Monthly Archives: November 2008
Celebrate "Buy Nothing Day"
The best gift of all? A full wallet Today is Black Friday*. For most of the nation, the day after Thanksgiving is a chance to hit the mall in search of super-sales, to barge down store aisles stocking carts with the best bargains and sweetest deals. For a smaller segment of the population, however, today […]
Turkey Day movies
Spend Thanksgiving with Bond and the kids from “Twilight” Thanksgiving weekend, much like Christmas, is the perfect time to go to the movies. Family members and friends are gathered ’round the dinner table. Conversation flows. Food and drink abound. As Thanksgiving leftovers disappear into Tupperware and the whole clan lapses into a tryptophan-fueled coma, why […]
This week in film: Martial Arts Edition
This week’s films include “Amazing Grace” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” High-flying adventure hits the Central Coast this week with two documentaries and a martial arts epic. Enjoy some “Good Food” tonight with a documentary about creative farmers, gardeners and cattle ranchers in the Pacific Northwest. The movie screening is sponsored by HopeDance Magazine. Directed […]
Son of Clint
Kyle Eastwood talks about working with his filmmaker dad, Clint Eastwood Jazz musician Kyle Eastwood has a tough act to follow. His father, Clint Eastwood, is one of Hollywood’s creative forces. As an actor, he’s made a career out of playing grizzled, squint-eyed men of few words, ranging from Dirty Harry to The Man with […]
Is Bond getting boring?
To quote another 2008 blockbuster, “Why so serious, ‘Quantum of Solace?’” Compared to 2006’s “Casino Royale,“ “Quantum of Solace” simply doesn’t stack up. “Casino,” which established Daniel Craig as the cool, brutal Bond of a new generation, blended gritty realism and gnarly violence with flashes of fun and adventure. It had a smart, stunning heroine […]
The lovely ladies of "The Spirit"
Women of “Watchmen”? Meet the lovely ladies of “The Spirit” Remember my rants and raves about “Watchmen”? This week, I’m turning the focus to another comic book-turned-blockbuster, “The Spirit.” It’s based on Will Eisner’s innovative series about a masked crime-fighter who essentially returns from the dead. As director Frank Miller explains in this MTV […]
Independence Day in November?
Tonight, aliens blow up the White House “Independence Day” seems like an odd choice for a November movie screening. As a holiday and a film, “Independence Day” is tied pretty closely to the fight for “liberty, justice and the American way.” It’s stirring, patriotic and action-packed. It’s got fighter pilots going against aliens mano a […]
Kenny Loggins and the Birth of Yacht Rock
“Everybody cut, everybody cut footloose!” Ever wonder what inspired that Kenny Loggins tune, “Footloose”? Turns out it had something to do with Jimmy Buffett, machetes and Malibu rum. At least, that’s what “Yacht Rock,“ the winning Web series about soft rock stars in the 1970s and ’80s, would have us believe. Created by J. D. […]
Quotes. Bond quotes.
JAMES BOND: “Do you expect me to talk?” AURIC GOLDFINGER: “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!” — “Goldfinger” (1965) “Bond, James Bond” and other quotes Bond fans are sticklers for tradition. In each film depicting the dashing, deadly British secret agent, we expect to see fast cars, flashy gadgets and lovely girls with […]
Introducing … The Mini Review
Here’s my take on “Appaloosa,” “RocknRolla” and “W.” I watch a lot of movies. A lot of movies. So many, in fact, that I’ve fallen badly behind in actually writing about them. Since it’s difficult to find time for full-fledged reviews, I’ve settled on a compromise: Mini-reviews that give a clear, concise take on the […]
She Likes to Watch 