BVC authors review movies, TV shows, plays and other media
Originally published October, 2019 In honor, with the rest of the nation, of Horror Month, I decided to write movie reviews. The idea came to me yesterday, thanks to the Criterion Channel—one of my handful of more-than-adequate streaming sites. On a regular basis they air double features, and yesterday I happened upon Carnival of Souls …
Even as the final episode of Game of Thrones wound down to its closing moments, the howls of outrage reverberated around the globe. “How could they kill Daenerys?!” “How could they kill Daenerys like that!” “Why didn’t they have Jon Snow become king?” Inevitably, some of the malcontents laid the blame entirely upon the HBO …
In 2017 I heard a great deal about the new movie, Wonder Woman, based on the old DC comic. All over Facebook, everywhere I looked, people were kvelling over it, so I figured I’d better go see it before I heard so much there was no longer any point in buying a ticket. Particularly since …
Originally published January 2010 by Phyllis Irene Radford Last week I talked about some of my favorite cozy mysteries. This week I offer some of my other favorite books from the last year. My research reading ranges far and wide. Huge sections of it, though, revolve around British History. Here are a few of the …
There are standard musicals, the ones we’ve always heard about, the ones written by Rogers & Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber or Stephen Sondheim. These are the backbone of the musical theater. And then there are the outliers, the ones that aren’t like any of the above. They come from a different lineage, shows like …
Now that I have moved to the West Coast I am slowly setting up all my systems and favorite places. A decent bakery, of course. The right grocery store, check. And of course theater! This has been sadly handicapped by Covid, which shut all entertainment down for more than a year. But now things are …
You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown: A Very Short Review Read More »
Somehow I have missed this classic movie, only viewing it this year. A major error! A life without Totoro is not a life worth living. What is fun about Miyazaki is his blending of old and new. Enigmatic but benign beings based upon traditional Japanese folklore are met with by traveling in a car across …
Somehow over the years I have missed all things Miyazaki. I blame this on my children, who were never interested in anime or Japanese film. However, my new home on the West Coast has a powerful Japanese presence. Ramen seems to be a favorite restaurant style, the Japanese gardens are a major tourist draw, and …
One of the things I do when I do a Big Apple theater run is I vary my diet. (I think the last time I came I took in Hamilton and Avenue Q, back to back.) I am not a big fan of playwright David Mamet. But then I’ve never seen a professional production of …
When you think of actor Hugh Jackman, does the image of Wolverine flash into your mind? Then you’re not a musical theater fan! He’s starring in the latest production of The Music Man in New York. The show’s been hotly anticipated all through the Covid months. Finally opening in late 2021, it’s been doing a …
Sometimes it takes a while for the stars to align. After red-hot tryouts in Edinburgh, the UK, and Chicago, SIX, the new musical, was supposed to open in New York City in March 2020. There were mutterings about national tours and even a movie. But that was an ill-starred month for just about all of …
To say that I’m not a fan of time travel stories is to understate the issue.
Originally published . . . last year? In this blog I had a number of thing to say, I have told myself, but I end up with only two. First, before I lay out my crossword frustrations, I want to do a circular “Six Degrees …” of my background films (that is, films and TV …
Crossword Puzzlements and How Did I Get Jam on my iPad? Read More »
