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Holed up during the Blizzard of 2016, I was a grateful recipient of our DVD-collecting neighbor's brand new copy of the Matt Damon film "The Martian." Unlike Mr. Damon's stranded astronaut Mark Watney, I was marooned with family and good neighbors, and lacked for nothing. We didn't even lose power. "The Martian" is a fine video for people suffering from the lesser affliction of cabin fever. It's set in stark isolation. As the snow piled up past 30 inches with drifts resembling sand dunes amid strong winds, we identified in a small way with Watney's separation from the rest of...

Thoughts?

Combat Action. The true story from the perspective of the military contractors who rescued Americans in the terrorist attacks on the American embassy and CIA facility in Benghazi on 9/11 2012. Woah. Michael Bay, you are forgiven of Transformers. In fact, all Michael Bay haters will have to stand down and admit that this phenomenal action movie is a well-told and entertaining story of American valor. No vain empty action, this is rich and full heroism. I think Bay is probably the only one who could get this movie made because no one can accuse him of political agenda in...

Anyone viewing "13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" looking for the names "Hillary" or "Obama" will be disappointed. They aren't there. That said, this is the best Michael Bay movie since "Bad Boys II" and atones for at least two of the "Transformers" films. Most people know the basic story: on September 11, 2011, the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, where Ambassador Christ Stevens had arrived, came under a planned attack by Islamic radicals. The attack had nothing to do with a video, as the film makes clear. Stevens only had two bodyguards with him, wanting to keep a...

A spokesman for the CIA is criticizing the Michael Bay movie "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" as a "distortion of the events and people who served in Benghazi that night." The spokesman, Ryan Trapani, was quoted in an exclusive Washington Post story, which also features an interview with the CIA chief in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed in a siege of the diplomatic compound and attack on the CIA annex. "No one will mistake this movie for a documentary," Tripani told the Post. "It's a distortion of the events...

Saw The Revenant the other day with a good friend of mine. I can't say I've ever seen a movie that was filmed as beautifully as this one. The visuals and shots were simply amazing, and the style was very dream-like. In fact, the protagonist often had very vivid and bizarre dreams, but "reality" itself was also very odd and surreal in the way it was filmed. You sort of get the feeling that there is a spiritual undercurrent that you get a sense of in how the scenes were shot, and that is indeed a theme in the film's...

not much to say Good movie, not a waste of money However, i guess it was anti-climactic, if our government had changed things since then, it would have meant more, but knowing they are still covering up for the lack of support, which the movie CLEARLY COVERS the repeated calls for it... It is worth the price. Go see it.

We just saw The Big Short. It was an interesting and entertaining movie. The language was pretty coarse, but I've no doubt that's the way those high rollers converse. It was s serious subject, but there were many humorous exchanges. Most of the bad guys were hit pretty hard blame wise (banks, lenders, rating agencies), but there was no mention of the role of government policy over many years (Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac) in leading to the subprime mortgage crisis. Surprisingly, Bush wasn't blamed! I did take issue with the observation at the end that minorities and...

Left work a little early yesterday to see a 4:30 showing of The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I ended up in the slowest ticket line, but eventually got my annual $20 refillable popcorn tub, a bottle of lemonade and walked briskly to the theater since by then it was 4:50. I thought for sure I had missed the beginning, which is one my few pet peeves. Nope, previews were still on. Is America the only country where movies never start on the time posted? Thank, God for it. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a movie, longer still since...

You may have heard of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, the new film from blow-'em-up-real-good director Michael Bay of Armageddon and Transformers fame. ... ... ... It's going to make its debut at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington as part of a promotional push, Paramount Studios confirmed Wednesday. 13 Hours... revolves around the six-man security team that defended the American diplomatic compound at Benghazi, Libya, during an attack by terrorists in 2012 that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. ... ... ... Tickets are free through ticketmaster.com and thirteenhoursmovie.com as long as supplies last....

This review deals largely in spoilers concerning The Force Awakens. Normally, I don't think spoilers actually spoil much, but for this case the viewing experience is greatly enhanced by coming to the movie cold. So I'd suggest you really not read this until after you've seen it. Unless you're not going to see it and are just curious. In which case, go ahead and read. You filthy commie.

