Himesh Patel stars in Yesterday, a movie that asks the question, “what if only one man remembered The Beatles?”
You just … you just gotta buy the premise.
Once you do, once you’ve bought into the idea that a guy is suddenly thrust into a world where The Beatles don’t exist and haven’t existed, well, now you’re along for the magical mystery tour. (Sorry,I will do my best — I promise — not to throw in more references like that!) Read More…
What a year for movies — a very strange, crazy year.
Two of the Academy Award nominations for Best Picture — Bohemian Rhapsody and Vice — scored in the 60s on Rotten Tomatoes, the number one website for collecting movie reviews. A third film — Green Book — got a tepid 81% score.
And here’s the thing, I think one or two of them should win!
Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani star in The Big Sick.
ACT I
Maybe it’s the escapism, putting my mind into a different scenario each time the lights dim and the credits begin. Perhaps it’s the shared experience of seeing movies with others. After all, scientists say we all tend to blink at the same time when we sit together watching movies. But for whatever reason, I’ve been drawn to movies all my life at an almost obsessive level.
I have been writing various versions of these film review pieces for decades and I think it’s partly because I become so immersed in whatever I’m watching, that a piece of me feels like it’s playing a part in the actual movie. Sometimes it feels as though I’m a bit player, just out of camera range. That explains why I don’t do horror films; I empathetically feel all the tension and violence. The Oscar-nominated Get Out was a real struggle for me. Seeing Dunkirk in true IMAX with Dolby multidimensional sound also might not have been my smartest move. It was too vivid, too in-your-face, in-your-body even. I guess I like being a part of it all, unless I’m in danger and can’t hide underneath my seat quickly enough!
So here we go with my picks from the past year. I promise it won’t be too scary, violent or intense. Read More…
Nothing stops The Spiritual Wanderer, as Rodney Curtis is known to readers far and wide from the title of his first humorous book about the many quirky challenges of life in America. Then, suddenly his life went from quirky to terrifying as he was hit with a double whammy: a layoff notice and a diagnosis of cancer. Many would have folded under the pressure, but Rodney’s approach to life remains undimmed. As he says in his introduction, he keeps laughing in the face of fear.
The shocking L-words struck like hammers: “Laid off,” then, “Leukemia.” Like millions of Americans, Rodney Curtis feared for his life and his family. But what that deadly acute leukemia didn’t know was: It was dealing with the Spiritual Wanderer, the columnist who is famous for finding humor and wisdom in daily life. Rodney started by renaming his foe: “A Cute Leukemia.” He explains, “Nothing makes cancer madder than belittling it and pinching its darling baby cheeks.” If you’d like to try chuckling in the face of your fears, join Rodney on his quest to recover both humor and health.
Who is the Spiritual Wanderer? He’s an ordinary person like you and me. When he crawls out of bed each morning, he needs to find a cup of frozen coffee before he can contemplate searching for spiritual answers in the cosmos. As his day unfolds, Rodney Curtis looks everywhere for meaning and hope–and always for humor. He wanders through the lives of people around him, through the streets with his beloved dogs and even searches for spiritual guidance in the lights high above us, although that winking glow up there sometimes turns out to be a streetlight. In these 40 short adventures with the Wanderer, you’ll likely find yourself standing very close to your own home.
