by Nick Leshi Entertainment Weekly had a cool little article about movies that were produced full of potential to become huge franchises, but plans for sequels fizzled with their miniscule box-office performance. It lists Dune, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Eragon, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Green Lantern, Godzilla, The Golden Compass, etc. My rambling mind started thinking about movies [...]
by Nick Leshi Even though they are often fraught with stereotypes, gangster movies are still one of my all-time guilty pleasures. Some of my favorite films are in that genre: The Godfather, Carlito’s Way, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, TV’s The Sopranos, and countless others. Hollywood is a slave to trends, and it looks like a swarm of mob movies are coming [...]
by Nelle Engoron Now that the final film (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2) has unspooled in Muggle theaters, there are no real surprises for the fans, who know full well how the saga ends from having read the books (to pieces, in many cases). But even after watching that final scene at [...]
by William Belle This is a great film and I’m no sports nut. In fact, you don’t really have to know much about baseball to get into the story as this is more of your classic underdog trying to win by beating the system by going against the grain. “Moneyball” is based on Michael Lewis’s [...]
by Nelle Engoron The pornographic movie industry, in response to the Internet, is focusing even less on narrative arcs these days. Savanna Samson, an actress, says she favors scripts with more dialogue. […] “Getting it on in one hardcore scene after another just isn’t as much fun,” she added. (NY Times, 7/8/2009) A New York [...]
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Borders executives are getting in one last punch below the belt of the company’s 10,000 workers who lost their jobs. As laid off workers battle for their remaining compensation, and on the same day Borders Group Inc.’s employees filed a suit which alleges that did not receive proper [...]
Marquette, Michigan averages 141 inches of snow each year, and is the home of Northern Michigan University. The city is not exactly renowned as a hot bed of either political posturing or cutting edge artistic envelope-pushing. All that changed when the City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center’s “What’s in a Name?” July exhibit went [...]
Today, Amazon.com released its list of the Top 20 Most Well-Read Cities in America. The company compiled sales data of all book, magazine and newspaper sales in both print and Kindle format since January 1, 2011. According to that information, on a per capita basis in cities with more than 100,000 residents, the Top 20 [...]
The weather’s turning warm (and then cold again and then warm again, but let’s just forget the blustery part for now), the kids are clamoring to begin their video-game and amusement park-filled vacations, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy is in stores again—yes, this can only mean one thing. Summer—a blessed time in Michigan, and an especially exciting [...]
Every year, the Michigan Department of Education’s Library of Michigan and its Michigan Notable Books program choose 20 of the most notable books published in the year. According to the Notable Books web site, “The selections are reflective of Michigan’s diverse ethnic, historical, literary, and cultural experience.” The program is supported by sponsors such as Wayne [...]
