The opening credits justified the admission dollars. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, because who comes just to see the opening credits? But I went to a matinee and received an early bird discount, so there were fewer dollars to justify before I felt I got my money’s worth. As Sigrid sings “Everybody Knows,”...
The Nook, Barnes and Noble e-reader, lacks the same cachet as Amazon’s Kindle, but it has at least one noteworthy feature that makes it the right reader in a specific situation. That situation is when you’re visiting a Barnes and Noble store. While at the store, you can connect to their WiFi and read...
My movie reviews tend to come in three flavors: positive, negative, and neutral. Or in hand symbols: thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or the ambivalent hand wiggle people do to show something is so-so. I’ll give Murder on the Orient Express that hand wiggle to show that it’s so-so, but unlike my other neutral reviews, I have...
The 1977 Italian movie Suspiria is a masterpiece of Eurohorror. I’m don’t recall where I read that quotation, and I won’t even swear under oath that I’m remembering it verbatim, but I remember the word masterpiece, and I remember Eurohorror, because it’s the first time I’ve seen the word. What I didn’t remember, until...
When I went into the theater to see Thor: Ragnarok, I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve seen a trailer or two, so I knew Hulk was in it. But I haven’t read over the cast list or seen any press release. That’s the norm for me; I prefer going into a movie ignorant....
Years ago, I added Swordfish to my Netflix DVD queue. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I saw it on some list of movies to watch, or I was just processing Netflix recommendations, or maybe I was looking for thrillers to add, or Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, or Halle Berry movies. I was interested in...
Why do people who make action films believe they need to be mindless entertainment? Why do they think that all we need and want are fist fights, car chases, gun battles, and big explosions? Those are staples of the genre. They need to exist in action films in the same way that kisses need...
