I haven't been posting so much because it is exam grading time, but I have been taking occasional breaks and wanted to comment just briefly on three of those.
About a week ago I went to see "The Fighter," the new movie about the boxing triumph as world welterweight champion of Mickey Ward from Lowell, Massachusetts. Mark Wahlberg, fascinated with the subject and eager to play the part of Mickey, worked hard to put this … <Read More>
For every professor who has shared this feeling: after turning in the exams to the Registrar's Office, there is this bloody hiatus while waiting for the students to take them. I try to stuff lots of culture into the hiatus, so herewith a brief report on the past few days.
On Tuesday night, I went to see the Atlantic Theater Company's production of two one-act plays by Harold Pinter, "The Collection" and "A Kind of … <Read More>
As soon as I read about it, I knew I had to see "127 Hours," the new film by Danny Boyle based on Aron Ralston's memoir of his bizarre accident while mountaineering, titled "Between a Rock and a Hard Place." Even though I'm going to be talking about the plot, I didn't put "plot spoiler" in my title for this posting because anybody reading this probably already knows a fair amount about the plot. One reason … <Read More>
Behind the scenes at a network morning news show…. Rachel McAdams plays a producer at a local morning news show in New Jersey who is fired when top management wants to put somebody they are grooming for corporate leadership into that position. She sends her resume everywhere and gets hired to try to revive a tired network morning show that is facing cancellation if the ratings don't go up. She immediately fires the obnoxious male … <Read More>
Thanksgiving… 'tis the season to go to the movies if one is not a football fan, so Mom and I went off to see a late afternoon matinee of "Love & Other Drugs." She emerged puzzled by the plot… which is normal for her these days, but evidently not such an odd reaction to this film. I was not puzzled by the plot, but a little puzzled by the film. It was unclear whether this … <Read More>
Visiting family in Ormond Beach, Florida, for Thanksgiving, and we all went out to see this tonight. (It was a second time for my brother Dave, who saw the midnight showing a week ago with his daughter Cari.) I've been seeing the films in this series as they are released, but stopped reading after about the 3rd or 4th book in the series, so I was not prepared for any of the plot in this … <Read More>
The Loew's Jersey Theatre at Journal Square, NJ, held a little mini-horror film festival the past few days, and a friend organized a small expedition to see "Nosferatu" last night. The 1922 German silent film, an unauthorized adaptation directed by F.W. Murnau of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula," was accompanied last night on the organ by Wayne Zimmerman. The big attraction for me was seeing the interior of this grand old movie palace, which is in process … <Read More>