Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The great English historian Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely” and speculative novelist Robert Shea once declared, “Anyone who seeks power wants absolute power.” Current events seem to be bearing out these predictions. Of course, what’s transpiring in Washington, D.C. today is …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Sirat”
Road to Nowhere: Movie Review of Sirat ★★★★ By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo The language of cinema is a sophisticated complex of image, words, actions, rhythm, color, and motion. It encompasses the familiar and describes—if not defines—the unknown. From traditional narratives like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or even One Battle After Another to movies that eschew normal …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Ten Best Baseball Movies
Play Ball!! Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I sighted my first robin a few weeks ago. The daffodils and crocuses are starting to peek through the ground. After possibly one of the longest winters in the history of the modern world—at least subjectively speaking–spring has arrived. We can enjoy walks in the sunshine, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Testament of Ann Lee”
Rapture: Film Review of The Testament of Ann Lee ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter There are films that are not only worlds—cinematic universes—unto themselves, but that immerse the audience into that experience so thoroughly and deeply that when the film ends, it almost seems to the viewer as if he might be …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Perfect Neighbor”
Handling the Truth: Review of The Perfect Neighbor ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Ever since the Lumiere Brothers produced “actuality films” (single shot recordings of real-life events like train arrivals and galloping horses), various iterations of cinematic travelogues, and Joseph Flaherty’s groundbreaking 1922 documentary Nanook of the North, documentary filmmakers have sought to …
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Kickass and the Big April Fool
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper and Phyllis that the fun went out of April Fool’s Day when you could no longer tell Mom there was an elephant out on the lawn or a mouse in the cereal box. And, of course, in this day and …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Nuremberg”
★★★ History 101: Review of Nuremberg Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter We all know the famous Santayana quote, “”Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, yet we continue to stupidly ignore—and thereby repeat—our past mistakes. War, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and human trafficking have not only continued to exist—they have …
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Shame on Us
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, three times, four, more… and shame on us. All of us. Over the past fifty years, the American people have been screwed over so thoroughly and completely that we can’t tell up from down anymore. We’ve been screwed from …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Honey Don’t!”
That Empty Feeling: Review of Honey Don’t! ★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Coen Brothers films have been a delight for decades. From the twisty turns of Blood Simple to the absurdist curves of Raising Arizona to Barton Fink to “The Dude” to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? to Buster Scruggs and everything in between, their films’ unexpected and shocking plot surprises have …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “It Was Just an Accident”
An Eye for an Eye for an Eye: Review of It Just an Accident ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo We’re all familiar with the seemingly endless iterations of the revenge story. We’ve seen everything from Kill Bill(along with a lot of other Tarantino offerings), Nevada Smith, John Wick, Promising Young Woman, The Godfather, Sweeney …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Oscar Predictions
Attribution: Photo by Martti Salmi on Unsplash By Geoff Carter And the Winner is…. There’s something about award season that’s magnetic and nearly irresistible—but still a guilty pleasure. A part of me likes the drama, the glamour, the sophistication and style of the Hollywood elite, but another part of me thinks that it’s a lot of hoopla that …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Secret Agent”
Swimming With Sharks: Review of The Secret Agent ★★★★ By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Some movies are great fun and don’t try to be anything more. They grab you by the lapels and take you with them into galaxies far, far away, or on fantastic quests for magic rings, or put you in …
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