Legends of Literature — A Review
Every so often, a book comes along that not only follows a great premise, it fulfills that premise completely. Legends of Literature is a collection of essays written by contributors to Writer’s Digest. Famous contributors, like Stephen King, H.G. Wells, Jack Kerouac, and Ray Bradbury. There are good interviews with Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Sandburg, and […]
Does An American Tail Still Hold Up?
It’s Friday, review day, and I’m going to talk about a very special movie for me. A formative movie. I watched An American Tail when it was first released in theaters in 1986. I was ten years old. I was enthralled, and still remember the visceral thrill of several sequences: the storm on the ship, […]
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Director’s Edition
When I first watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture, my parents warned me that it was long. Now, I grew up on the original Star Trek series. I loved it. I was willing to put up with a lot. But boy was that movie long. I recently got the chance to watch the newly remastered […]
Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 5: The Old, Dark House
I’ve saved the best for last. I stumbled on this film on an internet search for classic horror movies. It was made in 1932, directed by James Whale (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat, The Man in the Iron Mask), and produced by the great Carl Laemmle, Jr. (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, […]
Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 4: The Mummy
Okay, this review is predicated on a surprise, but it’s a surprise that happens ten minutes into the movie. So I feel justified in explaining it, since it’s the core of what I liked about the movie. The classic The Mummy begins with a group of standard British archaeologists, enthusing over a new find: a mummy (Boris Karloff) and a sealed box, of which the former was buried alive, and the latter should contain the Scroll of Thoth, which […]
Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 3: The Wolf Man
Watching The Wolf Man was a strange experience for me. I first saw The Wolf Man in bits and pieces when I was in my early teens. I really enjoyed the tense mood and varied characters. I was in a phase of my life when I was watching a lot of black-and-white films, so I […]
Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 2: The Masque of the Red Death
Vincent Price. This is why Vincent Price is such a great horror movie actor. You may have read the original Poe story, in which a corrupt prince holds a party at his manor, despite the raging plague outside. Price plays the prince in this 1964 film version, which has been expanded into a study of […]
Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 1: The Thing From Another World
This week begins Classic Horror Movie Week, where every day I write about a classic “horror” movie, leading up to Halloween on Friday. Um, that’s Halloween the holiday, not Halloween the movie. Anyvay. I watched all these movies for the first time this week, so you’re getting a fresh perspective. I’m starting with Howard Hawks’ […]
My Reaction To Tintin
So I’ve finally bought and read some Tintin, the iconic comic book character created by French artist Herge. Specifically, I read The Adventures of Tintin, Volume 1. I’d like to write that I loved it, that it was a work of genius. I can’t. It had fun moments, and inventive moments. It was certainly good, in a timeless sense. But it just didn’t come together for me. According to the Tintin Wikipedia […]
The Chatty DM
Short one today, but I want to talk about this guy. It’s rare to come across a person as nice as the Chatty DM. He blogs about D&D, amiably and reasonably, and is a great font of knowledge and perspective. He’s very active on his comments and forum, too. If you have any interest in […]