Selling Shakespeare to a wide audience is tough. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say most people are first exposed to Shakespeare in a dry English classroom with rote analysis and forced participation in an unstaged reading. That’s not the kind of environment that breeds lifelong admiration for the Bard....
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The first rule of making a bad film is realizing that you made a bad film. The second rule of making a bad film is not blaming anyone else for making a bad film. Not every film is going to be a home run and no film will every please everyone. I mean, I...
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I love a good sideshow or freakshow act. One of my favorite parts of any multi-haunt Halloween attraction is the main stage where these entertainers are brought up to make the attendees go wild. I’ve seen Lady Diabla swallow swords and Insectavora climb up a ladder of swords. I’ve seen contortionists, fire dancers, and...
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I was so excited last week when news broke that Sean Durkin had been tapped to adapt William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist into a 10 episode TV miniseries. Turns out this was news to William Peter Blatty. According to Bleeding Cool, Blatty owns the rights to The Exorcist. Morgan Creek, the alleged production company,...
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You don’t know how badly I want to love Drive. The crime/thriller from director Nicolas Winding Refn has to have some of the best editing, sound design, and structure of any action film I’ve seen in years. It’s uber-stylish and filled with a great cast. Yet, the cast has nothing to work with. They’re...
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One of my favorite shows to write about has been RuPaul’s Drag U. Off-kilter contestant writing really abusive comments here aside (scrubbed and banned, hence the comment policy, soon to be amended as I turned off moderation), it was so much fun to write about. It’s a positive show that only takes the well-being...
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Here be spoilers for the latest episode of Mad Men. You’ve been warned. Last night, about fifteen minutes into the new Mad Men episode “The Other Woman,” I felt compelled to send out a Tweet of disbelief: I feel it’s still a fair question. By that point, Pete Campbell had already asked Joan Harris...
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The Apparition is a horror film with an all-star teen-friendly cast. There’s that girl from Twilight. Oh look, it’s the bad boy of Harry Potter. Cynicism aside, the casting is appropriate as the leads are all supposed to be grad students studying the science of paranormal activity. The trailer starts, “There is a scientific...
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I’ve praised the film Certified Copy before. I believe that writer/director Abbas Kiarostami made a brilliant meditation on how we develop relationships. It’s beautiful, it’s sharply written, and the leading performances from Juliette Binoche and William Shimell are extraordinary. This week, Certified Copy finally came out on DVD and Blu-ray. The gray cover of...
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We all knew it would happen eventually. Plants Vs. Zombies, the silly little tower defense game that could, was so successful that other studios would have to launch their own versions of the game....
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Can you feel it? In just a few hours, Eurovision 2012 has its first semifinal round. I’m a big fan of the contest because–let’s face it–a lot of these countries try to win with...
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Looking for an easy time waster? Try Dead Pixel from Rzook over at Newgrounds. It is a point and click puzzle game that anyone can play with ease. I recommend wiping off your monitor...
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Last week, I announced a giveaway inspired by the Smithsonian Museum of American Art exhibit The Art of Video Games. Today, I can announce the winner with her story. Congratulations, Kerri. I’ll e-mail you...
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Over the weekend, I visited Washington, D.C. with my brother. We did most of the usual tourist things: memorials, museums, tons of photographs. After a bad experience with some nasty staff at the National...
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The Library is a recurring feature at Sketchy Details where I suggest songs that should fit into anyone’s music collection. I went to a terrible horror convention two weeks ago looking for content. Instead,...
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The newest episode of Felicia Day’s Flog opens with a promise that she will play the violin. She follows that up by saying that people will be disappointed. Never underestimate the ability of a...
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Last week on The Voice, a singer named Erin Martin landed in the Bottom 3 on Team Cee Lo. She was sent home after a last chance ballad performance that showed off her vocal...
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When J.K. Rowling announced Pottermore–an interactive annotated guide to the Harry Potter series–last fall, I was skeptical. What could be the draw for anyone but the most dedicated fan? It’s fan service from the...
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