The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”

Walking on a Wire: Review of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Parenting isn’t easy. This a lesson most of have learned the hard way. An even harder lesson is that perhaps not all of us were not cut out to be the supportive, loving, helpful, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Father Mother Sister Brother”

Echoes: Film Review of Father Mother Sister Brother ★★★☆ By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo It’s strange and sometimes funny how patterns and motifs emerge in our experience as something more than coincidence. Last week, I wrote a review of the film Sentimental Values, a movie about an egregiously dysfunctional family. Shortly afterwards, we went …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Robert Duvall

Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Originally published August 15, 2022) By Geoff Carter One of our greatest actors passed away yesterday. He lit up the stage, the big screen, and graced our homes with his indomitable presence. From blockbusters like The Godfather saga, Lonesome Dove, or Apocalypse Now …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Sentimental Value”

Family Values: Review of Sentimental Value ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Leo Tolstoy once said, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” and every unhappy family can show their misery in a myriad of ways—they’re only limited by their imaginations. Whether that unhappiness erupts in …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Ten Best Valentine’s Day Movies

Illustration by Michael DiMilo Top Ten Romantic Films By Geoff Carter (Originally published on February 14, 2024) It’s Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air, but those of us who choose to enjoy a warm and cozy evening inside, finding that perfect romantic movie is the perfect way to enjoy that special someone. So, rather …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “F1”

Formulaic: Film Review of F1 ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Artificial Intelligence is the newest face of runaway technology. Will it corrupt the minds (and academic skills) of our children, destroy human creativity, and—as in the nightmares of dystopian sci-fi fans (see The Terminator or Blade Runner) enable machines to take over civilization? It just …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Blue Moon”

★★★1/2 Words Fail Me: Film Review of Blue Moon Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Cinema can be magnificent and breathtakingly epic or intensely, even painfully, intimate. David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter presented brilliantly photographed landscapes that at times seemed to dwarf seemingly lesser aspects of the human condition. Films like Twelve Angry Men, My Dinner …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Wake Up Dead Man”

Murder Most Foul: Film Review of Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo Start with an eccentric but brilliant detective, a seemingly unsolvable locked-room murder, a cast of characters plucked straight from an Agatha Christie mystery, and some petty small-town political intrigues. Then add a dash of Hollywood …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “One Battle After Another”

One Wild Ride: Review of One Battle After Another ★★★★ By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michael DiMilo In the cataclysmic first scenes of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, a group of highly organized militant revolutionaries named French 75 frees a group of Mexican immigrants from a detention center. While the is not explicitly stated, …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to the Movies: Ringing in the New Year

The Ten Best New Year’s Eve Films Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash By Geoff Carter We’re almost there. We only have one more day of 2025 to endure. Thank God. It’s been a year of firsts. There’s a few we would like to celebrate, others not so much. But New Year’s Eve is a time to look forward …
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