GEORGE Lucas may have been the brains behind Star Wars, but it was his ex-wife Marcia Lucas who gave the film its heart. Today, she has largely been erased from the history books. Marcia, who won the 1977 Academy Award for Film Editing along with Richard Chew and Paul Hirsch for her work on Star Wars, was instrumental in shaping the film's iconic moments that would propel it to the status of cultural phenomenon. In his 2008 book,The Secret History of Star Wars, journalist Michael Kaminski dedicates an entire chapter to Marcia Lucas, nee Griffin, who was once described by...

The “Star Wars” universe was a fixture in Patten Anthony’s childhood: He read the books, played the video games and caught the original movie trilogy when it aired on TV. Now at 29 years old, he’s especially excited that this week’s release of Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” prominently features Nigerian-British actor John Boyega, whose appearance in the movie's trailers suggests he’ll play a pivotal role in the story. “When I saw a black man with a light saber, I got a little hyped,” said Anthony, an African-American resident of Atlanta who works in information technology. “At first I...

America is obsessed with Star Wars. I'm not making a value judgment, just a statement of fact. It's everywhere, even in car commercials on radio. What the movie franchise has to do with cars is a mystery, but it's probably working because why else would they do it? It certainly worked on me. I watched "The Force Awakens" Thursday at 11 p.m., Friday at 9:40 a.m. and Saturday at 7 a.m. Like I said, it's not a value judgment because I'd be judging myself. No value judgment is being made, but there are judgments to be made in regards to...

Critics screened the film earlier this week, and with the reviews rolling in, we've compiled a roundup of what they're saying, and in an effort to be as spoiler-free as possible, we only included parts that don't specifically talk about the plot. "Reinvigorating the franchise with a welcome surge of energy, warmth and excitement after the misbegotten cycle of prequels released between 1999 and 2005, incoming writer-director J.J. Abrams seems to have had the original three films firmly in mind when he embarked on this monumental new undertaking, structured as a series of clever if sometimes wobbly callbacks to a...

There were “smiling faces” from the crowds exiting the Los Angeles premiere of The Force Awakens on Monday night. Amongst these, presumably, were Disney executives ecstatic that the $4bn they paid George Lucas for franchise rights looks to have been a sound investment. Initial reactions from all three screening rooms where the film was shown for the first time – as well as from social media – suggest that JJ Abrams has the chops to please both critics and fans, and that The Force Awakens may well recoup at least half the $4bn by itself. A journalist for the Hollywood...

Suzanne and I went to see The Peanuts Movie. (Yes, we like kids’ movies. They often contain metaphysics. I have long said that one of my very favorite metaphysical movies is the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.) I love Peanuts, so this movie appealed to me. The Peanuts Movie centers around Charlie Brown’s pursuit of The Little Red-Haired Girl, with a delightful subplot regarding Snoopy’s latest novel, in which he, as The World War One Flying Ace, is chasing a female canine flying ace named Fifi. Fifi gets shot down by the Red Baron and Snoopy, of course,...

I just finished watching the Amazin series The Man in the High Castle. I have not read the book, but if anyone has seen the show I have a question. Is the end of the tenth show the end of the book/story? I've not seen there being a second season do did the book end w the Trade Minister waking up you-know-where? (I'm trying to avoid spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it). How important a are the films? Was J.Blake a spy or a member of the resistance?

The spy/espionage sub-genre of movies is in no danger of petering out. This year alone brought us big films like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Spectre, the latest James Bond adventure; not to mention news that another big spy franchise (Jason Bourne) will be continuing, as well. With so many spies out there playing cloak and dagger games across the silver screen, it’s not surprising that there could be some creative bleed-over between franchises. Mission: Impossible 5 and James Bond 24 were especially similar: both featured stories where the franchise hero had to uncover a...

It’s okay to feel a little trepidation before going to see The Peanuts Movie. After all, it was only a couple of months ago that the powers that be decided what the world really needed was a Muppets television show full of penis jokes and pessimistic cruelty. If the folks entrusted with Jim Henson’s creations were willing to submit Kermit and Fozzy to that kind of butchery, why should Charlie Brown and Snoopy be any safer? Well, let those trepidations slide away, because, to paraphrase Charles M. Schulz, happiness is a film about a warm puppy. The best way...