In a word: lame.In two words: lame and long. (What, you expected me to be complimentary?)It took me 70 minutes (with ample exercising of my right index finger on the FF button) to slog through Sunday night's Oscarcast. I pity those who had to endure...
In actuality, I get more enjoyment out of making Oscar predictions than I do watching the telecast. It's sort of like entering an NCAA Men's Basketball Championship pool. I don't spend a lot of time watching the games (unless there's a team playing...
I was surprised by the saturation media coverage associated with the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and not just by the tabloid TV shows/journals but by the "major" news outlets. What should have been relegated to a back-page footnote or a one-column ...
With stormy winter weather threatening the northeast, now seems as good a time as any to re-iterate why the word "expected" accompanies projected post dates for new reviews. That date assumes all goes well and that snow, sleet, or ice skating rinks ...
There's nothing wrong with killing off characters in TV series and movie franchises, but there's a rule that should always be observed: Be respectful. Longevity plays into this. If the character has only been around for a few TV episodes or a movie ...
This isn't about the Bill Murray movie, but it uses the idea of the movie as a jumping-off point. The essence of Groundhog Day is simple: one day, lived over and over ad nauseum. With Groundhog Day, director Harold Ramis develops this premise to ...
If you're a Harry Potter fan, it doesn't get better than July. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it can't be a coincidence that the last Harry Potter novel (oddly titled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) arrives in bookstores a week after Harry...
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 ...
First, a few notes. I will be writing something next week about the Oscars, although I'm formulating how to do it in a way that's different from the other million columns written about the nominations. I dislike being boring and repetitive (...
As of today, ReelViews is officially eleven years old - not quite a teenager but getting close to puberty. Then again, maybe 'Net years are like dog years. That would make ReelViews 77.Much has changed since the tenth anniversary celebration, when ...
Negativity Alert!!!I recently read an article that touted the Sundance Film Festival (underway as I write this) as one of the world's three most important film festivals. This categorization flabbergasts me. Since when did the bigger-than-it-should...
To begin with, thanks to everyone who sent book recommendations last week. I have already placed several orders and should have enough material to keep me occupied for the rest of the winter and into the spring. I have compiled a list with all of ...
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 ...
I hate this PC crap. Why does it have to be "And the Oscar goes to..." instead of "And the Winner is..."? Does the wording make the losers feel better? "Hey, I didn't lose. The Oscar just went to someone else." Stupid, stupid, stupid... But that...
It's multiplex bashing time again! This is a semi-regular event in this space because the more time I spend in multiplexes, the more irritated I become. At this time of the year, with so many general releases falling into the "not screened for ...
Not quite, or at least not as I see it.Despite the protestations of some e-mailers, there is nothing to indicate that 2007 is going to be the break-out year for high-def DVDs, regardless of whether they are referring to Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, or some ...
For one day, let me switch from discussing movies to discussing books.When I read fiction, I place it in one of three categories: filler, page-turner, or immersive. Further explanation is probably useful. "Filler" is something that doesn't intrigue...