Once Upon a Time in America
I love trolling the discount bins at Newbury Comics and other stores that sell DVDs, because you never know what sort of fun treasures you’ll find for very little money. Case in point: I recently came across Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America. I had heard of th
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
My father recommended this film to me, years ago, and from the first time I watched it I knew right away that he was right on the money in declaring it to be a masterful work. Made in 1974, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three stars Walter Matthau as New York City transit chief Lt. [&h
On the Comics Shelf
There is a lot of terrific comic book work being published these days. Last month I spent a lengthy post discussing Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. Allow me, today, to bring a few other high-quality series to your attention: All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – The idea
Howard/Nixon
I love movies, and I am fascinated by politics, so it’s no surprise that I am always up for a good political movie. And make no mistake, Ron Howard’s latest film, Frost/Nixon, is a very good political movie. Adapted by Peter Morgan from his own play (which attracted noti
No Flipping! The Larry Sanders Show on DVD
One of the first full-season-of-a-TV-show DVD sets that I ever purchased was Season 1 of The Larry Sanders Show, released back in 2003. After having risen to prominence as a stand-up comedian in the 1970’s & 80’s, Garry Shandling became a fixture of late-night television a
Dead Bond Girls
For the record, the dead Bond girls in today’s cartoon are (from left to right): Paris Carver from Tomorrow Never Dies, killed in her bed by the assassin Dr. Kaufman at the behest of her media mogul husband Elliot Carver; Miss Anders from The Man with the Golden Gun, shot by Sc
“He was Some Kind of a Man” — An Orson Welles Double Feature
I first saw Citizen Kane in college, during a fantastic class called Film Architecture (one of the best classes I had in college). I’ve seen it several times since then, and while I wouldn’t list Kane as my favorite film of all time, I certainly understand why many consi
My Farewell to Heroes
I suppose I have high standards for the TV shows that I watch. Is that a bad thing? I don’t watch TV casually. I don’t sit down and flip around to find something that looks interesting. There are a bunch of shows that I watch, and I watch them religiously — e
The Redemption of 24?
When the new TV-movie 24: Redemption begins, television super-hero Jack Bauer is in Africa, helping out at a school for orphans and trying to avoid a subpoena that would summon him back to the States. However, this being 24, it isn’t long before a perfect storm of evil warlord