Back In Blue: ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

James Cameron is one of our foremost purveyors of special effects-driven blockbusters, movies that blend action and another genre — usually science fiction, but sometimes romance or comedy — to appeal to the masculine id for explosions and gunplay. If one element links all of his films together, it’s destruction.

“The Water Is Freezing And There Aren’t Enough Boats” (#30)

“You can be blasé about some things, Rose… but not about Titanic.”

Top Ten Films: 2001

This is it. This is my final retroactive Top 10 list, because it is my first.

‘Jobs’ & ‘Homes’: Politics, Technology & Economy In America’s Recent Past

Whether you’re a fan of former president George W. Bush or not, you have to admit his term contained some profound low points, kicking off with 9/11 and ending in a nasty recession. You may or may not blame Bush himself for these and other pieces of unfortunate Americana in the 21st century, but let’s […]

Top Ten Films: 2004

(A “Then & Now” perspective.) Like my 2005 list, this Top Ten comes at you twenty strong, because that’s how I wrote it back in the day on my LiveJournal. And like last time, I’ll be adding my commentary about how the movies have held up 11 years later, because tastes change. Some of these […]

Top Ten Films: 2006

Continuing my retroactive Top 10 lists, this one takes us back to 2006, originally published in my “Confessions of a Dangerous Film Student” column in INsite Boston.

Hard In The City’s “Best Of Google” Volume 3

Happy New Year! This little blog of mine has existed for a little over three years now, and you know what? The more I blog, the more I realize what ignorant freaks the human race can be, thanks to the magic of Google. Google has helped a handful of people find my blog for perfectly […]

Top Ten Films: 2008

Before I started my own entertainment-related blog, my Top Tens had to whore themselves out on my friends’ pages. This one was originally posted on Justin Plus One. As usual with my Top Tens, I have preserved them as they were, even if, in hindsight, I may disagree with some of my own choices. (Did […]

Ballad Of Jack & Rose: Are We Ready To Go Back To ‘Titanic’?

James Cameron’s new film Titanic is quite a spectacle! It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as star-crossed lovers named Jack and Rose. He’s a poor guy, she’s a rich girl, but they buck class conventions clearly delineated by the ship (and the world at large) and decide to hook it up in an old-timey […]

Gold Rush: Screen Actors Guild Award Winners 2012

The Screen Actors Guild has chimed into awards season, with at least one fairly surprising surprise. (Here were the nominees.)

Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing: ‘Poetry’ & ‘Carnage’

Ah, bad kids. Where would the movies be without them? From ghostly dead youngsters in The Ring and The Shining to the bloodthirsty (but still breathing) tykes of The Bad Seed and The Good Son, there’s a long-standing storytelling tradition in Hollywood to use sinister children as the Ultimate Evildoers — the juxtaposition between innocent […]

Hard In The City vs. The Golden Globes: Live Blog & Winners 2012

It’s the Golden Globes! And because I currently have nothing better to do, I am watching and blogging about them. (Nominees here, FYI.) I’ll be doing some sort of live-blogging/recap as we go on, so… enjoy!