Category: Movie Review

Rachel can’t move on. Everyday the commuter train she rides takes her past the house where she had lived with her husband, now exhusband. Tom still lives in the house, with his wife Anna and their daughter, Evie. A few houses down lives Scott and Megan Hipwell, the perfect couple. Rachel doesn’t know them, but… Continue reading Movie Review: The Girl on the Train

Hollywood find source ideas from several directions: from novels, short stories, and even  comic books, from historical events or biographies of remarkable people, from social crises and political unrest, and from old movies that they want to update for a modern audience. One favorite source are foreign movies that they want to translate for an… Continue reading Movie Journal: The Magnificent Seven (1960)

  Perhaps the last thing the Harry Potter franchise needs is for me to sing its praises. Successful with both box office revenue and critical appreciation, these eight movies, based on seven books, have achieved a popularity that makes it doubtful that anyone reading this review has not already seen the movies. I imagine there… Continue reading Movie Journal: The Harry Potter Movies

A couple weeks ago, I review Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ, the 1880 novel by Lew Wallace, and last week, I review the 1959 movie starring Charlton Heston. This was in preparation to this year’s remake, starring Jack Huston and Toby Kebbell. I anticipated this movie with tempered excitement, because most Hollywood remakes are less… Continue reading Movie Journal: Ben-Hur (2016)

In 1955, the American poet Allen Ginsberg published Howl and Other Poems. He published it with City Lights Books in San Francisco. In 1957, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the publisher, faced obscenity charges for publishing and distributing the book. The title poem, “Howl,” in particular was considered obscene. But it has since become a classic America poem,… Continue reading Movie Journal: Howl (2010)

This coming week will see the remake of Ben-Hur, the 1959 classic movie of revenge and redemption. Naturally, I’m curious of the remake, but I’m also wary. I want it to be good, but it seems doubtful that it could be Charlton Heston good. In anticipation of the remake, I read the original book by… Continue reading Movie Journal: Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ (1959)