Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter They are mysterious and elegant creatures who only pretend to be domesticated by humans. They are not unquestioningly compliant like cattle or sloppily subservient like dogs. They are independent. Cats relate to people—tolerate them really—on their own terms. A cat will do as it pleases, when it pleases, …
Read
Category:Michael DiMilo
The Most Horrible Terrible Thing Anyone Has Ever Seen…
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Written September 7, 2024 Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris will be meeting on the debate stage this Tuesday, September 10th, an event sponsored by ABC News. It is being billed as the verbal match of the century. Ms. Harris is a former attorney general, US Senator, and …
Read
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Kinds of Kindness”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Cruel to Be Kind: Film Review of Kinds of Kindness ★★★★☆ Yorgos Lanthimos creates films that balance on a razor’s edge between pain and pleasure. They are generally funny—sometimes wincingly so—but can be extremely difficult to watch. They can be as labyrinthine as the Villa Pisani, as puzzling …
Read
Fraying Around the Edges
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read
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 …
Read