Illustration by Michael DiMilo Bloodlines: Review of El Conde By Geoff Carter The popularity of the vampire movie, encompassing everything from Dracula to Interview with a Vampire to the Twilight Series to From Dusk Till Dawn to The Lost Boys to Let the Right One In, and on and on and on, has been a staple of the cinema. These movies encompass comedies like Love at First Bite, …
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Category:Movies
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Dream Scenario”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Welcome to My Nightmare: Film Review of Dream Scenario By Geoff Carter Back in the early days of cinema, the gold standard for the sight gag was the pratfall, usually someone slipping on a banana peel. Laughing at someone else’s misfortune always seemed funny—until one considered that the butt of the …
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Kickass as Movie Critic
Attribution: Lorie Shaull, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s credentials as a movie critic ran out sometime shortly after “Bambi” so he was out of his league when he took in “Bad River” at the Fitchburg theatre. After first managing to sit through the incredibly …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Crime is Mine”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo A Guilty Party: Film Review of The Crime is Mine By Geoff Carter Whodunit? Or should we be asking who cares? In Francois Ozon’s raucous comedy The Crime is Mine, the question is less of a mystery than it is an opportunity for fortune and notoriety. Combining the best elements of French …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Best of Irish Cinema
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The Pen in Hand’s Top Ten St. Patrick’s Day Movies By Geoff Carter It’s that time of year again, that special day of days set aside to celebrate the joy of being Irish. Green beer, corned beef sandwiches, the wearing of the green, The Chieftains spinning on your turntable, and a …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Moves: Review of “Rustin”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo The Forgotten Man: Film Review of Rustin by Geoff Carter History is a fickle and sometimes cruel mistress. She may regale a chosen few as heroes while arbitrarily relegating many others into the dusty stacks of the forgotten and abandoned. Sometimes these choices seem completely arbitrary. Why do we remember Alvin …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Zone of Interest”
Artwork by Michael DiMilo No Man’s Land: Film Review of The Zone of Interest By Geoff Carter The horrors of the Holocaust have been exhaustively documented and dramatized—and rightly so. That shameful and disgusting display of premeditated cruelty, inhumanity, and assembly-line slaughter should be forever on display as an example of exactly what human beings …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Color Purple”
Artwork by Michael DiMilo Less than the Sum of Its Parts: Review of The Color Purple The last time I was in New York City, in 2006, we were lucky enough to score tickets to see The Color Purple. Being the curmudgeon I am, I am typically skeptical of Broadway revivals of movies, television shows, or …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Nyad”
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Treading Water: Film Review of Nyad ★★★☆☆ Biopics can be tricky. Creating a film about the life of a notable person can either transcend the material and become more than just one person’s life story or become enamored of—or mired in—sundry details of that life to the point …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to the Best Valentine’s Day Movies
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Top Ten Romance Films By Geoff Carter 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 writing one of my garden variety …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “American Fiction”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo True Stories: Film Review of American Fiction The buzzwords inclusion and diversity are common these days. Through DEI and other programs, they have been touted as necessary tools to establish cultural equity, yet racial stereotyping, cultural expectations, and insipidly clueless racism continue. They are everywhere. The film American Fiction delves into issues of …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies
Artwork by Michael DiMilo The Power of Love: Film Review of Past Lives By Geoff Carter ★★★★☆ The mythos surrounding love, infatuation, and desire is woven throughout the fabric of human existence. Classic romances like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Orpheus and Eurydice, or Wuthering Heights only begin to tell love’s grand story. This story is everywhere. It permeates …
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