Safa and I are spending a (somewhat) quiet New Year’s Eve eating pizza and cheesecake, watching anime, and playing games. Seems as if we might also be having a “campout” together (i.e., sleeping in the same room). We’re having great fun and I’m letting her stay up for the next hour until the new year […]

So I pad my promised 43 films for 2005 with one more. A colleague whom I haven’t seen in a while wanted to see a movie together and since I already saw King Kong, we opted for Syriana instead. This film is to driving a gas-guzzler what a trip to an abattoir is to […]

I figured I should round out my 43 films for the year with a big one. Peter Jackson’s King Kong is terrific, far better than I expected after reading lukewarm reviews saying it was “a mess of a movie” with “serious flaws.” So, let me get this out of the way: to all those negative […]

Exactly What I Wanted!

Of the many presents Safa received it was the $10 Luv Cubs from Target (and not the $70 digital microscope or elaborate tea set) that elicited uncontrollable emotions and fusillades of “I love yous”. And she got one each from Mom and Dad. Kaboom!

Not exactly a Christmas movie, although it ends on Christmas Eve 1991, Mysterious Skin will unfortunately put off a lot of viewers simply because of the subject matter and it would be their loss. This film is wonderfully acted and packs an emotional wallop, which you don’t get from the synopsis: something happens one summer […]

I have just two words for this film: Surround Sound. Godzilla: Final Wars is so far hands-down the best test for the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound set up I have. I couldn’t put the volume past halfway for fear of vibrating glasses off shelves. The Surround track was very well mixed and freaked me […]

A moviemaker’s movie, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is not for everyone. Actually, I’d bet that 99.99% of all Americans would dislike it because there’s virtually no action and dialog in the film. Set almost entirely in an old Taiwanese movie theater, the action and dialog one gets is in the movie “Dragon Inn” (a 1966 martial […]

Off to the Nutcrakcer

Safa in her fine holiday dress, ready to go see the Nashville Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker.