I close my eyes and imagine Sherlock Holmes. I see a tall, thin man, a long hooked nose, and sculpted cheeks. He had deep-set eyes and thin lips. Both his arms and legs are long and lanky. His demeanor is serious, humorless, even stoical. Though he enjoys explaining how he came to the solutions to… Continue reading Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Keith
Favorite Movies: Tess
I first saw Roman Polanski’s Tess (1979) in December of 1981. It was my final quarter at Western Washington University. My roommate, Eugene, and I needed a break from studying, and the movie was playing at a campus auditorium. At the time, I had never heard of Thomas Hardy or of his infamous novel, Tess… Continue reading Favorite Movies: Tess
Movie Review: Black Mass
A good gangster movie does two contradictory things at once. First, it must show how the gangster is just like everyone else. Second, it must show how he is like no one else. Black Mass (2015), a biopic about real-life gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, achieved both. It’s the best gangster movie I’ve seen in years;… Continue reading Movie Review: Black Mass
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
We know this story. We’ve seen it on CNN, tracked it on the Internet, commented on it in Facebook. A young woman goes missing, and her handsome husband becomes the main suspect. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn retells this story with imagination and skill, but the novel left me more puzzled than satisfied. Though there… Continue reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
I have an image of Sherlock Holmes in my mind. On a dark and foggy night, following the trail of a murderer, Holmes and Dr. Watson wander narrow London streets. Where does this image come from? For years I wondered. I knew it wasn’t from any movie or television show. It must’ve been something I… Continue reading Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
Television Review: Sense8
Sense8 is an original Netflix series about eight people around the world who become aware of each other. These sensates, as the show dubs them, share sensual perceptions–sight, sounds, tastes, etc.–visit each other psychic visions, and adopt each other skills to solve individual and group problems. It is an interesting show that is a drama-science… Continue reading Television Review: Sense8
Favorite Movies: Star Wars
A long time ago… 1977 …in a galaxy far far away… Hoquiam, Washington …I took a high school literature class in science fiction. (Please don’t ask me to remember the teacher’s name. Like I said, it was a loooooooong time ago!) One day after school, the teacher loaded us into a school bus and took… Continue reading Favorite Movies: Star Wars
Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet
Returning to London from the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880), Dr. John H. Watson seeks a flatmate to share expenses. After a colleague introduces him to Sherlock Holmes, the pair rent a flat at 221B Baker Street. Watson finds Holmes curious, an enigma, but one morning, Holmes confesses to being a consulting detective. That same morning,… Continue reading Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet
Movie Review: Fantastic Four
When Fantastic Four opened with a young Reed Richards (Owen Judge) in class on career day, saying his career goal was to be the first person to teleport, I knew the filmmakers had taken a false step, and the movie would suffer from it. Maybe it is just a prologue, I try to console myself.… Continue reading Movie Review: Fantastic Four
Movie Review: Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation
I have always been lukewarm to the Mission Impossible movies. Action is not my favorite movie genre, because I find the plots simple-minded, the characters stereotypical, and the action scenes–the genre’s bread and butter–overdone and predictable. (Car chases! Wow! Fist fights! Pow! Gun fights! Whoa! Who would’ve ever thought there would be a gun fight… Continue reading Movie Review: Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation