Family Visits: A Wealth of Dramatic Material
Each holiday season, many therapy clients reflect and prepare emotionally in an effort to make the most of their upcoming visits with family. Family visits can be psychologically intense experiences...
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The Bruce Springsteen Boxed Set You Really Do Need
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN -- THE ALBUM COLLECTION, VOL 1 1973-1984 ($99.99 CD; SONY) You don't own all of Bruce Springsteen's first seven albums. Oh, some of you may think you do, but you don't. Despite his...
View ArticleWhy Shonda Rhimes' Shows Give Me Hope For The Entertainment Industry
"I don't think that we have to have a discussion about race when you're watching a black woman who is having an affair with the white president of the United States," says Shonda Rhimes, creator of...
View ArticleFear and the Family: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and The Babadook
This holiday season when theaters are full of pablum and poseurs, make a pre-New Years resolution to find better films. Start with two small, ambitious, well-told tales garbed as scary movies that...
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How Critics Got the New 'Annie' Wrong
This weekend saw the opening of a type of film exceedingly rare in our nation's cinema history: a wide-release kid's movie with an African-American girl as the protagonist. (Akeelah and the Bee and...
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Bing Crosby's Enduring Appeal
Bing Crosby conquered radio, film and the recording industry -- and made it all look easy. The celebrated crooner not only transformed the American music scene, he also played a pivotal role in the...
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The Kid Stays in the Picture
Mike Coleman didn't believe his eyes. Why would Brian Grazer, Hollywood mogul steeped in critical acclaim from A Beautiful Mind and rolling in dough from Parenthood, Backdraft and Apollo 13, be in the...
View ArticleUsing Defamation to Uncover the Truth About Cosby
Allegations that Bill Cosby committed sexual assault against dozens of women have been the subject of much speculation over the past few months. Cosby himself had not spoken on the topic until this...
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A Confessions of a Serial Songwriter Merry Bliss-Mas
I went to the BMG Chrysalis Christmas party last week. Judging from the crowd and the noise level, one would think that the music business is alive and kicking. Because the party sure was. Wall to...
View ArticleAC/DC's Rhythm Rock Hero Malcolm Young Ends His Career
Our tickets are in the rafters. Row XYZ. It's 1980 in the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. My older brother is a senior in high school and I'm a freshman. His friend has a van and a...
View ArticleThe Year in Film, 2014: 22 Easy Pieces
Say whatever else you want to about 2014, here's one thing I know for sure. It had 365 days. And since new movies opened on screens across the USA on a great many of those days, I feel compelled to...
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D23's Adam Sanderson Sees Social edia, digital technology as the smart way to...
When it came to proving his "Disney geek" street cred last January, Adam Sanderson -- Head of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club -- had just the secret weapon in mind. To decorate his new office,...
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What if The Interview Sucks?
Honestly, my first reaction to hearing the news that Sony was cancelling the release of its movie The Interview because of threats from North Korean hackers and blowback from theater chains was this:...
View ArticleTop 11 Films of 2014
Rules are sometimes meant to be broken, which is why this year's list is the Top 11, not 10. It also has something to do with a very strong year in documentaries, foreign, American studio and indie...
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How Walt Disney Animation Studios Kept Feast From Looking Like a Dog's Dinner
Patrick Osborne tried something interesting back in 2012: He set up two 1 Second Everyday accounts. With one he used the app to capture brief glimpses of his day-to-day life, and with the other he...
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Zane Buzby -- 'One Foot in Comedy, One Foot in the Holocaust'
"We are living in a unique moment in time. A tipping point. We are witness to the last generation of Holocaust survivors, and we are the last generation to have the opportunity and the honor to help...
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Selma Is More Relevant Today Than Ever
If you haven't yet heard of Selma, you soon will. The film is based on the real life events that occurred in Selma Alabama in 1965. The three marches from Selma to Montgomery signified a critical...
View ArticleThe 5 Best Fictional Sports Teams
The Patriots, Giants, and Spurs have won many championships this century. However, those teams would be no match against the best fictional sports squads produced in recent years. 1) Tune Squad, "Space...
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14 for '14: Favorite Music of the Year
My favorite music from the past year. Looking forward to 2015. Long form: 1) Little Dragon -- Nabuma Rubberband I first heard this Swedish quartet via "Twice," the downtempo opener of 2007's...
View ArticleThe 13 Most Underrated Madonna Songs
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Madonna fan. I have been since I was a wee lad dancing around my bedroom lip-syncing to "Borderline". Amid some Madonna leakage, she released six tracks...
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