Thor: The Dark World (hereafter Thor 2) is Marvel’s second post-Avengers solo-super-hero film, and it proves that Iron Man 3‘s success was no fluke. Marvel has indeed figured out how to make great films that don’t have 5 all-star headliners. Thor 2 improves on its predecessor (Thor, not The Avengers) in every way. The scope is bigger, the stakes are higher, the […]
If you’re gonna talk about classic movies at Halloween time, the most obvious choices are Frankenstein or Dracula or The Mummy or The Birds. So Melissa Tagg and I didn’t choose any of those. Instead, we had fun with a different sort of Halloween tale from Hollywood’s Golden Age–Arsenic and Old Lace. This movie is […]
So, the American government RIGHT? Oy. What a mess. As someone who teaches all things U.S. politics and government I will at least say how good these crazy political times are for in class discussion and case studies on dysfunctional government. It is what it is though, so what can you do? Well, Melissa Tagg […]
For as long as I can remember, film critics and aficionados have considered Citizen Kane to be the greatest movie ever made. For years I just snubbed my nose at the thought without ever asking why. When I finally did become curious during college, the only adults around simply muttered their version of “whatevs” and […]
Cold-blooded murder has been around ever since Cain slaughtered his brother Abel in history’s first sibling rivalry. It just took Hollywood a few thousand years to come along and show us the seedy underside of humanity in an artistic way that allowed voyeurs to eat popcorn while they watched. With such strict restrictions on content […]
Don Jon is new-Hollywood-darling Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut film. Not as an actor, of course – JGL’s been wowing us since 3rd Rock from the Sun. But he wrote, directed and starred in Don Jon. And just in case Don Jon is too subtle for you (which is highly unlikely), JGL has stated clearly in numerous […]
We’re made in God’s image, but we have bodies, while God is spirit. Are our bodies accidental? Are they temporary? Or are they good, vital and essential to our spirituality? How can we resist the cultural narrative that teaches us to hate our bodies? Crave is a series of messages I delivered at Mount Vernon […]
If you really forced me to pick my absolute, clear cut, most favorite band on the planet right now I would PROBABLY say Alter Bridge. I like them a lot. Their last album ABIII came out in 2010. Their latest and fourth album releases October 8th. It’s called Fortress. I can’t wait. I was reading […]
Ryan, you’ve gotta learn to let go. – Kowalski Let’s get this out of the way up front: Alfonso Cuaron’s latest film Gravity is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Reviewers are calling it a near-perfect cinematic experience and they’re right. You need to see this film, and see it on the biggest […]
I had this professor back in college. We worked well together but didn’t have much in common. Then one day as we studied the historical era between the Great Depression and World War II she introduced me to a classic movie called Bringing Up Baby. I’m trying to figure out if that was a watershed moment […]