September 7 Solitary Man – Michael Douglas, Mary Louise Parker Ben Kalmen, a fifty-something New Yorker, discovers that he is not the man he wanted to be. Through many business and romantic indiscretions he has lost his once-successful car dealership. Now he must make the decision to face the challenges of his not-so-youthful life. September [...]
Smilla’s Sense of Snow (based on a novel by Peter Hoeg) is another story that has a strong sense of northern atmosphere. The plot actually hangs on the study of ice crystals, and ends in a climactic chase on ice fields in Greenland. The cultural nuances among the Danish, Inuits and Greenlanders are a fascinating part [...]
For this installment of Book vs. DVD, I did something a little different. Instead of reading a book, I listened to an audiobook. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger tells the story of a man who is, as Kurt Vonnegut so elegantly put once, “unstuck in time.” Since the age of 9, Henry DeTamble regularly [...]
August 3 Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Zachary Gordon, Steve Zahn The hysterically funny, best selling book comes to life in this smash-hit family comedy! Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life: middle school! That won’t be easy, considering [...]
Herb & Dorothy, an Arthouse Film by Megumi Sasaki, tells the amazing story of the Vogels–a couple who built one of the most extensive collections of minimalist and conceptual art despite their modest incomes. As former artists themselves, Herb and Dorothy began collecting other artists’ work in the early 1960′s with two rules in hand: [...]
Recently the magazine Time Out New York listed the 30 best summer blockbusters ever. Borrow some these DVDs from the library and stage your own summer film festival! Here are the top 10: 10. Aliens (1986) Sigourney Weaver Ripley returns to the alien planet to stop them from killing off an entire colony. But when [...]
July 6 Single Man – Colin Firth, Julianne Moore After the death of his longtime partner, a British college professor struggles to find meaning in his life. As he dwells in the past, he begins to contemplate suicide. A series of events and encounters will lead him to question if there really is a meaning [...]
Twenty notable directors collaborated on a wonderful movie that gives a great sense of the French capital, Paris, Je T’Aime, which celebrates Paris and Parisian life in eighteen short films. Each film is located in a different neighborhood of the city so it gives the viewer a sense of life and love in the “City of Lights.” The films are very similar in [...]
With the movie version of the book Eclipse due to hit theaters any day now, everyone is checking out what came before it to get pumped up for the film’s release. After the mega-success that was her first book, Twilight, Stephenie Meyer penned its sequel, New Moon. This book starts off with a bang: while celebrating her [...]
Some of today’s most popular movies and television series started off as books. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris is a mystery starring Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid from Bon Temps, Louisiana. The story takes place after vampires have made their existence known to the world and are beginning to be accepted into mainstream society in America. [...]
Bad Behavior has blocked 140 access attempts in the last 7 days.