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! 

“The Long, Long Trailer” Was Released Long, Long Ago

What pains and stresses are associated with making a long trailer your home! The problem with The Long, Long Trailer (1953), the Vincente Minnelli movie centering on those pains and stresses, is that it is a comedy that stops being comedic.  The last third of it...

Classics? No: “All the King’s Men” And “Vanity Fair”

All the King's Men, the 2006 remake, is as stupid as it is tired, as overblown as it is unnecessary.  This despite the fine, authentic production design and the "Christian worldview" applauded on Ted Behr's Movieguide website.  Also, I disesteem much of the acting. ...

Techno Threat

If you haven't read Martin Ford's nonfiction book, Rise of the Robots (2015), you should, notwithstanding some of the language is too technical for me.  The subtitle reads: "Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future," so, yes, it's a book about vocations that...

Treasury Dudes: “T-Men”

T-men, in T-Men (1947), are agents of the U.S. Treasury Department's law enforcement division.  Early on, the movie more or less informs us that these taxpayer-supported agents do not make that much money (lest moviegoers then were understandably worried about massive...

Gina The Actress, “Jane the Virgin” (Back For Season 3)

The third season of Jane the Virgin, on the CW, has begun, with the married Jane retaining her virginity because hubby Michael has been shot and is in critical condition! Trauma and pathos are intertwined with mildly comic flashbacks of Jane and Michael developing...

“The Lacemaker” Is Great (But Not Accessible Enough)

Will the following film ever be out on DVD or Blu-Ray, and not just VHS? Directed by Claude Goretta, the 1977 French film, The Lacemaker, offers lovely images, lovely music, lovely nude scenes (it's true), and a compassionate script.  Its plot concerns a doomed...

The Wrong Monster To Pick On: The New Movie, “Don’t Breathe”

In the tight thriller Don't Breathe (2016), by Fede Alvarez, three young felons attempt to rob a lot of settlement cash from a blind veteran, but are neither competent nor superhuman enough to best him.  The dude is ridiculously powerful, and himself evil---for one...

The Movie, “Love & Friendship,” With Lady Kate

Whit Stillman has a delectable film in Love & Friendship (2016), based on Jane Austen's short novel Lady Susan.  A fascinating Kate Beckinsale knows how to play a perfectly in-control (if wicked) woman, and there are other terrific performers to boot. Stillman has...

Old Days