R.I.P. Sheri S. Tepper

American science fiction writer Sheri S. Tepper --best known for such novels as Gibbon’s Decline & Fall and The Gate to Women's Country -- finished her final page on October 22, 2016, at age 87.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Hugh O'Brian

American actor Hugh O'Brian -- best known for playing the title role in the ABC TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp as well as for a starring role in the 1972 NBC TV series Search -- took off his boots for the final time on September 5, 2016, at age 91.

He will be missed.

¡Feliz Día de los Caídos!

I do not have enough words to pay adequate tribute to all those who have fallen in the service of this country.

However, I do hope that all my readers have a pleasant Memorial Day just the same.

R.I.P. Gene Wilder

American actor and director Gene Wilder -- best known for his roles in such movies as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein -- closed down his lab on August 29, 2016, at age 83.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Arthur Hiller

Canadian-American director Arthur Hiller -- best known for such movies as Love Story and the 1970 version of The Out-of-Towners -- wrapped up his last project on August 17, 2016, at age 92.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Marni Nixon

Voice actress Marni Nixon -- best known for being the real singing voices of actresses in The King and I, West Side Story, and My Fair Lady -- sang her last note on July 24, 2016 at age 86.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Garry Marshall

American producer and director Garry Marshall -- best known for such movies as Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries as well as for such TV shows as Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley -- left the set for the last time on July 19, 2016, at age 81.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Elie Wiesel

Romanian-born Jewish-American writer and political activist Elie Wiesel -- most famous for his nonfiction book Night and for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 -- passed on on July 2, 2016, at age 87.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Michael Cimino

American director Michael Cimino -- best known for such movies as The Deer Hunter and the notorious box office flop Heaven's Gate -- walked off the set for the final time on July 2, 2016, at age 77.

He will be missed.

Pop Song of the Week: "Wonder"

Natalie Merchant's tribute to the special needs community -- and one of the closest things to a modern-day pro-life song that I know of. Then again, since I was born with a congenital heart condition, I tend to be a tad biased on that topic.

Movie Song of the Week: "Can You Read My Mind?"

In honor of the late Margot Kidder.

Movie Quote of the Week

I would have thought watching your TV shows was torture enough.
--Pierce Brosnan, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

TV Quote of the Week

Han Solo is not a loser.
--Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy, “Freedom”

Trailer of the Week: Bad Samaritan

Oh no! Not David Tennant!

Iconos de Cine (Cats I)

Quote of the Week

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. "Wouldn't you say," she asked, "that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?" No, I said, I wouldn't say that. "But what about Basketball Diaries?" she asked. "Doesn't that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?" The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it's unlikely the Columbine killers saw it. The reporter looked disappointed, so I offered her my theory. "Events like this," I said, "if they are influenced by anything, are influenced by news programs like your own. When an unbalanced kid walks into a school and starts shooting, it becomes a major media event. Cable news drops ordinary programming and goes around the clock with it. The story is assigned a logo and a theme song; these two kids were packaged as the Trench Coat Mafia. The message is clear to other disturbed kids around the country: If I shoot up my school, I can be famous. The TV will talk about nothing else but me. Experts will try to figure out what I was thinking. The kids and teachers at school will see they shouldn't have messed with me. I'll go out in a blaze of glory."

In short, I said, events like Columbine are influenced far less by violent movies than by CNN, the NBC Nightly News and all the other news media, who glorify the killers in the guise of "explaining" them. I commended the policy at the Sun-Times, where our editor said the paper would no longer feature school killings on Page 1. The reporter thanked me and turned off the camera. Of course the interview was never used. They found plenty of talking heads to condemn violent movies, and everybody was happy.
--Roger Ebert, Review of Elephant, November 7, 2003

¡Feliz Día de la Madre!

Happy Mother's Day to all my loyal readers. I hope you all have enjoyed a pleasant day with your own mothers.

