Writer Unboxed

Halloween is over, but here at my house we’re still working off our Snickers high while images of this year’s vivid costumes linger. (My son went as an evil jester, and not even I would want to meet up with anyone wearing that thing on a non-Halloween eve.)
Created characters can be whatever we want them […]

You’ll have to excuse me, but I haven’t been writing very much since Transformers was released on DVD. I saw it twice in the theater, and have watched at least once a day since I bought my copy.
Ahhh … now we find out who actually reads this blog.
I simplify the reaction possibilities considerably by […]

Occasionally, a genre film comes along which stays firmly rooted in the conventions of the genre while messing with the viewers preconceptions and expectations. Usually the attempts are clumsy and self-indulgent. Paul Verhoeven’s Zwartboek, or Black Book, is anything but.
I’m a sucker for good war movies, and Black Book leaped off the shelf […]

Last weekend I took my daughter to see the animated movie Ratatouille, and I was blown away. I’d expected a light PG romp about Disneyfied animals who have crazy adventures in Paris. I didn’t realize I was going to be treated to a meditation on creativity and artistic expression in a subtle and […]

Yesterday, Therese and I dished about the newest Harry Potter flick. While we both gave it the thumbs up, we did have a few nits.  Mostly we were pleased with the way the filmmakers managed to streamline an unwieldy story into a swift two-hour movie while retaining plot coherence. Today, we continue our analysis.
Kathleen: The […]

We’ve neglected them, but no longer.  Movie Analyses are back!  This time, Therese and I managed to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and being the screenplay buffs that we are, we’ve dissected the movie for its storytelling aspects and overall merits.  If you’re sick of Pottermania, we can’t help you this […]

I’d decided to take a break from television following the climax of all my favorite reality TV shows. But when I needed some couch time the other night, I flipped on the tube to find–surprise–another reality TV show, one I’d heard a little about: On The Lot.
Haven’t heard of it? Here’s a blip about […]

You missed me, admit it. But I’ve been busy digging out from a snowstorm that stole our power for 12 hours and recovering from some blasted croupy-cough thing. When the lights finally came back, I learned about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Ironically, the feeling foremost in my mind and today’s blog post focus are […]

Finally, it was my turn for a movie in my family’s Netflix queue, and good luck that my movie arrived over the holiday weekend. I’d been wanting to see Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette for some time. Turns out I could’ve kept waiting.
For historical film buffs like me, it was something of a […]

This past Saturday marked the 216th birth-versary of musical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Recently, I watched the special edition director’s cut of one of my favorite flicks - the fantastical, academy award winning movie Amadeus. With 20 extra minutes of never-before-released footage and a 2nd disc dedicated to interviews on the making of the movie, […]

At WU, we feel it’s never too early to begin planning where you’re going to spend your 2007 moviegoing dollar. So many decisions. Do you wait until the film comes out on DVD, or do you bite the bullet, say goodbye to a $20 bill (factoring in snacks), and hit the theatre?
Fortunately MSN News has […]

Yesterday Therese and I dished about the totalitarian-themed film V for Vendetta (just a short scroll down). Our talk yesterday examined the role of the two protagonists Evey and V. Today we move our analysis to the way the filmmakers handled the controversial theme, which is that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom […]