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Books That Pack a Real Emotional Punch Are Rare
When was the last time a book delivered an emotional response? One of my science fiction book club guys texted me earlier this week. He had finished a book that he admitted wasn’t great, but the sad ending actually touched him. He recalled the book REDSHIRTS by John Scalzi as one about which I very much had an emotional response. Heck, that response smacked me in the face so much so that I could barely relate the ending of the book to my wife without bawling. Later, when the book club met, I still was rather emotional in explaining why I loved the book so much. My friend remarked that…
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How’d You Spend the 99 Days of Summer 2023 – (Part 1)
I read at lot and watched a lot of movies. There. End of post. See ya. What did I see and read? I’ll recap the reading next week. Here’s what I watched…and hopefully you did, too. Summer 2023 Movies Were Great When was the last time we had a summer movie season like this? I think many of us earmarked certain dates on the calendar to get ourselves to the movie theater. I did that nearly every weekend this year. The end result was that, with the exception of the Pixar film, Elemental, I saw every movie I wanted to see this summer. And I enjoyed just about every one…
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Is It Really That Bad? A Reevaluation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
Let’s not bury the lead: given the five Indiana Jones films, Crystal Skulls still ranks last. But a “bad” Indiana Jones movie is still better than a lot of other films. And you know what? It’s not as bad as you remember. The Connection With the Dial of Destiny When it came time to write the final Indy film, the screenwriters could go one of two ways: acknowledge the events of Crystal Skull or retcon them. Thankfully for all of us, they took the former route. And the end results in the new movie are ultimately quite moving. In fact, there is one scene in the new movie that reminds…
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A Brooding, Darker Hero: A Review of Indiana Jones and the Philosopher’s Stone
Leading up to the final Indiana Jones movie, The Dial of Destiny, I knew I would be in an Indiana Jones mood. As a result, I reached back to the 1990s and the novels written by a trio of writers: Rob MacGregor, Martin Caidin, and Max McCoy. I had read the first novel, The Peril at Delphi, back when it was released in 1991. But that Indy was younger and, for whatever reason, I kept buying the books but not reading them. After a cursory bit of research in 2023, I discovered that McCoy was hired to write stories more like the Indy we meet in the original trilogy and…
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Growing Up and Older With Indiana Jones: A Dial of Destiny Review
Indiana Jones and the Dial of destiny is a chance to reconnect with an old friend for one last adventure before we have to say good-bye. In that framework, the new film works quite well.
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The Inspirational Nature of the Movie “Air”
I knew next to nothing about this story (even though I’m old enough to live through it) but very much was looking forward to seeing it. I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed this movie. It arrived at a good time as I can coming out of a bad mental health week. The positivity and perseverance of Matt Damon’s character was good to see as well as Phil Knight’s (Ben Affleck’s character). I enjoyed the movie so much that I stopped at Barnes and Noble and picked up Knight’s memoir, Shoe Dog, before I got home. Damon’s speech to convince Michael Jordan to sign of Nike was excellent. I got…
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I Finally Saw Clerks III
What did you expect from Kevin Smith, a man living on borrowed time? Back in the summer of 2019, I set out to watch every Kevin Smith film leading up to the release of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It was a fantastic experience where I wrote about the movies as I watched them, watched no trailers ahead of seeing the film (leading to a shocker in Jersey Girl), and then ranked my favorite films, performances, and scenes. Being the pop culture geek that I am, folks are surprised to learn that I only started watching Smith’s films 2019. Up until then, he was only a podcaster (and that only…
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I Finally Watched Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Way back in June 2019–only four months ago as I write this–I made a decision: I wanted to watch this movie when it was released. In order to fully appreciate Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, I would have to watch the previous twelve movies in the Kevin Smith filmography. I did and reviewed all the films. Last week, I ranked the existing twelve movies as I liked them, with a unique choice at the top. All of which serves as an introduction to the review of this, Smith’s thirteenth film. Getting to the Theater I bought my ticket to Reboot back in July 2019. At the time, the Houston Astros…
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Top 10 Favorite Scenes of Kevin Smith Films
When I made my initial list of favorite scenes in Kevin Smith’s film, I ended up with nineteen. Then, after seeing Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, I added a twentieth. Most of these scenes everyone already knows so I won’t bother with context. I will add some to the one Reboot scene. If you’ve read my post where I rank Smith’s films, Jersey Girl topped the list followed closely by Chasing Amy. If you’ve read my list of favorite performances, you’ll also note those two films dominate my list. I could probably make a Top 10 list with just these two films. The Top 10 Hockey rink scene where Alyssa…
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Favorite Performances in Kevin Smith Films
After I ranked all twelve of Kevin Smith’s films yesterday, here are my favorite performances. Tune in tomorrow for my favorite scenes, including at least one from Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Joey Lauren Adams in Chasing Amy – If I had to pick a single performance over all of Kevin Smith’s films that was my favorite, it would be Adams. She knocked it out of the park both in the small scenes and especially in emotionally anguishing scenes. She could open the character’s heart so warmly when she answers the “Why me?” question, and then lets you feel the utter betrayal outside the hockey rink. Wonderful. Ben Affleck in…