7 HOME MOVIES COLUMNS
Cheapening the experience
10/10/2008 | The announcement ran something like this:" 'The Express' 7 p. m. with 'Burn After Reading. ' "So far so good. I knew what I was going to be doing on Saturday night.
Some fall films should be taken seriously
9/26/2008 | Fall, we so often are told, is the time for serious film. Not necessarily in terms of awards, though. Hollywood tends to save those kinds of films for December, figuring that Oscar voters will forget anything released earlier in the year.
Evolution of LaBute
9/19/2008 | When Hollywood comes calling, offering interviews with filmmakers, you seldom say no even when you know the interviewees are interested mostly in hyping their own work.
Top tales of survival
9/12/2008 | One of my favorite film genres is the post-apocalypse thriller. You know the kind of film I mean. It's where something horrible happens a plague, maybe, or nuclear war and then we follow a group of characters as the world struggles to survive.
Of family and tragedy
8/22/2008 | Top 10 lists are, by definition, mere opinion. "Citizen Kane" may be the best film ever made. Yet when it was released in 1941, it won only one of the nine Academy Awards it was up for.
'Dark Knight' keeps charging forward
8/15/2008 | Now that the furor has died down at least a bit, maybe it's time to pose the question: Just how good a film is "The Dark Knight"?
Adding to the list
8/1/2008 | Welcome to another chapter in the ongoing cinematic saga "100 Movies That You Need to See Before You Die." Though not meant as a list of the Best 100 movies ever made, these recommendations are must-sees for any film-appreciation course.
Documentaries show another side of Abu Ghraib story
7/4/2008 | In a class that I taught at Gonzaga University a few years ago, the subject of Abu Ghraib prison came up. The discussion was appropriate.
SIFF promoter finds his niche
5/30/2008 | Cal Ledbetter didn't grow up near a movie theater. As residents of Lacrosse, Wash., Ledbetter and his family had to drive an hour or more to Moscow, Idaho, to see the current releases.
This bet may not go smoothly
5/23/2008 | Sometime Monday morning, I'm likely to be standing in line at the Ben & Jerry's franchise at River Park Square, buying one of those fruity smoothies they sell there.
SIFF a chance to see world through cinema
5/16/2008 | Three weeks back from New York's Tribeca Film Festival, and I'm already preparing for my next big film-festival adventure. This one, though, is held on an annual basis in relatively speaking our own backyard.
Success is how you define it
5/9/2008 | When the team behind the documentary "Going on 13" took the stage following the film's April 24 screening at the Tribeca Film festival, Joan Conger was there with them.
Behind the scenes, but in the scenes
5/2/2008 | You probably aren't familiar with the name Shaun Toub, but you might know the actor's face. Toub stands out while specializing in roles that require him to play characters named Hassan or Joaquim or even merely "Dark Skinned Man."
Hollywood masters art of escapism
4/18/2008 | Twenty minutes into the Romanian film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," while watching one character after the next walk though scene after scene with no apparent motive, I thought, "Could this movie be even more anti-mainstream American?
Heston will be remembered for big roles, traditional values
4/11/2008 | When he dies a couple of decades from now, Harrison Ford is likely to be treated by critics the way Charlton Heston is being treated now.
It won't be the real thing, but
4/4/2008 | Even with Martin Scorsese behind the camera, some movie fans aren't going to get excited about seeing the director's documentary "Shine a Light," which is slated to open today at AMC's River Park Square Theatres.
'The Wire' finds home among TV staples
3/28/2008 | One of my favorite movie quotes comes from "Raising Arizona," the 1987 Coen brothers comedy that stars Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter.
Going to movies still a cheap date
3/21/2008 | Not that long ago, people were bemoaning the price of movie tickets in New York. At particular issue was the fear that tickets would one day reach the $10 mark.
Challenge to be more outrageous
3/14/2008 | If you're looking for a cheap laugh, check out the upcoming summer-movie schedule. Looks like there's a gaggle of real winners headed our way. Up April 11 is something called simply "College."
New horror genre is matter of taste
3/7/2008 | Tastes in movies vary wildly, and this is a good thing. Imagine how limiting the world would be if, say, the only things people wanted to watch were Larry the Cable Guy comedies.
Big moments, big surprises at Oscars
2/29/2008 | It's been five days, yet I'm still thinking of the Oscars. That's only partly because I did even worse in my office pool than usual.
'Clayton' addresses law, money, ethical questions
2/22/2008 | "American Gangster"Ridley Scott, working from a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian ("Schindler's List"), tells the real-life story of a New York cop named Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) investigating the dangerous drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington).
For some, Oscar buzz is anything but
2/22/2008 | Now that the writer's strike has been settled, it looks as if the Oscar broadcast is a go. Funny thing is, there are those among us who couldn't care less.
'Martian' star talks about life in movie, at home
2/15/2008 | Three months short of his 11th birthday, Bobby Coleman is already a movie star. Coleman, whose movie "The Martian Child" is just out on DVD, did a series of phone interviews with journalists last week.
Rambo vs. violence in Oscar five
2/8/2008 | John Rambo personally kills 83 villains in his latest outing. That's five more than Sylvester Stallone's second-favorite character the first, of course, being Rocky Balboa dispatched in 1988's "Rambo III," 25 more than 1985's "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and 82 more than the series original, 1982's "First Blood.
