Blog

The Sam Raimi picture, Spider-Man (2002), starring Tobey Maguire, might have been released about the time the bullying of  kids was starting to receive a whole lot of contempt, for Peter Parker is bullied disgracefully by bigger dudes.  However, after turning into...

The 1973 romantic comedy, A Touch of Class, is too mendacious to be good.  There is much about the extramarital union of Steve (George Segal) and Vicki (Glenda Jackson) that seems unlikely, including their early hotel-room wrangling, which is in fact worse than...

Things can get interesting in a love triangle but, for most of us, not as interesting as they get in our dreams.  Expect a Buster Keaton character to have a most alarming slapstick dream. If you like the films of the silent comedians, Sherlock Jr. (1924) is one of the...

I happened to read the second volume of Kick-Ass (titled Prelude: Hit Girl) before reading the first volume, but it hardly mattered.  I was not at all confused by either volume, especially after seeing the movies, although I found myself surprised that the well-liked...

Re Anything Else (2003): Apparently Woody Allen believes in themes, but don't let that fool you.  Thematically this caustic, frequently funny, slightly absurdist movie goes almost nowhere. Amiable Jerry (Jason Biggs), a comedy writer, falls for the unremittingly...

A man of limited taste, director of Deliverance and Hope and Glory, John Boorman released in 1981 a King Arthur movie, Excalibur.  Much of the acting, when it isn't indifferent (Helen Mirren as Morgana, Paul Geoffrey as Perceval), is loud and showy (Nigel Terry as...

The novel Stoner (1965), by John Williams, chronicles the life of William Stoner, a farm boy sent to college where he falls in love with literature before becoming an adept English professor.  This is in the early part of the 20th century, during which Stoner does not...

I don't know why Disney keeps remaking The Jungle Book, but at least the current version is a visual dreadnought a lot like a hard-to-forget theme park ride.  It's fun and for the family, albeit some of the animals this time are genuine monsters.  King Louie the...

The recent Saturday Night Live skit satirizing Christians who resist honoring same-sex marriage with wedding cakes, wedding planning, floral arrangements, etc. also poked fun at gay couples. Even so, with the Christian baker's announcement to the law firm, "I want to...