Movies That Inspire Us
Since this is the New Year, we thought to start on an inspired note as this time tends to bring on much thought and reflection about a range of topics from careers, goals, family as well as plans for...
View ArticleBye Bye Love: A Personal Farewell to Phil Everly
My close friends and family members know about my "Everly Brothers Thing," and, more specifically, about my "Phil Everly Thing," so they sent me heartfelt condolence emails after he died this past...
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The Labyrinth: An Ancient Path Leads to a New Documentary
On the rooftop of the American Psychological Association's office building in Washington, D.C., meditation teacher Klia Bassing leads class participants on a walk around a stone labyrinth. The...
View ArticleWhat Philomena Is Really About
Judi Dench first heard the whole astonishing story of Philomena Lee in the garden of her house in the countryside south of London. Steve Coogan read the movie script to her -- he had written it with...
View ArticleDate Night: The Wolf of Wall Street
When I saw The Wolf of Wall Street last weekend, I learned one thing: it's not a date movie. Nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Wolf of Wall Street was my date...
View Article'Downton Abbey' And 'The Walking Dead': Are They The Same Show?
Question: Which group is in more danger, the English aristocrats of "Downton Abbey" or the rag-tag survivors wandering through "The Walking Dead's" apocalyptic landscape? It's a trick question: Both...
View ArticleSave the Father, Save the World
"Winds in the east, mist coming in, like something is brewin', about to begin... Can't put me finger on what lies in store, but I fear what's to happen, all happened before." First uttered on screen by...
View ArticleWhen it Comes to Hollywood, Familiarity Breeds Comfort
2013 was a fairly successful year for Hollywood. The New York Times noted that the top five highest grossing films of the year -- Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2, Fast & Furious 6, The Hunger Games:...
View ArticleMara Brock Akil: Being Mary Jane Shows Our Full Humanity
This is one woman's story. Sometimes we are saying one thing, but we are living something else. Sometimes we don't act out something, but we are feeling something else. Or we can speak the truth to...
View ArticleExamining My Own Privilege as a Gay-White-Cis Male
So, okay, I don't really know how to start this, but I was thinking a lot about Tumblr, social justice bloggers, problematic things and the Internet a lot recently, and I thought I'd blog a little...
View ArticleAn Apology From a Member of the New York Film Critics Circle
I don't normally write about such things but, as a member of the New York Film Critics Circle who was in attendance last night at my group's 79th annual awards dinner, I feel a need to make an apology...
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'The Shawati' Interviews': Wadjda Filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour
Haifaa Al-Mansour, image courtesy of the Dubai International Film Festival To me, Haifaa Al-Mansour's beautiful film Wadjda represents everything that is right with the world. The Arab world. I make...
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'I Go Back'
Where did it go? Not Thumbkin or Waldo, but that beautiful effervescent thing we call summer? When days are longer, people are happier, and life is just a whole lot brighter? It is hard to believe...
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Sentiments From a 90s R&B Fan
Beyonce and the Original Destiny's Child Crew in "Bug A Boo" If you were born in the 80s, you probably were raised on the slick stylings of 90s R&B. Musical acts like Babyface, Groove Theory, Dru...
View ArticleUniversity of North Texas Students Create Hilarious Lorde Christmas Parody
Here's a video where a couple of university students from Texas takes the popular song by Lorde and turns it into something that can be placed on the Christmas song rotation next year.
View ArticleDownton Abbey Returns -- As Luscious As Ever
"THERE CAN be too much truth in any relationship." So quipped Maggie Smith, in one of her dry, delicious asides, on the Season 4 premiere of "Downton Abbey" last Sunday. These days, after the success...
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3 Observations About the BAFTA Nominations
Wednesday's announcement of the 2014 BAFTA nominees further focused this year's awards season. "12 Years A Slave," "Gravity" and "American Hustle," all nominated for Best Film at BAFTA, are the top...
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Creating the Bat #10: John Layman
What does it take to sustain a single character for 75 years? Since Batman's first appearance in May 1939, hundreds of writers, artists, and editors have applied their craft and their personalities to...
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'Enlisted' Review: Fab New Comedy Kicks Off The New Year
There are fine comedies that productively mine rage, fear and self-loathing. "Enlisted" (9:30 p.m. ET Friday, Fox) is not one of those comedies. All the adjectives it brings to mind are, well, square:...
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Does Umbrella Bed Refill or Rehash 2 Tone Ska?
When Jamaican rural Mento music migrated into a jazzy, brassy urban sound, Ska was born. While Mento offered a real slice of Jamaican life in the 1950s, Ska filled the streets and resort areas and...
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