I’ve always enjoyed the music of The Four Seasons, especially after the band adapted the name Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Their hits of the 1970s are bright and bold, and lots of fun to sing. Yet when the […]
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Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) ☆ ☆
Maybe because “Transformer” toys didn’t exist when I was a kid and I was too old for them when they did appear, I’ve never thought much of the concept. It doesn’t seem even remotely believable that big ol’ transformers can […]
Continue reading »My Extraordinary Ordinary Life (2012)
My Extraordinary Ordinary Life 2012, Hyperion. 271 pages. $26.99 Sissy Spacek, with Maryanne Vollers. As the studio system crumbled in the 1960s movies became more democratic, telling a wider variety of stories and featuring actors who probably wouldn’t have […]
Continue reading »Starlit (2010)
Starlit 2010, Gallery Books. 243 pages. $24.99 Lisa Rinna Soap opera actress and television personality Lisa Rinna has written a breezy novel that follows three young actresses looking for their big breaks in Hollywood. It’s called Starlit, and it […]
Continue reading »Chef (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
Being a picky eater I don’t have the love affair with food that many people enjoy, and movies about food often bore me. That was not the case with Chef, a tour-de-force from Jon Favreau, who wrote, directed and stars […]
Continue reading »The Fault in Our Stars (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
It is sad and cruel when cancer strikes — especially when its target is young and otherwise healthy. The Fault in Our Stars, and presumably the book upon which it is based, suggests that pain and suffering, while hideously unfair, […]
Continue reading »How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
One of the greatest joys of movie watching occurs when a sequel is as good or better than the original, and such is the case with DreamWorks new animated movie, How to Train Your Dragon 2. I never quite connected […]
Continue reading »Million Dollar Arm (2014) ☆ ☆ ☆
I’m a big baseball fan, but I had never heard of the “Million Dollar Arm” contest, in which cricket players in India were given the opportunity to win baseball tryouts for major league teams. According to the movie, anyway, this […]
Continue reading »Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Our tenth classic of 2014 is the dramatic musical biography of country and western singer Loretta Lynn, which shares the same title as her famous autobiographical song, Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980). The film stars Sissy Spacek as the singer, and her […]
Continue reading »Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)
by Barb Lentz. The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these: Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) The Great Escape (1963) The Killers (1946) On the Beach (1959) They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) I […]
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