The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, a screenplay written by American Legend (tm) Tennessee Williams, and discovered by Director Jodie Markell, proves why some screenplays deserve to remain lost. Not that it's too much different from most of Williams' work: an over-privileged rich plantation girl, Fisher Willow (Bryce Dallas Howard, finally putting to rest the debate over whether she's a good actress or not, on the side of 'not') asks a poor plantation-hand, Jimmy Dobyne (Chris Evans, who should probably stick to picking up Ryan Reynolds' sloppy seconds) to be her escort at high society functions, in order to save her crumbling reputation....mas

Written and directed by Bradley Rust Gray, The Exploding Girl isn't an issue movie; it doesn't have much interest in epilepsy awareness. It's more like a mumblecore after-school special. Ivy and Al take walks, go to house parties, exchange meaningful glances, give each other relationship advice. The unseen boyfriend, on the other end of many abbreviated cell phone calls, does not, it must be said, bode well for Ivy. If nothing else, The Exploding Girl is scrupulous in its depiction of spring breaks as they occur in real life: no road trips, little excitement, mild comfort, and debauchery that is mild and restless at best....mas

The opening scenes of Aegri Somnia (translation: a sick man's delusional dreams; hallucinations) are shot in black and white, and it is a visual masterpiece. It's night and the camerawork takes advantage of shapes and shadows. Throughout Aegri Somnia, the viewer cannot glance away for a moment for fear of missing a visually intriguing, dramatic shot. Lenses, camera angles, and camera angles combine to provide scenes that mimic art photography. Even scenes in a night club are imbued with desolation....mas

In his Decline of the West, Oswald Spengler wrote, “With the exit of fresco and oil-painting, the great masters of absolute plastic and absolute music file on to the stage, man after man. Behind Bach and Handel come Gluck, Stamitz, the younger Bachs, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven – in their hands an armoury of wonderful and now long-forgotten instruments, a whole magician’s world created by the discovering and inventing spirit of the West in the hope of getting more and more tones and timbres for the service and enhancement of musical expression … forms that no one now understands....mas

Seriously? Another vampire show? Aside from being a blatant attempt to cash in on the inexplicable vampire craze of the last few years, The Vampire Diaries seemed like an ill-advised concept from the start, offering precious little originality in its take on what basically boils down to a supernatural love triangle between a woman and two vampire brothers. Didn’t get your fill of the Twilight books and movies? The many books but shorter seasons of True Blood just aren’t enough to quench your thirst? You don’t get BBC America so you’re shut out of Being Human? You’re too young to have watched Angel? If so, you’re the target demographic....mas

Some films are just crying to be made into videogames, and not just new films, old ones.  Look at Star Wars, even before the film franchise was expanded, there were incredibly successful – and some very good – videogames made based on it.  Other films, however, don't seem to be quite as obvious choices to be videogame-ified.  Case in point, Grease.  Although the movie shows significant staying power – it was just rereleased to theaters as a sing-along this past summer – it doesn't feel like a natural fit for home consoles....mas

No film is more deserving of being encased within a book than Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, the first silver-screen adaptation to present Shakespeare's entire play, including portions from the Second Quarto and the First Folio. Branagh made every effort to create a spectacular production worthy of what is arguably the world's greatest play. He selected an international cast and shot it on 70mm, currently the last film to have done so in its entirety, to augment its grandeur....mas

Sometimes writers try to hit their readers over the head with insightful life lessons and revelations. Fortunately, Miller is not one of them. Instead, she offers deep and profound wisdom through simple metaphors and penetrating prose. Exploring topics such as love, loss, depression, connection, meditation, mindfulness, loving kindness, home and peace, readers find themselves on a journey of self-discovery that doesn't start in a foreign country thousands of miles away, but in their very own kitchens....mas

The six-panel fold-out that contains the four-disc The Simpsons – The Thirteenth Season features most of the major characters involved in a video arcade. Each disk contains special features—every one of them includes audio commentary on all episodes and deleted scenes. I was actually afraid to put disc one in my DVD player—I didn’t think I’d be able to interrupt the 22 episodes  of hilarity The Simpsons – The Thirteenth Season presents (not to mention the extra features). The set also comes with a guide to the thirteenth season, episode by episode. This is a Simpsons junkie’s dream come true. Even the disc menus are entertaining....mas

The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Beatles has been reissued as basically the same two DVD set distributed by the now-defunct GoodTimes Entertainment in 2003. This time the SOFA Entertainment production is being distributed by Universal Music Enterprises. The packaging and DVD menus have been changed. A few minutes of marginal bonus material have been added. Otherwise, the new release isn't an "upgrade," but it's nice to see this material readily available again....mas