Idol Chatter

I am a bit star struck. Well, more than a little bit. Philip Pullman, author of “His Dark Materials”, the subject of a growing controversy from the religious right, and a man who is about to see his extraordinary novel, “The Golden Compass,” turned into a movie by New Line Cinema, is this week on…

The American Film Institute recently celebrated its 10th anniversary of “100 years, 100 movies,” a listing of its top 100 movies of all time. Since the start of the series, AFI has also cited movies that are inspiring, great movie quotes, great movie songs, love stories, heroes and villains, thrills, laughs, stars and film scores,…

Halloween is here and it’s a good day to give my five reasons why “Halloween” is the most inspiring Halloween movie of all time. “What?” you say, “How can a movie about Halloween be inspiring?” Here’s how: 5. “Halloween” was an original, made on a thin budget, which meant few special effects and lots of…

Since the trailer for “Michael Clayton” only left me scratching my head and grunting like a Cro-Magnon, I was surprised to find myself in full command of my cerebral cortex as I walked (upright) out of the theater. Actually, I wasn’t in full command of it because I was still processing the film’s intricate, layered…

When one thinks of Jerusalem, the literal meaning of the name–City of Peace–might not be the first notion that comes to mind. However, the current limited theatrical release “O Jerusalem” depicts the desire for peace, for the city and the region, among those involved in the events surrounding the creation of Israel in the late…

The big controversy surrounding Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook for parents, “Deceptively Delicious,” is whether Jerry’s wife might have copied recipes (or even the idea for the book) from a less well-known author, Missy Chase Lapine, whose cookbook, “The Sneaky Chef,” appeared a few months earlier. Having worked at Parents Magazine for 20 years, I can…

Halloween is a hell of a way to deal with our fear of life beyond the grave. Funerals are the opposite: our attempt to grasp the enormity of death by making it serene and beautiful. In either case, death is a problem for the living, not the dead.That’s the simple but necessary and beautifully made…

As a scholar of religion, a liberal Christian (yes, we do exist), and a lover of great fantasy literature, I am deeply saddened by the growing wave of fearful-to-the-point-of-hysterical online chatter about Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, which was sparked by the upcoming Dec. 7 release of the film version of the first book,…

Curl up in your comfiest blanket and prop yourself with a stack of soft pillows. Close your eyes, put a smile on your face, and let yourself drift back to that time in childhood when storybooks carried you gently off to dreamland. Are you there yet? Open your eyes, but don’t move. Just watch “Pushing…

Forget the tabloid headlines of Bennifer days gone by. Forget the comparisons with buddy Matt’s soaring career. You can even forget the “Good Will Hunting” albatross of being labeled a one-hit wonder as a writer. Ben Affleck’s career redemption is complete–it started when he wisely began taking smaller character roles in movies like “Hollywoodland”–with his…

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