who have devoted a large portion of their lives and creative energies to the films, and for whom it has attained a nearly religious status.(2) The more-than-casual fans. ...
Every once in a while, I get an e-mail from someone asking me to write a "real" blog entry rather than a themed commentary. I usually demur, feeling that such "journal entries" can be egotistical and boring. (Unless you're Anne Frank, who wants to ...
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 ...
It has been said that even bad press is good publicity, and there's a certain amount of truth to that. There's certainly no lack of press (good and bad) surrouding the release of The Da Vinci Code, which opens on Friday. It's a curious thing to ...
There's a common misconception about film critics - that all we enjoy are stuffy, pretentious films that drag on interminably and are as lively as a stone gargoyle. While that probably describes some of the more esoteric and high-minded critics, it'...
It's well documented that I don't give out four star reviews easily. In fact, over the past 28 months, I have accorded this rating to only three movies: Maria Full of Grace, Munich, and United 93. My stinginess can be attributed to two things: an ...
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 ...
It was the darkest day since November 22, 1963. For those who awoke on that crisp, sunny morning and went to sleep under a cloud of anxiety and uncertainty, September 11, 2001 will not soon be forgotten. The passage of five years has mercifully ...
Those who are familiar with my reviews know that the average length of one is about 700 words. There are times, however, when I display a tendency to ramble. Often, especially for films in the ** to **1/2 range, I don't have a lot to say. Mediocrity...
As a critic, perhaps I shouldn't be so cynical about movies I haven't yet seen. So let me state up front that my comments below have nothing to do with a movie's quality or lack thereof. I haven't seen these pictures. For all I know, this could be...
Yes, I'm that one person. The one person who has not read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. While everyone else chatters about the plot's twists and turns, and whether or not it's an affront to adherents of traditional Christian theology, I remain ...
As has been widely publicized recently, studios have decreased the number of films being made available in pre-release screenings for critics. Hardly a week goes by when one or more films is held back from an advance exposure. One might construe ...