Cracked, which I (rightfully) disdained in my youth as a poor imitation of Mad Magazine, has reinvented itself brilliantly in the Interwebz Age by publishing a steady (one might say relentless) stream of articles listing “the <adjective> <number> <items> <further qualification>”, such as these: The 25 Least Inspiring Military Operation Names 5 Horrifying Food Additives […]
I’m a fan of Howard Phillip Lovecraft, not because I think he was a great writer (his prose is a bit purple by today’s standards), but because he really was the father of 20th Century post-Gothic horror. Sadly, all the film adaptations of Lovecraft’s work to date have been mediocre at best and usually wretched, […]
I missed seeing Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” while it was in theaters. It was not for a lack of desire; it’s just that I don’t like going to the movies by myself, especially if my wife isn’t out of town — and she just wasn’t that interested in seeing […]
“Shutter”, which just opened on Friday, is an Americanized remake of a Thai horror film named “Shutter” (or whatever the equivalent is in Thai). It (the remake) stars Joshua Jackson (“Ben Shaw”) and Rachel Taylor (“Jane Shaw”) as a newlywed couple that moves from New York to Japan so that Ben can take a job […]
Having seen and reviewed “I Am Legend” (2007) last month, and having re-read the original novella by Richard Matheson, I thought I’d watch the two earlier movies based on that same novella: “The Last Man on Earth” (1964) with Vincent Price, and “The Omega Man” (1971) with Charlton Heston. I now have a much, much […]
[Thanks to the incoming links, particularly from io9 and Ace of Spades HQ, two of my favorite blogs; as the saying goes, feel free to look around (and to hit the tipjar over in the right column). Also, the first section of this review is spoiler-free; all the spoilers are in a white-text section at […]
The first three-fourths of “I Am Legend” (starring Will Smith and Abbey the Wonder Dog) is haunting, effective, and heart-wrenching. I have traveled to New York City a lot over the years on business — in fact, I was there just this week — and the film does a great job of showing an abandoned, […]
My daughter Salem and I went to see “Beowulf” last night for her 22nd birthday. I sent an e-mail about it to an acquaintance, and he turned around and asked me if this meant that I thought (a) that “Beowulf” was a good movie and (b) that the motion capture technology used works. I spent […]
It just hit me a few minutes ago: I’ve been watching (on DVD) the 1982 stage production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, my favorite of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals, courtesy of Netflix. And I’ve just finished baking a homemade turkey pot pie. Good pie, too. 🙂 ..bruce.. (If you’re wondering why this […]