Iconos de Cine (Motherhood I)

Movie Quote of the Week

She just moved through me. My God. I felt her. I can smell her. It's her. It's her. Smell my clothes. It's her. She's all over me. It's her. She's on me. It's her. I felt her. It's her. It is. It's... it is... it's my baby. It's my baby. She went through my soul.
--JoBeth Williams, Poltergeist (1982)

TV Quote of the Week

You know when it gets easy being a mother? When you're dead. And even then, you might worry a little.
--Linda Lavin, Mom, "Mahjong Sally and the Ecstasy"

Quote of the Week

Democrats are harder to make fun of, because you guys don't do anything.
--Michelle Wolf, White House Correspondents' Dinner, April 28, 2018

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Ms. Tovar would like to wish all my loyal readers a pleasant holiday. I hope you all enjoy the weekend.

Trailer of the Week: Telefon

Ah, the good old days of the 1970s...

I Wonder, Wonder Who, Who-oo-ooh, Who (Who Wrote the Book of Life)

I wanted to like The Book of Life a lot more than I did but I could not help having quite a few reservations. For example, there is a scene in the early part of the film in which a group of schoolchildren encountered a mysterious blonde museum guide. Despite my being the type of person who was once accused by a Hispanic co-worker of waving the Mexican flag, I could not help but find some of the comments this guide made about Mexico in this scene to be a bit over the top. (For that matter, I found it a bit odd that the guide was voiced by the same actress who played Kelly Bundy, but that's a topic for another day.)

It didn't help that we're never told where that scene took place or whether those children the museum guide talked to were supposed to be American or Mexican. Plus some of the story elements (the affection the kids had for Lady Death or the apelike image of one of the Mexican hero's ancestors) seemed deliberately calculated to raise an eyebrow or two.

That said, I liked it more than I expected to and my inner Percy Jackson fan especially liked the fact that the old Mexican folklore tale that allegedly inspired this movie was in fact an old Greek myth. (What? You don't think Hispanics can be familiar with Greek mythology? Please think again.)

Of course, the Ray Bradbury reference at the end was also a nice touch.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how this movie compares to Coco. Especially since most of the TV ads for that movie make it seem like The Book of Life II.

Pop Song of the Week: "Go West"

No, this is not the theme song for an old Marx Brothers movie -- though there is something a tad Marxian about this video's images.

Movie Song of the Week: "Red Blues"

Yay, decadence!

Movie Quote of the Week

So the real question is, why do we have an economy where the poor have to pay so the rich won't lose money?
--Warren Beatty, Reds (1981)

TV Quote of the Week

There's a reason why you separate military and the police. One fights the Enemy of the State, the other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes... both... then the Enemies of the State tend to become the People.
--Edward James Olmos, Battlestar Galactica (2004), "Water"

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The X-Files: “Nothing Lasts Forever”

Cool: An episode about a Latina vampire slayer.

Plus we also get to see Mulder and Scully discuss religion.

And a handy -- though more than a bit horrific -- metaphor for cultural assimilation.

And yet another handy catchphrase for the show's aficionados.

And the most memorable use of a certain Maureen McGovern song since the original Poseidon Adventure.

Not So Cool: There is no real ending given to the Latina slayer's story arc. No hint as to why she did not immediately go to jail or suffer any fate worse than a sad look at her photo from her own mother.

For that matter, it would have been nice if the Latina slayer had been played by an actual Latina but then nowadays even Guillermo del Toro is not that politically correct in his casting decisions involving Latin characters so it seems silly for me to expect more from the likes of producer Chris Carter.

Quote of the Week

Poverty is often seen for its brutality, for what it absolutely denies. But common poverty isn't about not getting started, it's as much about only getting started, about always being at the beginning. Poverty is about starting over again and then yet again. It's about talent fully shaped, but which, unencouraged, discouraged, lasts the briefest moment.
--Dagoberto Gilb, "Poverty Is Always Starting Over"

2017

American Made (2017)
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Baby Driver (2017)
Coco (2017)
Detroit (2017)
Get Out (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (2017)
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Logan (2017)
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
Rough Night (2017)
Snatched (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
The Shape of Water (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)

2016

Ghostbusters (2016)
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Hidden Figures (2016)
Jason Bourne (2016)
Me Before You (2016)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Storks (2016)
Suicide Squad (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Zootopia (2016)

2015

Ant-Man (2015)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Crimson Peak (2015)
Inside Out (2015)
Jurassic World (2015)
Minions (2015)
Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation (2015)
Spectre (2015)
The Longest Ride (2015)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Tomorrowland (2015)
Trumbo (2015)