By Bill Stokes Illustration by Michael DiMilo Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper promoting some revision of the 2ndamendment as follows: “The right to BARE arms means you can wear t-shirts and has nothing to do with guns. The fact of more guns than people in this country is due to a Constitutional spelling …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Jay Kelly”
Sum of His Parts: Review of Jay Kelly ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Filmmaking is an intensely collaborative endeavor. Actors, cinematographers, screenwriters, production designers, producers, costumers—and many more—are all the cogs and gears in the cooperative venture that produces feature films. The director must shepherd this pool of talent, experience, and expertise …
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The Pen in Hand’s Collection of Unconventional Christmas Moments: “Ice Dance”
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Ice Dance from “Edward Scissorshands” By Geoff Carter The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions are what makes our holidays special. But some people are hurting. Many are …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Defining the Holiday Movie Genre: The “Die Hard” Question
Originally Published December 19, 2024 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter At this festive time of year, many of us observe the holiday traditions of Christmas like trimming the tree, singing carols, buying the presents, visiting Santa, and on and on and on. Part of our celebration of the holiday includes seeing the myriads …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Eddington”
Don’t Fence Me In: Film Review of Eddington ★★★☆ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Films about conspiracy theories seem to be everywhere lately. After reviewing Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia, an incisively caustic black comedy about the conflicts between reality, beliefs, and alienation, I watched Ari Aster’sEddington, a neo-Western set during the Covid lockdown in 2020 …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to a Vintage TV Christmas
“Oscar the Elf” Photo by Geoff Carter
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Frankenstein”
Monsters: Film Review of Frankenstein ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Mary Woolstencraft Shelly’s gothic novel Frankenstein has gone through as many—or more—film iterations than any other horror story, except perhaps the Dracula franchise. Depending on the critical lens being used to examine it, the story can be seen as addressing issues of …
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Revolution Redux
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter There have been instances when the sometimes all-too-thin lines between art and reality have intersected, crossed, and become blurred. The China Syndrome, a film about safety violations at a nuclear power plant, was released only twelve days before the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Wag the …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Bugonia”
You Can’t Handle the Truth: Film Review of Bugonia ★★★☆ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The truth—as much as it’s ever discernible—is becoming more and more difficult to cull from the swarm of half-truths, misrepresentations, conspiracy theories and downright lies that have been flooding our media. Any semblance of objective truth has been …
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The Pen in Hand Blog
Illustration by Michael DiMilo
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”
Hungry Heart: Review of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere ★★★☆ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter I’ve been a Bruce Springsteen fan my entire adult life. Going back to my college days listening to Greetings from Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle, I—like millions of other fans—have been enthralled and excited …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “A House of Dynamite”
The Final Countdown: Film Review of A Houseful of Dynamite ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Call it techno-horror, apocalyptic cinema, or just plain science-fiction, but films about the dangers of military technology gone wild, especially when paired with the specter of nuclear annihilation, have been with us since the first days of …
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