A Story That Needs to be Told
I love good stories. Sitting in a rocking chair on my grandmother’s front porch on a hot Alabama summer night, listening to my father and his brothers laugh about boyhood egg-stealing; cold November evenings in northern Minnesota while the Block…
Reality Revisited: a review of Inception
“Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.” George Bernard Shaw in Caesar and Cleopatra Shaw has had lots of fans in recent years. “Constructivists”, as…
Discussion questions for Inception
What were you thinking about as this film ended? What images from the film linger most vividly in your mind? Why do you think you were struck by them so forcefully? In one of Inception’s central scenes 19th century opium…
Discussion Questions for Avatar
Seen the movie? Read the review. Consider the following: What did watching "Avatar" leave you thinking about? Discuss your first impressions here, not your considered conclusions about the film. On one hand "Avatar" is an other-wordly fantasy. On the other…
Discussion questions for A Serious Man
If the review of "A Serious Man" below piqued your interest in watching the movie, here are some questions you might consider for your own, personal reflection; or, better yet, for discussion with friends. What were you thinking about as…
Why, perhaps, you should see Avatar
I know all the good reasons not to. Yes, the story’s been told before—and better—in "Dances with Wolves." Lonely American serviceman meets beautiful native girl who opens his eyes to a new way of looking at the world and in…
Laughing with the Devil: a review of “A Serious Man”
“The devil laughs because God’s world seems senseless to him; the angel laughs with joy because everything in God’s world has its meaning” Milan Kundera Humor is a funny thing. A comedian tells two jokes; he invests each with all…