Movies
8.31.15 “That is your real name, is it? Not just advertising?”
Monty Python, President Obama meets Bear Grylls, and a thought on why being a woman on campus is so difficult these days.
Read MoreSpace, the final frontier for gender stereotypes
Space heroines are few and far between in movies and on TV. While occasionally you get your Ellen Ripleys (Alien) and Princess Leia (Star Wars) the truth is women rarely make it to fictional space in any kind of leadership capacity.
Read MoreRemake, remodel: “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the delicious taste of a reboot done right
When I go to the grocery story for ice cream, I know exactly what flavor I want. Maybe I’m flexible on who’s making the flavor but in general, give me what I know I already like. Ice cream makers aren’t the only ones in on this truism; advertisers are well aware that once consumers find…
Read More10 scripts, 2 Oscars: Which writers will take home the best screenplay awards?
The writer on a movie set is a second-class citizen, a vestigial remnant that might once have served a purpose but who, once filming has begun, can only get in the way. Once a script leaves the hands of its screenwriter, unless said screenwriter is also directing, they’re less useful than an appendix. Nobody wants…
Read MoreImitation of Life: Why Hollywood doesn’t tell stories of female pioneers
At some point while watching the “Imitation Game,” probably when Benedict Cumberbatch was not actually on the screen, it occurred to me: Joan Clarke deserves a movie of her own.
Read MoreHo-ho-hold the treacle: Most holiday movies stink. Demand better!
After much delay, at last I saw “Maleficent” the other night. And yes, while it is full of exactly what one expects from a Disney film – for (spoiler alert), example, a villain given grace by his vanquisher tries one last time for the win and ends up falling to his death – it took…
Read MoreNo paper, no pen: On the loss of Robin Williams, a great American writer
“What will your verse be?” — Robin Williams as John Keating, “Dead Poets Society” (1989) Just hours after the news that Robin Williams had killed himself broke on August 11, Bostonians opted to continue their dialogue with the late comedian. They went out to a bench in the city’s Public Garden, where Williams had filmed…
Read More‘Boyhood’ is full of storytelling magic, minus the story and any wizardry
Modern movie stories generally goes a little something like this: Hero. Hero travels to a different world (you can go metaphorical or literal on this one). Hero meets companion. (In Western society, this companion is almost always of a minority race, or disabled, or female. Look, this is what they taught me. I don’t make…
Read MoreA twist in the tale: Why too many ‘Twilight Zone’ endings can ruin the surprise
One summer, I spent my days lounging around the pool, reading “The Twilight Zone.” Not watching. For one thing, “The Twilight Zone” reruns were on way late at night. I wasn’t quite a teenager, VCRs were in other peoples’ homes, and the Internet was still a good decade or so away. So I’d only seen…
Read MoreNot seeing the forest for the trees: ‘Into the Woods’ and other ways Hollywood gaffes in retelling classic fairy tales
“Into the Woods” fans, brace yourself: The Disney adaptation of the award-winning, long-running, grown-up thinking fairy tale musical by Stephen Sondheim – one of the stage’s pre-eminent writers – is getting neutered. As the New Yorker reported recently, during a master class in New York City Sondheim told the audience of high school drama teachers that…
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