Blog
These stories have been around a long time. Some of them I have updated. Many of them I haven’t. This started out when blogs were like, new!
Wide Awake During “The Drowsy Chaperone” – A Theatre Review
Anyone who likes musicals should experience the very charming The Drowsy Chaperone if he or she gets a chance to see it. The book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar salutes American musicals of the Jazz Age and, although it starts to sag after a while, is effectively...
“The Ring” Remade – A Movie Review
Gore Verbinski's The Ring (2002) is a Hollywood remake of a 1999 Japanese film, and I could hardly figure out what was happening in it. A horror concoction, it is strikingly creepy (aren't they all?), but for me creepy isn't scary. Even so, congrats to Verbinski for...
The Lowdown on “The Crime of Father Amaro” – A Movie Review
Re El Crimea del Padre Amaro (2002): No matter how pervasive Catholicism is, or how much headway Protestantism makes, in a country like Mexico, there will still be Latino directors and other artists who reflexively declare that Christ-followers are hypocrites. A novel...
“Coriolanus” and All Its Relevance – A Movie Review
Ralph Fiennes has directed for the screen Shakespeare's Coriolanus (2012). Placed by Fiennes in a modern setting, it tells of Caius Martius, a Roman general given the title-surname of "Coriolanus," who has valiantly defeated the current enemies of Rome. Extolled...
Settling Scores, Miss Cody?: “Young Adult” – A Movie Review
I've been suspicious of the 2011 film, Young Adult, and so resisted seeing it at the theatre. The other day, though, I watched it on DVD and realized my suspicion was justified. The movie is about a successful but extremely impractical--in fact, mentally ill--woman...
Rock Music Time, But Does It Have to Be U2?: “U2 3D” – A Movie Review
He may be a Christian, but Bono is a pretentious performer, and the filmed concert in U2 3D (2007) is often propagandistic. Admittedly, however, the 3D in this IMAX presentation makes the event--a U2 Latin American tour--even more exciting than it already is, and the...
10 in ’07: The Most Recent “Ten Commandments” – A Movie Review
Why another movie about Moses, even from a Bible-series production company--Promenade Pictures? I don't know, except that this Ten Commandments, from 2007, covers material well beyond the liberation of the children of Israel from Egypt. Not only are the plagues...
“A Separation” and the Human Situation – A Movie Review
The Iranian film, A Separation (2011), is as splendid as all the critics have said it is. It is skillfully directed and shrewdly, fascinatingly written by one man: Asghar Farhadi. The drama--all about a shattering conflict involving two families--is...
Paying Attention to “Atlas Shrugged, Part 1” – A Movie Review
The Washington politicians in Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 (2011) want a basically socialistic system for the U.S.--and they want greater power than they already have. They lead the nation in adopting the following view: altruism good, big-business bad; but this does...


