As the New York Times obituary put it, a “Titan of the American Musical” has left the stage. Stephen Sondheim has died at the age of 91. The whole article is a long and excellent read — and I tend to agree with Mark Evanier in that there doesn’t seem to be much for me to individually add about my own personal connections to Sondheim’s work. However, one thing that has become evident to me…
I’ve mentioned before about my love of the space opera Farscape even going so far as to detail many of my reasons to recommend it. While I touch on the writing insofar as their episodes move at a rapid clip that puts many older TV shows to shame, one aspect I haven’t dwelt on was how the show deals with mental health in general and trauma in particular. Enter James Hoare’s piece for The Companion.…
This is one of my rare time-sensitive posts, so bottom-line up front: if you want to watch The Little Prince on Netflix — and my premise is you should — it’s leaving on May 4th, so do it now! Those of you who have read last year’s installment of my Favorite Films list already know I hold this film in high esteem, but I believe the 2015 film version of The Little Prince is one…
An actor whose magnetic presence matched or exceeded his six foot, four frame, Yaphet Kotto has died at the age of 81. Remembrances can be found across the internet, including: Variety Hollywood Reporter Showbiz 411 The Guardian New York Times While it’s almost certain I first saw Kotto in Alien, the performance that will always stick with me was seeing him on stage as Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s Fences. Through all the power, fragility,…
It’s an even year, although the nicest thing you can say about 2020 is that it was odd. But, in any case, even years mean it’s time for my Favorite Films sort, something I have done offline for about 30 years and have done online for the past eight years. You can see my previous entries here (including how I do the sort by pairwise comparison). This year, the total of films sorted was a…
The end of this week will feature the latest edition of my biennial Favorite Films list, so I suppose I have films on my mind. Some of the earliest films I saw were short films, thanks to my dad and the Arlington County library which had them. And I do mean films! We had a projector at home, which was often used for birthday parties and other events. This inevitably meant those masters of movie…
As long-time readers of this blog know (all seven or nine), I am a bit of a Star Trek fan, as may be deduced from my manic series Crisis of Infinite Star Treks alone. Where that series delves into fannish hand-wringing and minutiae, it did remind my of how much I enjoy Star Trek in its seemingly infinite combinations. I wanted to do something special for its official 50th anniversary, but life has intervened (quantum…
As I mentioned the other week, we saw Hamilton along with a good many millions of people at the beginning of the month… and that’s led to listening to the soundtrack non-stop the following weekend, at least one rewatch so far, and delving into all sorts of reading and watching of supplemental material. Just about none has topped my theater geeky glee quite like seeing Adam Savage looking at the props used in Hamilton. As…
Somewhere in the Heavens, and in glorious Dynamation, Ray Harryhausen is celebrating his 100th birthday. There’s nothing I can say that can surpass what many, many, many people in the film industry can say about Ray Harryhausen, so I’ll simply link to two videos. The first, a tribute made on his death: The second, a review of all his creatures, set to music you know you want to do stop action animation dancing to:
As he was 88, I guess I shouldn’t ask “so soon?,” but news of Ian Holm’s passing is sad news for me this Friday. We collectively have seen him in so much. You can read more about him and his career from articles and related material at: The BBC (a remembrance and an obituary that gives more detailed credits). The Hollywood Reporter Guardian (which also has a great photo spread) Comicbook.com and many others. I…