The Shining (1980)
The Shining (1980) – What makes a movie scary? The most horrifying thing most parents could imagine would be to lose their child, but if you have a movie about parents losing a child it would be much more likely to be categorized as a “drama.” I often refer to the documentary Jesus Camp as “the … Continue reading
Les Misérables (2012)
Les Misérables (2012) – So I’ve been getting more into musicals lately (especially as I am going to start auditioning for them) and hey, it just so happens a new one came out at the end of the year. (Worth noting: the other big-budget musical that came out this year, Rock of Ages, is one … Continue reading
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) (& The Longest Daycare)
Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) – So I’ve enjoyed the Ice Age franchise well enough, but I can’t say it grabbed me the same way more of Dreamworks’s stuff has, and nowhere near on the level of Pixar’s stuff. I enjoyed Rio from the same animation studio, Blue Sky. The story of Manny the mammoth (Ray … Continue reading
The Wire – Season 1
The Wire – Season 1 When I started this blog the idea was for it to be about movies AND television. For a while, and by a while I mean maybe the better part of a month, I maintained the TV blog writing about what shows I deemed worthy of writing about. However I am … Continue reading
The Simpsons – “A Streecar Named Marge”
The Simpsons – “A Streetcar Named Marge” All right, confession time: my very first exposure to Tennesse Williams’s classic play A Streetcar Named Desire came from this episode of The Simpsons. I am a 90s kid, no apologies. So after finally getting around to watching the great Elia Kazan film adaptation, I had to revisit … Continue reading
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) – This article was originally published on 12ftdwende.com on 5 August 2011 I know I’m not very creative with my article titles, but I really had to fight the impulse to just call this one “DAMN DIRTY APES!!!!” because that really is one of my favorite things … Continue reading
As Good as It Gets (1997)
As Good as It Gets (1997) – Sometimes I get bored. Sometimes I get lethargic. Sometimes these feelings overlap. For those time, there is the wide world of cable television where, get this, THERE ARE ALWAYS MOVIES ON! Now my rules for writing reviews is that 1) the movie needs to be completely unedited and … Continue reading
The Simpsons – “Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts”
The Simpsons – “Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts” Let it first be said, the couch gag by Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi was so demented it will haunt my dreams (in a good way). Between this and last year’s Banksy opening, are they going to be doing more of this type of thing? … Continue reading
The Simpsons – “The Falcon and the D’ohman”
The Simpsons – “The Falcon and the D’ohman” So Kiefer Sutherland comes back again for his third guest appearance (as a third different character). I’m glad. The 24-ish intensity he brings to characters works better for comedy than drama, I think (never was a 24 viewer, though I hear some good things). Security guard Wayne … Continue reading
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
The Simpsons Movie (2007) — So the thing that a lot of people have said about this movie is that it’s like an unusually long episode of the show. That’s definitely partially true, but in a good way I think. Everything from the show is present from Homer’s staggering new levels of stupidity (though real … Continue reading
Persistence of Vision 