Superbad: Too gay, or not gay enough?
Personally, I think it’s just wonderful if two young men want to hold hands and shout out their love for each other from the rooftops. I mean, it’s just wonderful[…]
Author: Alan Vanneman
Alan Vanneman is a writer living in Washington, DC. He is the author of two dead-tree novels, Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra and Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara, both published by Penzler Press. Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg Tiara is available as an audiobook from Blackstone/Downpour. He is also the author of three new Nero Wolfe novellas recreating Rex Stout’s famous fat detective, a FREE ebook, and Author! Author! Auden, Oates, and Updike, a collection of two short stories and a novella, available both as an ebook and print on demand. All of his fiction can be accessed here at his blog Literature R Us. Portions of his article "Alfred Hitchcock: A Hank of Hair and a Piece of Bone," which originally appeared online in Bright Lights, have been included in a textbook anthology by Allison Smith, Trixie Smith, and Stacia Watkins. 
Ronald Reagan’s Shoot from Hell! Cattle Queen of Montana
Up shit creek without a Pichon Longueville ’47 The recent release of Ronald Reagan’s White House Diaries has produced the usual snickers from the usual suspects — the self-appointed, self-anointed[…]
Rat’s Eye for the Straight Guy: Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille
Eat first, talk later? If only! Yep, those fairies at the Magic Kingdom are at it again. They’re tryin’ to talk all us straight-thinkin’ folks from Middle America into respecting[…]
An Infarction to Die For: Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Thirteen
Can a film with George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Brad Pitt be all bad? Yes. Future generations will study Steven Soderbergh’s latest, Ocean’s Thirteen. Not future film scholars, of course,[…]
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Money! J. K. Rowling Just Got Richer
Harry the Fifth comes in third OK, the latest Harry Potter — Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, to give the full name — isn’t a bad flick[…]
The Simpsons Movie: from D’oh to Dough! Helping white men get richer for 18 years!
Yes, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks are rich, rich white men, and thanks to The Simpsons Movie, they’re going to be even richer. Much as I would like to[…]
In Like Clint! Letters from Iwo Jima Is Excellent
With one, yeah, pretty major caveat I do have a major objection to Clint Eastwood’s new film Letters from Iwo Jima, but my first reaction is one of praise. After[…]
Billy Ray’s Breach: At Last, a Film as Boring as DC!
The evil that men do in a Fairfax County regional park I’ve had a lot of fun over the past few years ridiculing Hollywood’s lame attempts to capture — or[…]
Will Ferrell on Ice! Speck & Gordon’s Blades of Glory
No Betty White, but funny! Blades of Glory is a winning, genial take on some of the grosser vanities and shortcomings of early 21st century America — most notably, the[…]
Isn’t It Romantic? Hugh and Drew in Marc Lawrence’s Music and Lyrics
The King of the Backseat Blowjob gets mildly post-ironist on your ass You can do anything if you try. You must always be yourself, and never compromise. And it’s OK[…]
DVD & Blu-ray · TV & Streaming
Tight Pants in Paradise: Tom Selleck Is Magnum, P.I.
Keats, Shelley, and firm, manly thighs Ever wonder what life would be like if English majors ruled the world? A chilling prospect, to be sure, but a damned unlikely one.[…]
Being John, Seeing Stanley: John Malkovich in Brian Cook’s Colour Me Kubrick: A True … ish Story
“Plot keywords: drugs, glamour, party, rent boy, sex, bisexual, celebrity, con artist, male model” Say, who’s that old queen in the corner? Why, it’s John Malkovich, having a fairy good[…]
Robert De Niro at Yale Again! The Good Shepherd: Poor Little Lamb!
Hey! How did we win the Cold War, anyway? Yale? Wasps? Homoerotic subtext? Do any of these spell Robert De Niro? I’m guessing no, but Bobby, in his second outing[…]
One Small Step for a Penguin: George Miller’s Happy Feet
Getting down way down under You may not be aware of this yet — few Americans are — but Robin Williams likes black people. He also likes Latinos. And why[…]
You Only Live Twice? Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale: Bond Rebottled
Forget the book, just see the movie It’s a curious fact that today’s movie franchises are largely based on American comic books and English popular fiction.1 The Harry Potter series,[…]
Still the Same Old Story? Definitely. Ed Zwick’s Blood Diamond
When Leo met Bogy Can white people with regular features still save the world? Hey, we’re in Hollywood, aren’t we? The answer is not no. Blood Diamond serves up some[…]
Dude, Where’s My Suicide Pill? Alfonso Cuarón’s The Children of Men
One virgin birth too many There are two reasons why I hate going to art films. The first is that everyone in the audience is as old as I am.[…]
Actors & Personalities · Reviews
Looking at Charlie: The Idle Class, Pay Day, The Pilgrim, and A Woman of Paris
“Now, Goliath was a big man.” With the release of The Kid in 1921, Charlie Chaplin had fulfilled his dream of making a full-length comedy that would be recognized as[…]
Blood Diamond: Can white people with regular features still save the world?
Hey, we’re in Hollywood, aren’t we? The answer is not no. Blood Diamond serves up some of the grimmest images of modern Africa, young boys trained to be genocidal murderers,[…]
No Tobacco Juice, but Funny! Monster House, Rockin’ in 3-D!
Bob Zemeckis and Stephen Spielberg want your money. Give it to them. It’s sad but true: no one does spit tobacco juice on the audience in Monster House. But even[…]
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