A word like “big” in a title can become a big deal. The Big Sleep, 1946; The Big Hurt, 1959; The Big Valley, 1965; The Big Chill, 1983 and in 1998, a really humongous biggie called, The Big Lebowski. Too bad 2017 seems to be...

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.

“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...

“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.

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 […]

You must let a few opening scenes of Youth filter through your brain to completely tune in to what’s up with it.

What Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is … is Mash on steroids — not in Korea, but Afghanistan. And alas, Alan Alda got no call back for this new Tina Fey movie. BTW, WTF is based on real experiences abroad. Just so you know, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...

It was a notion of mine that The Meddler would backstory (a new verb?) as autobiographical. I was right. Lorene Scafaria’s new so-titled film — written and directed by her — is about Ms. Scafaria’s Mom. Susan Sarandon plays Mom. Her name is Marnie Minervini.

Mobile gaming has become one of the biggest business trend setters these days. As more and more people adapt to gaming on their mobile devices, there is a lot of gaming apps, which make poker and other card games all the more lucrative and worth a mention. With this said and done, as more and […]

Attention investors and entrepreneurs! Are you looking for a building already adorned with your ultra-conservative political and religious views? Are you searching for such a building on a sizable corner lot with tons of highly trafficked frontage where your manifesto can be seen daily by tens of thousands of passersby?

Taking my Y chromosome in hand, I did my duty and pretended I wasn’t walking around with the feeling that I’d recently been kicked in the nuts. For weeks.

On a Friday afternoon not too many months ago, I found myself sitting at my desk with a burrito in one hand and Type 2 diabetes in the other. The diabetes was in my burrito hand, as well, since technically, it’s just in me all the time, but I digress.