Everything else is just made up
A review of The Conspirator written by James D. Solomon and directed by Robert Redford Rating **** 1/2 I’m not sure how well this film did at the box office. My recollection is that it got mixed reviews and probably didn’t make a whole lot of money, at least not in theatres. My guess, though, [...]
Review of Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer written and directed by Alex Gibney Rating ***** This film came out around the same time as the documentary The Inside Job. In many ways this film is a prequil to that documentary, because before Eliot Spitzer resigned from office he was well on his way [...]
Review of Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World written by Joan Druett Rating ***** The story told in this book has a lot of similarities to the story of Endurance and Earnest Shakelton but with a few interesting twists. First, this story involves two shipwrecks not just one. And interestingly enough [...]
Review of Soul Surfer directed by Sean McNamara and written by Sean McNamara, Matt Allen, and Brad Gann Rating **** I’ve never surfed, though I would jump at the opportunity if it presented itself. Since starting this blog I’ve covered a number of stories revolving around surfing. One was a documentary I highly recommend called [...]
I don’t think anyone watching the Dateline episode The Mystery on Halloween Night could conclude other than an innocent person was convicted of a crime he did not commit. If the judge currently deliberating on Ryan Ferguson’s fate doesn’t overturn his conviction, it will be a miscarriage of justice of monumental proportions. The only thing I [...]
Review of Exit Through the Gift Shop written & directed by Bansky Rating *** 1/2 What is it that makes one work of art worth thousands of dollars and another similar work of art worth almost nothing? That is a question that has been addressed on this site a number of times. First there was [...]
Casino Jack written by Noman Snider and directed by George Hickenlooper Rating **** 1/2 At the very beginning of this movie is the tag “inspired by true events,” which usually means that very little of what you are about to see is factual. But after just watching the excellent documentary also named Casino Jack, written [...]
A review of Casino Jack written and directed by Alex Gibney Review ***** In my most recent review of the documentary Gasland, I commented that it was a must see film. The same can be said about this film, especially right now. If you want to know what’s going on behind the scenes in Washington with [...]
It’s now been a little over three years since the release of my book 35 Miles From Shore. The picture on the left was taken at my very first book signing, which happened to be at a Borders store in Chicago. By now I had fully expected that the book would have made its way [...]
A review of Gasland written and directed by Josh Fox Rating ***** Remember a while back how outraged we all were over the BP oil spill in the Gulf? What if I were to tell you that there is a much more damaging environmental catastrophe occurring right now in the U.S. that dwarfs the BP [...]
A few weeks ago when the Casey Anthony verdict came back as not guilty, I wasn’t surprised. I had not watched every minute of the trial. Much of what I knew about the case I learned from the slanted coverage on HLN and the biased coverage from Nancy Grace. But thanks to HLN I did get [...]
Review of I love you Phillip Morris written and directed by Glenn Ficarra John Requa Rating **** This is a hard film not to like. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor play the two main characters at the heart of this story. Jim plays con man Steven Russell who decides that it’s easier to con people [...]
A review of Inside Job written and Directed by Charles Ferguson Rating ***** Over the past couple of years I’ve started but never finished several books about the financial meltdown. I had the best intentions, as did the authors who wrote the books. But everytime I got to the section on credit default swaps, derivatives, [...]
A review of Overboard by Micheal Touglas Rating ***** This is the story of two sailboats, a storm, and two men tossed overboard. The incident took place in May of 2005. The 45 foot sail boat Almeisan was sailing from Connecticut to Bermuda when it, like the other sail boat, got caught in a massive [...]
Review of Chow Down Directed by Julia Grayer and Gage Johnston Rating *** 1/2 I just got back from grocery shopping today. I spent $140 for groceries for two people. While that’s a little higher than normal, the one thing different about this trip to the grocery store is that I returned with not a [...]
