One of the funnest things I get to do once a quarter is talk to Bobby Maddox at Salvo magazine, and wax happily opinionated about whatever happens to be in my frontal lobe. The interviews are going to be extracted in several issues of the magazine, but also will be available in their full, long-winded glory as podcasts. They just got the first one up from our discussion after the Oscars. You can listen to it here. We talk about... Read more

Well, I was all set to spool off a caustic critique of Season 4 thus far, but I’m glad I held out until Episode 5. Okay, how cool was that little hour of television?! (SPOILERS to follow. Be warned…) I have the tenuous intention to write more about it tomorrow (too late now and my cat wants me to retire), but in case I don’t get to it…. I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the... Read more

I went to see this film through a sly diversionary tactic with my movie-buddy Sean, who really thought we were going to see Speed Racer. Somewhere between the parking garage and the theater lobby, I took an intractable stance that could be sumarised as, (sing it with me…) “No, Speed Racer. No Speed Racer. No Speed Racer, no!” I’m just not the right audience for movies that want to be pre-teen video games. Anyway, Son of Rambow has several charms... Read more

I really didn’t want to review the number one movie in America, Iron Man because it isn’t exactly COTM’s kind of thing. That is, while it is slightly more intelligent than the Fantastic Four series, it still doesn’t have much about it by way of benchmark cultural signifiers. Or, as all the kids are saying these days, “This chicken is no Battlestar Galactica.” But, then I found the above cool picture out there in cyberspace, and decided I wanted it... Read more

I’m getting a bit concerned about my beloved Battlestar Galactica. I’m finding Season 4 so dark, that I’m thinking it is going to be hard for there to be an ending that would leave the audience with a sense of hope and victory. It would be a hubristic dramatic blunder to lead the audience through four seasons of wandering in the extra-terrestial desert, only to have none of our beloved characters survive to see the promised land, earth, or to... Read more

Yeah, I didn’t get this movie. I went to see it because I heard it was Helen Hunt’s first turn at feature directing. Ever since a class in grad school on women directors, I always keep an eye out for women trying to break this particularly thick glass ceiling. Hunt seemed to me as coldly focussed enough to pull it off. Oh well. The first problem here was the source material. I got the sense that the novel the movie... Read more

It’s the end of the day and I have no more energy to continue working on the 987th rewrite of Select Society, my Emily Dickinson screenplay. It being a work in progress has become the one constant in my life along with Jesus since 1995. Lately, I am working at it with a new vigor so that we can send it to Katee Sackhoff to play Emily Dickinson’s best friend, Susan. Katee said she wants to do something that requires... Read more

I loved this movie. And, really, how often do I say that? It’s the whole package – powerful story, wonderful characters, important theme, great performances, artful direction….and a couple of really lovely haunting moments. I was excited to see the film as soon as I heard that it was coming from Tom McCarthy, the actor turned writer/director who gave us the happy surprise of The Station Agent a few years back. This new film gives the director a somewhat bigger... Read more

[Bleary-eyed, icky feeling greetings from the Charlotte airport, where I have a two hour lay-over on my way to Cleveland after the red-eye from LAX. I fly back to Los Angeles tomorrow early and then to Vegas for a conference Friday. When I get back to L.A. on Sunday morning, it will be the end of my nearly solid month of traveling. I’m behind in every category in which a human being can be behind, so to those of you... Read more

Somebody just pointed out to me that in the last few hours, my blog counter passed three quarters of a million visitors! How cool is that? Thanks to all of you who have stopped by and continue to check in, even as I am a very irregular blogger. Special quarter of a million thanks to Josh Goforth who designed the lovely and haunting template for this space. And thanks to all the fellow bloggers out there whose links have made... Read more