Baby – A Movie Review
A tragic tale of an Asian youth’s gang life in South East Los Angeles, set during the mid 80’s to the early 90s.
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I would classify things in this category that were related to arts, literature, cinema, performance. Things that make us and the world better.
Defiance – A Movie Review
Four Jewish brothers living in Nazi occupied Poland escape into the forest where they join up with Russian resistance fighters in battling the Nazis. Throughout the war they built a village inside the forest and saved the lives of more than 1200 other Jews. Based on a true story.
Read moreWackness, The – A Movie Review
New York, summer 1994, the greatest year in hip-hop, a troubled teenage drug dealer trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist intent on living his life to the fullest. The two form an unlikely friendship, but things get complicated when the kid falls for the doctor’s daughter.
Read moreThe Inaguration – My Take
I took time out, as did a lot of Americans, and watched today’s ceremonies swearing in Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. As you might expect, I have some opinions on the ceremony and some of the participants. I’m a sucker for the ceremonies of state, and today’s was “high church.” Barack and Michele Obama, and his children, were just the height of grace and beauty, and it does give me some hope that maybe a new day has begun.
Read morePineapple Express – A Movie Review
Process server Dale Denton has a grudging business relationship with the laconic Saul Silver, deigning to visit only to purchase Saul’s primo product–a rare new strain of pot called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps the Pineapple Express at the scene. When it’s traced back to him, Dale and Saul run for their lives–and they quickly discover that they’re not just suffering from weed-fueled paranoia. If they survive, these two just might become real friends. All aboard the Pineapple Express.
Read moreSavages, The – A Movie Review
The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back at their difficult family history. Having wriggled their way out from beneath their father’s domineering thumb, they are now firmly cocooned in their own complicated lives. Wendy is a struggling East Village playwright, AKA a temp who spends her days applying for grants, stealing office supplies and dating her very married neighbor. Jon is a neurotic college professor writing books on obscure subjects in Buffalo. Then comes the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage, is slowly being consumed by dementia and they are the only ones that can help. We were pleasantly surprised.
Read moreEagle Eye – A Movie Review
Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations–using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country’s most wanted fugitives, who must work together to discover what is really happening–and more importantly, why.
Read moreSpirit, The – A Movie Review
Lay and I went to see this movie last night. I will provide a review when we are able to actually watch the movie all the way through. For some reason, it was one of the most unruly theaters we’ve ever been in, and we left and got out money back after about 15 minutes. We were not the only ones from that movie at the customer service desk asking for our money back because of the noise and cell phones.
Read moreBurn After Reading – A Movie Review
An ousted CIA official’s memoir accidentally falls into the hands of two unwise gym employees intent on exploiting their find.
Read moreVisitor, The – A Movie Review
In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek, a Syrian man, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument’s exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter’s faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles.
Read moreSo Where Have I Been Lately
If you’re a regular visitor (or you receive the digest email) I suppose you have noticed a decided lack of activity here lately. I have to tell you, I’ve just been tired. I think that’s the best way to describe what’s been going on in my life lately. It’s not that feeling of “being sick and tired of being sick and tired,” but more a general malaise that came over me during the last months. I didn’t send out Christmas cards this year, and didn’t even decorate the house. I came into the season with a good deal of the shopping done, and combined with some upcoming time off, I was actually looking forward to the holiday, but somewhere along the way, I just sort of lost that holiday spirit. I’m working on a comeback.
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