Trainwreck
A flawed character struggles to unravel the threads of a pivotal event, though hobbled by some impediment – amnesia, maybe, or being stranded in a
A flawed character struggles to unravel the threads of a pivotal event, though hobbled by some impediment – amnesia, maybe, or being stranded in a
The first volume of Lewisohn’s trilogy The Beatles: All These Years. The main drawback is that at only about 800 pages, it’s over too soon.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that when it comes to Pride and Prejudice, once is not enough. For acolytes, Jane Austen’s best-selling novel of the
The mayor of Chicago is mad as a hatter, but the trains run on time. Having been mayor for a couple of decades, Tom Kane
It was the short, sharp shock heard round the world – eventually. But in the world of Topsy-Turvy, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado is being
Laughter, Tears, Curtain Read More »
“The story is ridiculous – ludicrous.” That’s director John McTiernan blithely dismissing the plot of one of the most successful thrillers of the past 30
Welcome to the Party, Pal Read More »
Movie lovers have a chance this weekend to experience a rare venue for viewing in the north – a pop-up drive-in movie night is set
In 1918, a young American soldier emerged from the ruins of a military kennel with a frantic, famished German Shepherd and her five newborn pups.
Many beloved Christmas films had inauspicious debuts. It’s a Wonderful Life lost money for the studio when it was released in 1946, but television viewings
Love, Ambivalently Read More »
No gadgets, guns or trophy girl in sight – John le Carré’s spy universe is stripped of glamour, but all the more fascinating for his
Soldiering on in the Cold War Read More »
Winter is coming. You might say that’s our motto above the 60th parallel, but they’re also words to live by in Winterfell, the northernmost kingdom
Swordplay and Flaming Arrows Read More »
Living on a knife’s edge isn’t as exciting as it sounds. It can actually be downright tedious, and that’s what Wendy and Lucy captures —
Life isn’t fair. Jobs, Wozniak, Gates, Zuckerberg, and Swartz were, or are, all geniuses on the frontlines of the digital revolution, but only one of
The Very Bad Thing Read More »
Walt Disney’s magic touch on celluloid created indelible memories for many moviegoers, but it induced tears of rage in P.L. Travers (born Helen Goff) at
No Singing, No Dancing, No Silly Cartoons Read More »
An article that appeared in the Washington Post just before Barack Obama’s inauguration as President of the United States, about a butler who had served
Food is a hardworking component of any television or film crew, serving as prop, symbol, characterization, and plot point for numerous scripts. Jerry Seinfeld has
Shakespeare Re-told: Macbeth Read More »
Imagine being able to pick out a child from an assortment of infants and toddlers, as easily as choosing a puppy from a litter or
Love, Hope, and Evil Nuns Read More »
They did impossible things because they were too young to know they couldn’t, and in the late 18th century nothing seemed more unlikely than convincing
What Incurable Optimists Can Do Read More »
“We were praying and killing each other at the same time.” — A German soldier reflecting on D-Day Once peace is waged what do we
One road in, one road out — that’s Broadchurch, a picturesque town on the Dorset coast of Britain. So when 11-year-old Danny Latimer is found
Shadows from Light Read More »
There’s at least one struggling musician who doesn’t need Bob Dylan to tell him failure is no success at all. Llewyn Davis is in Greenwich
The Ballad of Llewyn the Luckless Read More »
He wakes up as one person and goes to bed as someone else completely; that’s what Bob Dylan said about himself in a long-ago interview.
Six Sides of Bob Dylan Read More »
The FBI hunt for slippery John Dillinger was the match of the century. He was the bureau’s first public enemy number one during the crime
Wanted: Dead or Alive Read More »
It might have been on John Lennon’s mind when he wrote “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (so speculates Beatles biographer Bob Spitz). It was
It’s a Mad, Mad World Read More »
Sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re related. That’s the reality for Maggie and Rose Feller, the central characters in the 2005 film In Her Shoes, a
We’re all works-in-progress Read More »
How do you relate to someone after you discover they’ve committed monstrous acts? The generation born in Germany after World War II – who Berthold
Somewhere in England, students congregate daily on the pastoral grounds of the Hailsham boarding school watching soccer, gossiping, and daydreaming about the future. They playfully
Looking Inside the Hearts and Minds of Human Clones Read More »
There’s an emotional charge watching a biographical drama and knowing where the road a character is on will take him. But the triangle at the