Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The 2024 presidential cycle has been a season of heady highs and abysmal lows. To call it an emotional roller coaster is like saying Tom Brady was an okay quarterback. From the lingering despair surrounding Joe Biden’s horrible debate performance, his subsequent withdrawal, Kamala Harris’ dizzying rise in …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Logan Lucky”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Oceans 7 Eleven: Review of Logan Lucky ★★★☆☆ By Geoff Carter One of the benefits of streaming TV is access to lesser known independent, international, and obscure films. I like to try and keep up with the latest, but movies like A Ghost Story, Gueros, Problemista, El Conde, and Hit Man would have flown …
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Family Values
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter During campaign season, the term “family values” is thrown around like confetti at a ticker-tape parade. Depending on who is using it, the term can encompass anything from banning books, condemning same-sex marriage, or reviling immigrants to lowering middle-class taxes, installing universal healthcare to extolling reproductive rights. In …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Hit Man”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The Real Me: Review of Hit Man ★★★★1/2 Some film genres are easier to define than others. Comedies make you laugh, horror movies scare the hell out of you, and romantic comedies make you laugh and cry. Recognizing some film genres is sort of like Supreme Court Justice …
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Crybaby
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Who doesn’t remember playing sandlot football, baseball, or soccer during childhood? Enjoying those long afternoons of playing a game or two without the encumbrances of adult supervision? And who doesn’t remember that one kid getting upset and taking his bat or the ball and storming off the field? The …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Problemista”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Dreamweaver: Film Review of Problemista ★★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter It’s an oft-told tale. A young man has a big dream. He goes to the big city to make his fortune and encounters seemingly insurmountable obstacles but through perseverance, encouragement, determination, and a little bit of luck, he finally succeeds. Take this …
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Too Good to Be True
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter When presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate, a collective sigh (a sigh that sounded suspiciously like the word “who?”) swept over the American landscape—a sigh that was followed by a series of questions. Who is this guy? Why …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Love Lies Bleeding”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Killing Me Softly: Film Review of Love Lies Bleeding ★★★★ 1/2 By Geoff Carter Film noir, which never really left us, is undergoing a radical transformation. From its beginnings in classics like Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Laura, The Killers, and—more recently—Body Heat and Chinatown, we have taken that long dark highway from that …
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Kickass and Dreams
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listens as the keeper lists a new area of complaint, that being the mysterious process by which dream subjects are selected and then produced. One might think with all the raw material the keeper has amassed he would not be plagued with a repeated …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Wildcat”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo ★★★★ 1/2 For the Love of God: Review of Wildcat By Geoff Carter The creative process is a mystery. Understanding how and why individuals are driven to give up their time, wealth, energy, even their happiness in the pursuit of artistic perfection can make for compelling cinema, but trying to capture …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Woody Allen
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter He is a legendary filmmaker whose career has spanned fifty-some years—and has worked with everyone from Diane Keaton to Cate Blanchett to Scarlett Johannson to John Cusack to Michael Caine—and more. He has worked in nearly every film genre imaginable—slapstick, romantic comedy, historical features, mystery, documentary, psychological drama–everything …
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Yearly Cycle
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Every year during the last week of July, the Milwaukee Riverwest neighborhood, an eclectic enclave of artists, musicians, families, and working folks, hosts the Riverwest 24, a twenty-four-hour bicycle race that runs along the neighborhood streets. According to the Riverwest 24 website, the event came about because of efforts by …
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