Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are not pleased with the racial makeup of the 2016 Oscar nominees, so they are calling for a “conscientious absenteeism” -- if I may offer a suitably puffed-up term -- of the 88th Academy Awards. My first thought upon reading this news was, who cares? And then I realized that a great many people care deeply about what stars think, and that few people care about what I think.

Big money runs today’s political game, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out Republican wannabe Scott Walker. Not a Republican? No problemo, amigo. Walker doesn’t check your papers. Well… except for that million-dollar check you have to write to his super PAC.

Gordon Gekko was wrong: Greed is not good. Get this. And get it straight. Gordon Gekko was wrong. Greed is not good. Greed is bad. Greed eats away the core of society like a golden parasitic leech the size of Manitoba. Or Saskatchewan. One of those Provinces or Territories or Protectorates or whatever they use...

In 1972, a Western directed by Mark Rydell hit the movie house circuit. I was doing film reviews then on television. The movie bowled me over. John Wayne had the lead.

“Irrational Man” – a film review by Gary Chew If you’ve never worked in an academic environment, you know … a university campus, you’ll likely not grasp some of the nuanced humor unobtrusively woven into Woody Allen’s Irrational Man. Since I was only on-campus staff (not faculty), the Wood Man’s jokes are even more obvious.

“The Bigger Book of Parenting Tweets” is a new collection of hundreds of comic Tweets by funny people.

These days, Republicans don’t have to be qualified — much less sane — to run for the highest office in the land.

Donald Trump: How do you parody a parody? Yeah, I hear what you’re saying. “For all you political comics, Donald Trump must be a dream come true. Manna from heaven. Slam-dunking from a step-ladder. Swimming in a sea of beer.” Oh sure, there are jokes. 1. Trump’s presidential campaign is like a baboon’s butt.

Labyrinth of Lies has been selected to represent Germany in the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year’s Academy Awards. It was directed by Giulio Ricciarelli and tells the story of the legal and social struggle Germany faced approximately a decade after WWII.

Why Brexit? Could it be because the European Union has become a messy, bureaucratic, multinational government of, by and for corporate interests? The most shocking thing about “Brexit” — the British people’s resounding vote to pull their country out of the European Union — is that it came as such a shock to the British.

There is an old saying that “a country gets the leaders it deserves.” So what does that say about the United States and the choices it has made of late? It says that we are now a superficial, gullible people.

“Southpaw” – a film review by Gary Chew “If it makes money, it makes sense.” Sounds like a less offensive TV news soundbite from Donald Trump on a stump speech … right? Wrong. The sentence is spoken by an oleaginous fight promoter in a new film titled Southpaw.

“Black Mass” – a film review by Gary Chew Without any surprise for me, there’s only one scene in Black Mass that doesn’t contain the use of that old stand by … the F-Word. It’s when, at the dinner table with his young son, notorious criminal Whitey Bulger is teaching his boy a life lesson...

Another terrible shooting at an American school. Hard to really understand how America can ignore a problem that affects them every single day. However, I’ve tried to do that over at The What & The Why, where I’ve written something about America’s gun culture and how it affects all of us.

I submit that most actors who appear in movies made by the Coen brothers must be falling all over themselves to get even a small part in whatever new project Joel and Ethan have hatched. Such is the case with the one that’s just opened...

Nefarious political critters are scrambling, backed into a corner by the “Panama Papers” It’s always educational to observe the behavior of wildlife in their natural habitat. For example, we learn that there’s nothing more vicious than a wild animal that’s cornered. I would add that there’s nothing more devious than a top political or corporate...

Astronauts aboard an International Space Station are on the brink of a discovery that will shake the whole human race. How it shakes out … is for you to see and find out. I will say, though, it does have to do with earth orbit space and...

Long-time Iowa farm cartoonist fired for factual cartoon criticizing Big Ag Rick Friday has been giving farmers a voice and a laugh every Friday for two decades through his cartoons in the Iowa publication Farm News. Now, in a case of blatant censorship in the service of Big Ag, the long-time Iowa farm cartoonist has...

First of all, you have to remind yourself that this movie was taken from a series of comic books lesser known to Americans. As with the plethora of action/hero films which US moviegoers are generously provided continually, that’s how...

Over at The What & The Why, I’m talking about the Paris attacks and making broad points about the whole troubled mess. I accept it won’t be to everybody’s taste but that was deliberately so. My views are atheist, sceptical, but also, I hope, humanist. Despite being cynical about most things, I’m no nihilist. I […]