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The Heat Is On (2007 Jul 04)

For many in the northern hemisphere, July represents the start of summer - outdoor barbecues, days on the beach, nights lying out under the stars. For Hollywood, July is the beginning of the end of the blockbuster season. With movies being so ...

The Hate Mail File (2007 Jan 18)

I promised a while ago to share some of the hate mail I have gotten. I often save these missives, although most of the recent ones haven't been as creative as some of the older classics. Generally, I don't respond to hate mail, since a response is ...

The Halftime Top 10 (2007 Jul 29)

Slightly belated, but better late than never (as they say), this year's "halftime" Top 10 will represent January through July, rather than January through June, as has been the case in the past. Historically, about the top two or three titles on ...

The Fifth Cylon (and other TV Tidbits) (2007 Mar 29)

SPOILERS for: the third season of Battlestar Galactica, the second season of Rome, and the sixth season of 24.Now that Battlestar Galactica has shown its hand for the season finale, it's as good a time as any to look back at the past season and ...

The Fat Lady Sings (2007 Jun 11)

SPOILERS for the final episode of The Sopranos...So, for fans of the long-running HBO mob drama, the fat lady has sung, but did she hit a low note or a high one?By now, the controversy has boiled over, being discussed in front of water coolers, on ...

The Empty Box (2007 Dec 17)

When I was a child, the two most unfriendly terms that came with Christmas morning gifts were "batteries not included" and "some assembly required." For the most part, my parents were good about having a small mountain of AA, AAA, C, and D cells ...

The Dog Days (2007 Aug 05)

There are three definitions of "summer" in the northern hemisphere. Going purely by the calendar and the stars, summer starts two-thirds of the way through June and ends two-thirds of the way through September. Based on holidays, school, and ...

The Doctor Is In (2007 Apr 15)

The average life cycle of a television program is a known quantity: birth, first-run, repeats, death, syndication, DVD release. For some shows, the steps get jumbled a bit (with repeats and first-run episodes interspersed and DVD releases preceding ...

THE DAY (2007 Aug 21)

NOTE: There are no Harry Potter spoilers in this column.For fans of the Harry Potter book series, today is THE DAY. For months, it has been red-lettered on calendars. Countdowns have been done. Anticipation has risen to a level that, at least for ...

The Closing Window (2007 Mar 12)

Let's go back in time about 20 years... back to when the idea of renting movies on videotape was relatively new and the concept of a "home theater" was the province of wealthy videophiles. In the mid-1980s, the typical length of time between when a ...

The Case Against... (2007 Jan 30)

I find myself trapped between the belief that all film critics should write something about Oscar nominations and the assertion that all articles about Oscar nominations are inherently dull. I have read probably a dozen Oscar related columns during ...

The Advertiser's Dilemma (2007 Sep 18)

In the realm of entertainment, advertising makes the world go 'round. I have learned this through experience. The TV networks are about to be reminded of it the hard way thanks to a device commonly referred to as a Digital Video Recorder (DVR). In...

Thanksgiving or Turkeys? (2007 Nov 04)

Okay, so October wasn't a great month for movies. It's not just that there weren't many worthy options out there (Gone Baby Gone and Things We Lost in the Fire were the best), but there wasn't a lot to get excited about. That's why revenue and ...

Submerged in the Role (2007 May 10)

The art of acting is a complex and difficult discipline. Distilled to its essence, it requires that the actor perform a not-to-simple feat: convince an audience that something artificial is real, that he/she is someone other than who he/she really ...

Stats (2007 Mar 26)

It fascinates me how interested some readers are in ReelViews traffic statistics. Not a week goes by when I don't get at least one friendly inquiry asking about the site's number of hits. Hopefully, this column with satisfy all with such curiosity...

Snapping at Turtles (2007 Mar 23)

I don't hate turtles. When I was a kid, I can remember wandering around my backyard or in the adjacent woods looking for them. I'd catch them, put them in a topless shoebox overnight (usually with a dish of water and a few lettuce leaves), then let...

Sicko Pirates (2007 Jun 24)

By now, everyone is probably aware that an "unauthorized" copy of Michael Moore's Sicko has appeared on-line. But is this a case of brazen piracy or is it an incident of savvy marketing? If it is the latter, Moore will never admit it (nor will his ...