Category Archives: Movies

Correction to Earlier Oscar Post

It turns out that a tune I liked, which I described as having “a relentless three note descending theme, underlying colorful violin lines,” in one of the Oscar nominated films, Triangle of Sadness, that I discussed in my post of … Continue reading

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Oscars 2023, 2

My takes on the films released in 2022 that we saw, including 8 of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees.

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Oscars 2023, 1

Lots of items in the news media today about the Oscars, of course. Here’s a typical article about them, followed by some of my reactions, to the awards, and (tomorrow) to some of the individual films. Salon, Melanie McFarland, 13 … Continue reading

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Religious Presumptions, Divine Plans, Hollywood’s Worst

Catching up on links not yet used from the past week or so. Jerry Coyne responds to Timothy Keller’s presumptions about the metaphysical truth of Christianity and the need for a revived Church; The obvious evidence for lack of a … Continue reading

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Mysteries, Stories, and Science

I like mysteries, once in a while, but I don’t trust them. They are too often contrived, “too clever by half” as the saying goes. Their narratives double back and re-interpret, like lawyers who revisit a set of testimony and … Continue reading

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Assorted Links from Recent Weeks

About George Santos’s fictional resume, Tucker Carlson’s year of being wrong, Avatar 2’s “ecological Indian” cliche, the hypocrisy of right-wing “free thinkers,” Thomas Frank on the lack of imagination of Democrats, DeSantis and vaccines, book banning, and two religious graphics.

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Denying the Denialists? and Bros

Just time for one Reading today, then some comments about seeing a movie in a movie theater for the first time in nearly 3 years.

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Today’s Headlines, 8 Sept 2022

Queen and empire; Religious employers against health care; Republicans making fun of sick people; Lebanon as America’s future under Trumpers; MAGA invokes 1st century BC; Another lame right-wing movie; Why American lives are getting shorter; The indefensible claims of “2,000 … Continue reading

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Greatest Fictional Deaths

Slate posted this long list and several sidebar articles/interviews on Wednesday. (I’m guessing they compiled it a while back and waited for a relatively slow news day to post it.) Slate, Dan Kois, 20 July 2022: The 50 Greatest Fictional … Continue reading

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Fiddler on the Roof

Over the past couple evenings we’ve watched the movie version of a musical I had never seen before, in any form: Fiddler on the Roof. I was aware it was a big-hit musical, back in the 1960s or ’70s, in … Continue reading

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