Just more than one year ago, America lost one of its finest writers – one of the world’s finest writers – of the 20th century.
Kurt Vonnegut’s death on April 11, 2007 did not exactly come as a shock – he was, after all, 84 years old. For many of Vonnegut’s readers, however, facing a world […]

I usually think of Darth Vader as the worst father in the history of the universe. After all, he blew up his daughter’s planet and chopped off his son’s hand.
But all that seems forgiven and forgotten here. A mass of children clamor around the Dark Lord of the Sith with grins stretching from ear to […]

REVIEW – Michel Gondry has done it again. The ever-innovative Academy Award-winning writer and director, known for his masterful creativity and command of mise en scène, has filmed another gem of a movie, a heartfelt comedy that is as visually appealing as it is charming in script.
Be Kind Rewind, which stars an eclectic crop […]

Last month, Bill Cosby co-published “Come on People,” a book criticizing the black community. Read a review.

REVIEW - In the era of the big-budget blockbuster movie, it is hard to find a film that doesn’t rely on explicit sex, violence and car chases to draw in audiences and make money. It’s always refreshing to find a good film with a simple story that still has mass audience appeal. Such a movie […]

REVIEW - “Never forget where you came from.”
These are some of the earliest words on American Gangster, an album that’s proof that Jay-Z will never forget where he came from.
Call it Brooklyn, call it the streets. But whatever you call it, Jay-Z is defined by it. Hova’s gangster roots play a huge role in the […]

REVIEW - A band called The War on Drugs is a band you’d expect to be wild. Or at least political to the point of tear gas. But Adam Granduciel and Kurt Vile, who each play a pharmacy’s worth of instruments, spent their time in the green room of the First Unitarian Church on Nov. […]

REVIEW – I approached the Mutter Museum’s stately building with a jaunt in my step and a cocky self-confidence. Sure, I knew that the displays were full of preserved body parts and photographs of diseased people, but I could handle it. I may not be able to handle exorcism movies, but I take pride in […]

REVIEW - I thought singer-songwriter Josh Ritter was going to be very excited to talk to me last week. After seeing him be genuinely affable on stage in September, I assumed the next time we’d meet, I’d be catching up with an old friend.
But Ritter turned out to be just a thoughtful guy who didn’t […]

REVIEW - In the first act of John Cusack’s one-two patriarchal-tearjerker punch this season, Martian Child (soon to be followed by the Oscar-buzzed Grace Is Gone) shows Cusack in his first major role as a father, and it’s just enough to make you fall in love.
In a movie that explores the difficult guidance decisions a […]