Darkman

I’ve just had a revelation. I believe that picking up a full-automatic assault rifle makes you dumb. At least, that’s how it seems in the movies. (This would account for many otherwise inexplicable things in real life, too, such as the National Rifle Association and Sarah Palin.) When you have such a weapon in your hands, you have an irresistible impulse to fire off at least 6,000 rounds ... Read more »

Darling

Some films age well, some don’t. I recall being captivated by this when it was new, and I was working in Detroit before starting school at Michigan State. Today, we looked at it and got halfway through, realized there was nothing of interest going on, and turned it off. It looks great, but it is empty and cold, and I didn’t care to learn anything more about Ms. Diana Scott who, I must ... Read more »

Darling Companion

Here we have a perfectly ordinary, predictable but entertaining way to spend an evening. Diane Keaton and her daughter find a stray dog by the side of the road and take him to the vet, and then home, intending to take him to the animal shelter in the morning. But they are told he will certainly be put down. So without really wanting to, especially on the part of Kevin Kline, her surgeon ... Read more »

Darwin’s Nightmare

Oh, Africa. What in the world is to become of you? For hundreds of years the white man fought over you and plundered you for everything from slaves to ivory to diamonds. Europeans drew lines on maps with total disregard to tribal enmities, either unable to understand that Africans can be as different as Italians and Lapps, or Portuguese and Bulgarians, and can hate each other as much as ... Read more »

Date Night

I don’t know why it’s so hard to make a good comedy these days. Maybe it’s just me, maybe I don’t like the stuff that appeals to younger people. Though I must say I can enjoy a modern gross-out comedy as much as the next person, as long as it has at least some elements that are original, and is funny. So I really value the ones I laugh at, and this is one. ... Read more »

David Attenborough: Life Stories

A three-part series on PBS’s Nature show. They are a retrospective on his life as the world’s most famous and beloved naturalist, and the changes that have happened since his television debut on a BBC show called Zoo Quest, first shown in 1954.

Life On Camera Back then, it took weeks to get to Borneo, ... Read more »

David Copperfield

This is a book so massive, so full of plot, that it cries out for a 4-part miniseries, like Lonesome Dove. Here we get slightly over two hours and, though everyone involved gives it his or her best, it feels severely abbreviated. There are many, many scenes that last 15 seconds or less before a rapid blackout. Much plot is eliminated. The few characters who are given enough screen time ... Read more »

David Crosby: Remember My Name

It’s a little strange to be reviewing a movie about someone we know. Croz is a friend of ours (his friends all call him Croz, ahem, ahem …). Not a close friend, we have only been with him a few times, and exchanged emails. But good enough friends that we have visited him and his wife Jan in their charming home in the Santa Ynez Valley. He comped us to CSN&Y concerts at the Greek ... Read more »

Dawn Anna

That’s her name, last name Anna, which she has spent most of her life explaining, like I have to point out that my name doesn’t begin with a B. It’s based on a true story. She’s played by Debra Winger, and she is a schoolteacher with four teenage kids who comes down with some awful malady that even she can’t recall what it’s called, so I sure can’t. But there’s more, and I have to issue ... Read more »

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Once more Andy Serkis delivers a stellar performance while wearing a motion capture suit. My goodness, haven’t we come a long, long way from the days of Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, and Maurice Evans in barely mobile rubber masks? These apes achieve total realism. If you didn’t know how it was done you would be convinced that they were actually there, on the set, and there were dozens and ... Read more »