Attribution: Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash Less is More: Movie Review of Reptile By Geoff Carter There have been a spate of movie mysteries making the rounds of theaters and streaming TV during the past year or so. Kenneth Branagh’s remakes of the Agatha Christie classics Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and A Haunting in Venice (based …
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Category:Movies
The Pen in Hand Movie Guide to Hiding Under the Bed
Photo by Skyler Sawyer on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally published on October 31, 2020) I grew up in the sixties and seventies, in what might be called the golden age of the horror movie. Not only were we able to see films The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Scream and Scream Again at the drive-in theater, but every Saturday afternoons we …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Horror Films: The Next Generation
Damian Gadal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter (Originally posted October 31, 2020) The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and there’s a chill in the air. Frost is on the pumpkin. The leaves are turning color. All this means one thing—Halloween is just around the corner. And that means …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Okja”
Attribution: Jorge Simonet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Meat of the Matter: Review of Okja By Geoff Carter There are some films that evoke a keen sense of conscience or guilt in the audience—films that make us feel remorseful, guilty, or maybe even responsible. Documentaries like Sicko, Bowling for Columbine, Night and Fog, White Helmets, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of Wes Anderson’s “Poison”
Attribution: Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash Silent and Deadly: Review of Wes Anderson’s Poison R. Soedirman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter In the last feature of Wes Anderson’s film anthology of four Roald Dahl short stories produced for Netflix, he creates a tense and gripping suspense tale about a man trapped in his …
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Dialogues on Springtime for Stalin: Hollywood Goes to Moscow
Attribution: See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter I read the Stalin synopsis below after reading the above piece on a lowly PR Russian—Vladimir Medinsky who is credited with Putin’s success—great visual I thought. Who …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Swan”
Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash By Geoff Carter Attribution: Swan on its nest by Sean Goodhart, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Taking Wing: Film Review of The Swan The third in Wes Anderson’s quartet of Roald Dahl short story film adaptations is The Swan, a somewhat harrowing but inspirational tale of strength, resolution, and righteousness. In this tale, …
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Kickass and Kyle’s Screening
Photo by Douglas Bagg on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis, having sat in on a screening of nephew Kyle Houseman-Stokes’s movie “My Dead Friend Chloe,” featuring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris among others, passes along the word that Kyle has done himself proud in navigating the forbidding world of …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Ratcatcher”
Attribution: Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash Smelling a Rat: Review of The Ratcatcher Attribution: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons During my teaching days, when I was a Home & Hospital instructor and working with students in their homes who were too sick to go to school (these were extended and serious illnesses like cancer …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Attribution: Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash Storytime with Wes Anderson: Review of The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar By Geoff Carter It’s not very often that an established feature-length motion picture director will release a short feature. The New York Stories anthology film featured segments directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese. Quentin Tarantino directed …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: An Embarrassment of Riches
Attribution: Photo by Nicolas J Leclercq on Unsplash By Geoff Carter Since the SAG and screenwriters’ strikes, there has been a lot of anxiety and handwringing about the anticipated dearth of new movies and television series. Without writers or actors, there will be no new productions—no new installments from the Marvel or the D.C. Universe, no new Star …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Don’t Worry, Darling”
Attribution: Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash You Don’t Own Me: Film Review of Don’t Worry, Darling By Geoff Carter The suburban housewife archetype has been around forever, particularly on television sitcoms. From June Cleaver to Samantha Stephens to Lucy Ricardo to Alice Kramden to Donna Stone—and many, many others, the elegantly dressed, immaculately coiffed, and coolly efficient …
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