Category Archives: Commentary

A Few Thoughts on the 2016 Oscars

I haven't said too much about the Oscars yet this year. That's because when I do I'll be dropping lots of swears. You've been warned. Everyone else HAS  been talking about them. It's a big problem: the serious lack of diversity in the major categories. Boycotts have been called. There's lots of bad reasons for…Read More

Remembering Alan Rickman and David Bowie

It's been a rough week, absorbing the news that actor, writer, and director Alan Rickman, and creative icon David Bowie, have died. Both were 69. A Shakespearean thesp in the UK, most audiences in North America were introduced to Alan Rickman with the one-two punch of Die Hard (1988) and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). He's remarkable…Read More

2015 at the Movies

I've been considering my Top 10 of 2015 list, which unfortunately won't be arriving until mid-January earliest, following the release of The Revenant. I'm really hoping to see 45 Years, too. It's the same every January... the late releases from the year before open in town weeks after their arrival in bigger markets. Looking back at…Read More

LENS ME YOUR EARS: Ep. 016 “Lost In Space”

On this week's podcast, Stephen Cooke and I consider movies where people go beyond the stars, inspired by the recent release of The Martian. We revisit Robinson Crusoe On Mars,  Silent Running, Capricorn One, The Black Hole, Saturn 3,  Event Horizon, Solaris, and Europa Report, with a glance at a few galactic voyagers and misadventures…Read More