“I dare you to do better.”  When a young, pre-captain James Kirk hears this plea from a decorated Starfleet officer in the new J.J. Abrams revamp of Star Trek, something triggers, prompting him to give up a soulless existence and step into his destiny. Moviegoers, already familiar with the mythology of the legendary captain, have the vantage point of knowing what his incredible journey will entail, but seeing that choice played out on screen is truly captivating. The entire film, which... Read more

If the world was ending, where would your faith lie? That’s a question John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) wrestles with in the science fiction thriller Knowing. When his son becomes the recipient of a page of a strangely scrawled numbers unearthed from a time capsule, Koestler, an astrophysics professor (naturally), begins to decode what he believes is a blueprint for tragedies. Koestler has already experienced tragedy. He masks the sorrow of his late wife’s death with alcohol and has long since... Read more

I had several Facebook friend adds today and, knowing already what my current amount of friends was, mentally added it up. Just so you know, I don’t think any certain number of Facebook friends makes anyone better than anyone else or is any kind of status symbol. I do think it’s cool to have a list of so many folks you’ve come in contact with through the years or made contact recently. Plus I tell my wife so she can... Read more

Have you ever opened a beautifully wrapped Christmas present only to discover the gift was not yours but someone else’s? This misfire even happens with correctly assigned gifts. Two years ago, after opening the Batman play set, my nephew turned to me and said “I told you—I don’t like superheroes.” My suspicion is that most moviegoers will feel the same way well into the third hour of Watchmen, opening Friday. The movie, centered on the classic graphic novel from 1986... Read more

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I love ’24’ and had this discussion on a message board that I thought would be funny to share with you all here. What if the writers of ’24’ tried their hands at other popular storylines? If the ’24’ writers wrote… -Batman, Alfred would be a mole and the Batcave would come under an attack once a year. -The A-Team, BA Baracus would be assassinated and and his younger brother would step in and get blown up. Murdock would indeed... Read more

I don’t have long before they come, so you’re going to have to listen carefully and pay close attention. The powerful underground group behind the new supernatural action movie Push are hot on my trail and using their powers to coerce me into thinking it’s a great movie. But I have to get the word out. A great movie it’s not. In the film, humans with supernatural abilities are racing to gain control of a super-powered steroid formula that can... Read more

I think I am the last one to watch the Grammys and I just had this overwhelming desire to post this picture. Who am I? Back in the day, she jokingly told me I was mean in our interview for implying she wasn’t one of the popular girls in school. She’d probably say the say about posting this old picture. Sure am glad I’m not famous. 🙂 Read more

I’d hate to be the Academy voters today who shut him out for nominations, because Clint Eastwood can be quite an imposing figure. He fits the mold of a grumpy old man but because of all his gunslin’ days, he becomes even more menacing. On my first trip to Los Angeles, I was on the lookout for celebrities. I was anxious to see one and then ran into the granddaddy of them all. I was picking our special guests, the... Read more

Friday night, we were feverishly resetting our spare bedroom/storage room back into a guest room for company coming the next day. It was a whirlwind evening of work, seriously sapping what little energy we had after the week. During one of several trips to the dumpster, I noticed a gathering of friends in a nearby apartment. And, peering in, I was a little bit sad. I’ve been very reluctant to admit anything other than total satisfaction with the move down... Read more