Kids, Films, and the Search for Something Bearable

The other day my older son was humming the theme to Ghostbusters and my wife, as she often does when he’s humming, asked him to stop, or at least to quiet down. My brother-in-law, in town for the day, said to me, “Ghostbusters?” I told him that I had watched it recently with both boys, [...]

On the Best Films of the Past Decade

This past week, in writing about the films of 2009, I was moved to consider what the best films of the decade were.  In thinking about the films of the past year, and thinking about the very notion of “best,” I realized that this was something of a complicated term for me. I have argued [...]

What It Means to Be the Best

Although I was pleased to see The Hurt Locker win the Academy Award for Best Picture – it’s an exceedingly well-made film in terms of its writing, direction, cinematography, sound, acting, and editing – I find the notion of “Best” to be strikingly limiting.  Obviously, we know that many of the films that win the [...]

The Killer in Me (is the Killer in You)

Yesterday, I stumbled on the fact that there is a film of The Killer Inside Me in the works.  (I guess there was a 1976 version starring Stacy Keach, but I haven’t seen it.) I am so excited to see this film.  This is one of my favorite books, written of course by Jim Thompson, [...]

Bottle Shock!

So, the kids are in bed, and now you’re wondering what to do tonight? J. and I just watched Bottle Shock, after some friends of ours suggested we might enjoy it.  It’s the story of how Napa Valley came to prominence in the late 1970s in the wine business, focusing on a few of the [...]