I’ve only read one of the books in the long-running series of tongue-in-cheek melodramatic novels this is based on, but the movie seems to do a pretty good job of capturing the spirit and style of the source, including the … Continue reading
I saw this based on a recommendation from late and much-missed friend Dave Locke. As he said, this is a true science fiction movie, not what usually passes for one. Sam Rockwell plays a man in a solo job at … Continue reading
I ran across this surprisingly likable independent comedy quite by accident. It depicts a group of adult role-playing gamers (I’m tempted to say they were diagnosed with AD&D) not as predictable caricatures but as believable, if weird, people (though the … Continue reading
When Mr. Dashwood dies, his son inherits everything, and despite having made a deathbed promise to his dying father that he would look after his three half-sisters and his stepmother, the son lets his obnoxious wife convince him to turn … Continue reading
Dracula, who operates a resort hotel where monsters can vacation free from human persecution, invites his fellow famous monsters to the huge party he’s putting on for for his daughter Mavis’s 118th birthday. (Vampires must mature slowly, since she looks … Continue reading
Back in 1984 a young Tim Burton directed a highly stylized half-hour live-action short for Disney, featuring Shelley Duvall and a number of other recognizable character actors, about a young suburban boy named Victor Frankenstein whose brings his beloved dog … Continue reading
Norman is a kid with no close friends at school, but he does know a lot of dead people. Of course, neither his parents nor his older sister nor his schoolmates believe he can talk with the departed, but it … Continue reading
In the late 1990s a writing student named Jim Butcher was urged by his teacher (author Deborah Chester) to set aside the medieval fantasies he’d been working on and try something in a modern setting. As Butcher said in a … Continue reading
Jack Pearl is little remembered today, but in the early days of radio he was famous for playing Baron Munchausen, a character with a thick German accent who would recount ludicrous adventures he claimed to have had, responding to skepticism … Continue reading
(Update: I see I managed to post this review twice in slightly different form. The later version is here. I’ll leave both in place to avoid possible broken links.) One of my numerous character flaws is a tolerance for cheap … Continue reading