I didn’t really want to like this movie, and I didn’t, but I’ll admit to squeezing some enjoyment out of it. Put little effort into it, ignore the cliches and “say wow now” effects, add a few glasses of wine, settle in on the couch with someone lovable, and it can be done. Don’t expect…

A movie relic of the eighties, composed of film-noir relics of the forties that are in turn inspired by detective novel relics of the twenties. Probably in the sixties they figured the genre was over with at last and maybe everyone would drop out and forget about it. But there’s just too much there to…

Ann had this tent on our first outing together in the Canyonlands in 2000. It was great, but the zipper was starting to go from Jezze laying on it all the time. A couple weeks ago Ann finally sent it to Sierra Designs for repair, indicating that she was willing to pay a reasonable fee…

In 1943 Japanese troops rounded up all the foreigners near Peking, China, and shipped them to this abandoned, looted church compound. The two thousand internees were made largely responsible for governing themselves while confined there until the end of the war. As I read this account of the difficulties they encountered I was amazed at…

Feeling tired but a little restless after a day of climbing, we settle down to watch this World War II movie about a Scottish woman who goes into German-occupied France to assist the resistance. It’s a good story, highlighting how a person’s ideals and emotions can be changed by war. The cinematography is gorgeous throughout.…

As soon as the film started Ann and I both wondered out loud: did the soundtracks of movies made in the late 1940’s all sound the same to people back then, or are we anthropomorphizing? The film gets right down to business shooting Rita Hayworth in soft light, and that’s about all it ever does.…

Edward O. Wilson, an eminent biologist and conservationist, presents a projection based on current data of what may be in store for humans and all life on the planet in the next century. Thankfully Wilson doesn’t use dire predictions of planetary doom to further his agenda, which opens the book to critical as well as…

Expecting a sequel to The Last Picture Show, I was taken aback by the weird, slapstick, soap operatic opening scenes of this movie. Then it just keeps going! It’s almost an anti-quel rather than a sequel. Peter Bogdanovich is definitely making fun of himself here, and the chaos is truly hard to follow. But with…

One of my favorite movies. Fresh is a smart kid in the Chicago projects who is wrapped up in the drug trade. His relationship with his wino father, and eventually his survival, are expressed in his developing chess skills. With first-rate acting, writing, soundtrack by Stewart Copeland, and many places I remember well in Chicago,…

This movie showcases the impressive Jane Horrocks impersonating show tune stars. Michael Caine and other cast do some very amusing acting too. But the movie never really gets past the feeling of being an artifice for the actors to strut their stuff, and the perfomances are much less moving for it. IMDB