Recommended The Series: A massive twelve part mini-series which originally aired on The History Channel earlier in 2010, America – The Story Of Us is an epic, sprawling, and remarkably interesting look at the evolution of a country and its people. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, the series brings together live reenactments, CGI graphics, interviews with experts and the opinionated (and, puzzlingly enough, a fair amount of celebrity talent),... 

Recommended THE MOVIE: If Marlon Brando had known the day he would die, he might have found the perfect film to embody his incredible career and serve as his final gift to the silver screen. This was not the case, and Brando appeared on film for the final time nearly a decade ago in The Score , director Frank Oz’s slow-burn heist flick about the last job of a career thief. The film is not the eulogy Brando deserved, but it is commendable... 

Highly Recommended The Movie: A criminally underrated film from the unlikely director of ’sexy’ films like Flashdance , 9 Weeks and Fatal Attraction and from the man who wrote Ghost (and, oddly enough, Stuart Little 2 , if you’re keeping track), 1990’s Jacob’s Ladder is every bit the horror film it was originally marketed as but underneath the shocks there’s a truly dramatic heart. When the film was originally... 

Rent It THE MOVIE: Ajami , Israel’s official entry for the Oscars this past year, is an ambitious and often intriguing melding of Neorealism and the crime genre that impresses only slightly more than it frustrates. Co-directed, edited, and written by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, the film brings together an ensemble of first-time actors to create a portrait of life in the culturally diverse Ajami neighborhood in…  Read More →

Highly Recommended Forbidden Planet was released at a time when science [click on the thumbnail to enlarge] fiction films were all too often associated with boxy, black and white compositions, pie-pans on strings, and standard issue formulas with nuclear fal… Read the entire review  Read More →

Highly Recommended A [click on the thumbnail to enlarge] bunch of twentysomethings. A swamp. A hideously deformed mutant. A hatchet. That’s pretty much all the plot summary you need. Okay, there’s a little more than that to Hatchet , a love letter so… Read the entire review  Read More →

Highly Recommended Unless I’m reviewing something, I’m the kind of guy that needs to hear some opinions on a film before I go and see it blindly, especially if said film has been flying low on the hype radar. I saw a trailer for Stardust a few years ago and thought it looked intriguing enough, but I never heard anything following its theatrical release. The buzz had been quiet on every front – Internet, media, friends, you... 

Recommended “You’re right. Thedisembodied spirit of a dead woman is getting a job in the serviceindustry,what could possibly go wrong?” The Show: The first season of Being Human wasvery enjoyable and showed a lot of promise,even if it was only 6 episodes long. Iwas excited to see the second set of shows arrive on these shores soquicklyand eagerly popped  Read More →

Rent It THE FILM As much as I enjoy Christopher Walken chasing his every last oddball whim and a story that takes a road trip through the pit stops of America, it’s just not enough to make the dramedy “Five Dollars a Day” interesting. Dreadfully formulaic and absent a thoughtful emotional core, the picture is best valued as a forgettable trifle starring Hollywood’s most enduring weirdo. With a prison stint in his past... 

Skip It “I liked it when Marmaduke farted.” Hannah Dixon, age 8, on Marmaduke Yeah, that’s kind of the review right there. Kids Marmaduke, nooooo !  Read More →

Highly Recommended The Show: House M.D. is one of those rare shows. You know, it’s one of those shows that FOX hasn’t cancelled yet. And do you know why FOX hasn’t pulled the plug? It’s really freaking popular! Since 2004 House has been going strong with a powerful cast and a selection of writers that have attempted to stay ahead …  Read More →

Highly Recommended THE MOVIE: Eleven years ago, documentary-style horror phenomenon The Blair Witch Project grossed over $140 million at the U.S. box office. Shot for only $60,000, the film was marketed as a real documentary about three students who ventured into the woods near Burkittsville, Md., to explore the town’s dark legend and were never seen again. Although audience reactions were mixed, The Blair Witch Project’s success... 

Highly Recommended Extremely gaudy and juvenile but also undeniably sincere and affectionate, Starcrash ( Scontri stellari oltre la terza dimensione , or “Starcrash Beyond the Third Dimension,” 1979) was green-lighted to cash in on the worldwide Star Wars craze, and while this comparatively modest effort definitely incorporates elements from that film, writer-director Luigi Cozzi (billed as “Lewis Coates” in the credits)... 

Highly Recommended THE FILM In 1969, The Who unleashed “Tommy,” their electrified stab at a rock opera after years of tinkering with the elusive format. A musical achievement of staggering ambition and crunchy stacked-amp rock theatrics, “Tommy” became a sensation, justifiably branded the defining album of the band’s extensive career, soon embarking on a marathon tour of interpretation, eventually making iconic... 

Highly Recommended THE MOVIE: When Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood was published in 1966, it created a sensation in literary circles for its innovative style, resulting in a work dubbed by the author as the “nonfiction novel”–the storytelling techniques of fiction, applied to a factual narrative. These days, the form goes by a less reputable moniker: “true crime.” Richard Brooks’ 1967 film adaptation is...