Many people know something about the Iran hostage crisis, which began when the U.S Embassy in Tehran was stormed by angry Islamists on November 4, 1979. Fifty-two Americans inside it were then held hostage for 444 days, released only as Ronald Reagan was being sworn...
Oscars
Jeff Bridges movie: ‘Crazy Heart’ (2009)
I knew I wanted to watch Crazy Heart (trailer above) — Jeff Bridges won the Academy Award, it was well-reviewed, Ryan Bingham is in it and sings the theme — but I was also hesitant. It's about an aging alcoholic singer-songwriter, so it might be a terribly tragic and...
Taiji dolphin slaughter caught on film: ‘The Cove’ (2009)
The Cove is a 2009 documentary about an annual dolphin slaughter — 23,000 bottlenose dolphins killed every year in a secluded bay at the whaling town of Taiji, Japan. We first became aware of it when it won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary, and finally...
The Oscars: Honoring the movies, our healing stories
I was catching up my backlog of Internet reading and writing on this morning of the Academy Awards when a message from a Twitter followee caught my attention: I just don't understand all the Oscars coverage. It's quite pathetic. For some reason, I was instantly...
‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007 movie, Javier Bardem)
We have recently endured an insufferable procession of godawful movies. They show up here roughly a year after being added to our Netflix queue, so it's sometimes hard to remember who to blame for muck like Never Been Thawed or Love Actually or Dreamland — or The...
‘The Departed’ (2006 movie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon)
The Departed took the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year back in February, and it won Martin Scorsese his first Oscar, for Best Achievement in Directing. I love Scorsese's movies, and I love Jack Nicholson, who stars as mob boss Francis "Frank"...