For some reason I had never seen the classic film All the King’s Men (nor have I read the novel, for that matter, although I’ve owned a used copy of it for decades). But I finally got around to watching… Read More ›
Movies & (occasionally) TV
The first film ever in Babylonian!
What an amazing class project! Claiming to be the world’s first film in ancient Babylonian, it was made by members of an Assyriology class at Cambridge (not our Cambridge: the other one) along with some local residents. Their pronunciation is… Read More ›
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Meh. That’s my main reaction to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the dark film that I saw yesterday. Admittedly, there’s a lot to like about it — but there’s nothing to love. It’s certainly weaker than the previous nine films… Read More ›
Pandas!
Giant panda overload this week! Earlier in the week came the first episode of Martin Yan’s newly revived TV series, Yan Can Cook. The new series, Spice Kingdom, is described as “a 13-part series that explores the many aspects of how food and… Read More ›
Heavenly Creatures
Wow! Just saw this 1994 film — what took me so long? — and now Heavenly Creatures will clearly be added to the list of my top ten all-time favorite movies (though I’m not yet sure which entry it will displace)…. Read More ›
Arrival
It has been nearly two years since I’ve seen Arrival, so why am I just now getting around to writing about it? I have no idea why, but it just happened that way. Anyway, I couldn’t resist this movie, partly (largely?) because… Read More ›
Eighth Grade
Show of hands: Who wants to live through eighth grade again? I don’t see very many hands there. By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Eighth Grade, Bo Burnham’s all-too-real coming-of-age movie. Billed as a comedy, it’s mostly uncomfortable and… Read More ›
Tolkien Exhibit
This certainly sounds like an exciting exhibit! Here’s a brief description: Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth explores Tolkien’s amazing legacy from his genius as an artist, poet, linguist, and author to his academic career and private life. The exhibition takes you on… Read More ›
Ready, Player One (the movie)
So, what’s the verdict? … It lived up to my expectations and more so. Last week I reviewed the book; yesterday, when I saw the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see how closely Steven Spielberg’s vision matched my own…. Read More ›
School of Rock
I really didn’t think I would enjoy this movie. “Not my style,” I said to myself. But I was wrong. Although it’s true that it is not my style, I still enjoyed it a lot. In case it’s not… Read More ›
