Reviews by Linda

• February 10, 2006
• Action, Adventure, At Home, Science Fiction

Here’s a movie that I saw a long, looooong time ago that left two indelible images in my mind: 1) a grotesque fat man flying around a room in circles, cackling madly, and 2) A very hot, very oiled-up, spiky-haired Sting, wearing only a wing-shaped codpiece. Imagine my surprise...

• February 8, 2006
• Action, At Home, Drama, Family

Bambi II (yikes, what a wretched title) is a harmless, straight-to-video story that  feeds off nostalgia for the classic original, while offering some new characters. Luckily, it is so careful and reverent that it really doesn’t offend the spirit of the original (believe me, I was taking careful note)....

• January 29, 2006
• At Home, Drama, Romance

Before showing up to the screening of Annapolis, I made sure I was good n’ buzzed. With a nice strong margarita making me mentally fuzzy and relaxed, I thought that I might be able to slightly enjoy a movie that I highly anticipated to be bad. Yes, Annapolis is...

• January 28, 2006
• At Home, Music, Television

From October 1973 to January 1982, Tom Snyder was a late-night icon, coming on after Johnny Carson with his talk show The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. Since I was a kid at the time, I honestly don’t remember this show, but apparently the amiable host with the booming...

• January 13, 2006
• Adventure, At Home, Comedy, Drama

Queen Latifah has a wonderful screen presence, and is often the best thing in some crappy movies (like the dreadfully dumb Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin). With the fluffy and sweet Last Holiday, she has found a surprisingly good match in director Wayne Wang. Wang, whose best...

• January 11, 2006
• At Home, Comedy

Let me just start off by saying that in the original American Pie movie, the line uttered by Willow, “This one time? At Band Camp?” was funnier than anything in this straight-to-video franchise “sequel” to the American Pie series. Gone are almost all of the original characters, except poor...

• January 5, 2006
• Moviepie Musings

10 movies that I really liked in 2006: C.R.A.Z.Y. – A fabulous, funny, rich, tearjerker coming-of-age film that won a slew of awards in Canada, played film festivals, then inexplicably went straight to video in the US. Gypo – A no-budget flick, the first UK film with Dogme95’s stamp...

• December 29, 2005
• At Home, Drama

Take half a step back, and you can easily compare this indie film to an updated The Big Chill. The class of 1981 is coming home to Ojai, California, which substitutes for Anytown, U.S.A. Many of the graduates have left for the Big City (San Francisco, in this case),...

• December 27, 2005
• At Home, Documentary

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is a gentle ode not just to a specific bunch of feathered friends that roam San Francisco, but in a way it is a Valentine to all animal lovers with its focus on the well-spoken parrot fan Mark Bittner. The film introduces us...

• November 27, 2005
• At Home, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Brad, a college professor, is a gay man who is on the verge of suffering a mid-life crisis on his 40th birthday. He’s a bit of a nerd, suffering daily humiliations, like getting busted oggling shirtless young men in a pickup game of basketball, or thinking he’s getting hit...

• November 23, 2005
• At Home, Comedy, Family, Romance

Now, I don’t have cable, so I’ve never actually watched Nickelodeon… but I am savvy enough in the ways of pop culture to know that there is apparently a game show on that channel that involves people falling in vats of goo, having goo poured over their heads, or...

• November 18, 2005
• Adventure, At Home, Family, Fantasy

The first two Harry Potter films, directed by Chris Columbus (of Home Alone infamy) left me restless and glassy-eyed. The films sure looked great, but they were missing a spark. Maybe they were too perfect… too literal. I did not look forward to the third movie, despite the fact...