Glory Be to Don I’ve been trying to figure out how to not be hyperbolic. Trenchers, a deli at 2602 S. Harvard Ave., opened almost a decade ago by chef/owner Zack Curren, and his wife Melinda (from Shades of Brown fame), is something that flew under my radar forever because I barely leave downtown, or […]
Review: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
One Last Ride In 1981 “Raiders of the Lost Ark” happened. For my money, it should be in the Top Five AFI films, alongside “Casablanca.” I don’t know why anyone likes “Citizen Kane.” The tale of a rough and ready archaeologist, getting in adventures and killing Nazis while searching for the Ark of the Covenant, […]
Roll for Nerd
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” finally cracks the codex When I was a kid in the early ’80s, I was in middle school. It was the height of the Satanic Panic. Be it music or movies, the hands of concerned Christian parents were wringing. I was a nerd with nerdy friends who had somewhat […]
Review: Cocaine Bear Snows What It’s Doing
And it’s exactly what you think it is Back in 2006 there was a high-concept comedy called “Snakes on a Plane” that largely came into being because of the Interwebs. With a built-in fanbase, and based on the premise of its title, it achieved a sort of cult status before the movie even came out. […]
The Top 10 Films of 2022
A short selection of must-see movies I hate “best of” lists, especially enumerated ones. I love reading them, I just hate making my own. It feels reductive, subjective and sometimes I look back at my Top 10s from years past and cringe. Not so much because my choices were misguided. They rarely are. It just […]
Fine Young Cannibals
Review: “Bones and All” is a cinematic feast With 2017’s “Call Me by Your Name”, director Luca Guadagnino achieved the level of American attention that his films had enjoyed internationally since the start of his “Desire Trilogy”—beginning with the Tilda Swinton-starring “I Am Love” (2009) and which continued with the underseen (by me, at least), […]
Film Review: The Fabelmans
“The Fabelmans” is a window into the life of a legendary filmmaker “The Fabelmans,” director Steven Spielberg’s memoir and nostalgic origin story, is perhaps his most personal work. A chronicle of his relationship with movies, his family, and his complicated (sometimes discomfited) experience being a Jewish fish out of water. His avatar here is Sam […]
Nosferatu Celebrates Its 100th Anniversary
See A Classic Reborn on Halloween at the Circle Cinema As one of the most well-known silent films (of which only 25% still exist), and the first vampire film ever made, F.W. Marnau’s “Nosferatu” remains a cornerstone of horror cinema. People were shocked. It proved to be an inspiration for the burgeoning German Expressionist era, […]
Restaurant Review: Velvet Taco
Outside of the giggle-worthy name, I never thought to see what Velvet Taco was all about. I didn’t know the concept, or care that it was a franchise that corporate marketers sometimes shoehorn into the corridor of Cherry Street when another place closes. In this case, the old, unlamented Long John Silver’s on 15th and […]
Restaurant Reviews – What is Detroit Pizza, and who does it the best?
So, hey? What is Detroit pizza? One might ask. Back in the day they used to build a lot of cars in Detroit and had a lot of steel 10 x 14-inch oil pans laying around. At some point, someone decided to make a pizza in one—and thus, a style was born. Essentially, it is […]