If you’re going to remake a cultural classic, you’d better do a great job with it. And that’s what the makers of Disney’s new, non-animated Cinderella did…for the most part. All the characters fit within the framework of Disney’s original animated film, but several of them were given new depth and quality. The wicked step mother, played […]
Senior Miyagi and Daniel Hijo…
This morning I introduced my children to one of my boyhood favorites, The Karate Kid. PJ was especially impressed with the scene where Mr. Miyagi attempted to catch flies with chop sticks. At one point, after watching for a bit, she asked about him… PJ: Daddy, is that man from China? Me: Nope, he said he’s from Okinawa. […]
Days of Future Past, A Community of Future Past
*There are no intended spoilers below, but the basic plot is revealed.* The latest addition to the X-Men mythology supersedes all its predecessors. While on the in a general sense Days of Future Past appears to be a film about whether our futures are determined or created by free will, at its root, this film is really […]
Divergent Thinking
I just finished reading Veronica’s Roth’s bestselling book, Divergent. In a divided world, supposedly factioned in order to maintain peace, the main character, Tris, finds herself as a biological and social oddity – a Divergent – who cannot be categorized within the either/or thinking dominating this post-apocalyptic civilization. As a Divergent, who cannot be categorized, and therefore […]
Why JK Rowling is Wrong
A few weeks ago, JK Rowling dropped an Avada Kedavra curse on the Muggle world. She said, several years removed from the Harry Potter series, that she’d do a few things differently. Most notably, she’d have Harry marry Hermione instead of Ginny. She said she made the choice she did for personal reasons, not literary or consistency reasons. She thinks a […]
Dallas Buyers Club and Our Need for Each Other
Dallas Buyer’s Club will make you uncomfortable. From the opening scene of promiscuity to the overt challenge of the FDA, from confronting straight fears about gay men to seeing a 47 pound lighter Matthew McConaughey, this movie does not want you to leave undisturbed. And that’s exactly why you need to see it – just not […]