Blogcritics Author: Ray Ellis

DVD Review: The Future is Unwritten - Joe Strummer

Ray Ellis — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:48:53 EDT

The Future is Unwritten, but Joe Strummer left us some interesting notes before he died.
Every person’s life if full of little moments that become seminal only in retrospect. We simply aren’t wired to process the significance of a moment as it happens. Often, we go to our deaths only vaguely aware of the moments and people who shaped our identities, leaving it to acquaintances we left behind to define us.In Julian...

TV Review: Monk, Psych Season Premieres - The Detective Lives!

Ray Ellis — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:35:51 EDT

The detective is back, courtesy of Monk and Psych.
There’s a reason the detective genre endures generation after generation. And that’s because there are only two kinds of people in the world—those who love mysteries, and those who hate mysteries. Those who love mysteries love the process of peering around the corner to see what lies beyond. They don’t need a vested interest...

DVD Reviews: 305, Superhero Movie - Savor the Silliness

Ray Ellis — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:03:41 EDT

Puerile and downright stupid? Well, yeah... but they're still funny.
One thing I’ve learned working as a pop culture critic over the years is that some things just really are not designed to be seriously criticized. Maybe it’s because my formative years consisted in overlapping parts of classic literature and Mad Magazine, fifties jazz and punk rock, Italian wines and cheap beer, TS Eliot and Lenny...

TV Review: Flashpoint - A Different Kind Of Cop Show, Eh?

Ray Ellis — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:51:28 EDT

Flashpoint shows that Canadian cops are more sensitive than American cops -- and that's a good thing.
Life these days is stressful. It costs over a hundred dollars to fill the belly of that behemoth SUV, and that’s only going to let you run everyday errands for a week or so. That's if you consolidate lunches, meetings, shopping, grooming trips and just getting to work. Once you do get to work, you have to deal with office politics, and...

Product Review: Brave Spirits - The Spirits of Patriotism

Ray Ellis — Sat, 5 Jul 2008 18:26:39 EDT

Who knew that patriotism could be so delightful?
All politics aside, it’s a pretty safe assumption that just about everybody in America supports our men and women in uniform. There’s a lot more to it than a yellow ribbon decal on the rear window of the family SUV, though. People throughout the country are coming up with creative ways to show their support, from every walk of life. And...

TV Review: Election Day Is an Inspiring Prelude to Independence Day

Ray Ellis — Tue, 1 Jul 2008 18:39:03 EDT

Synergy is the core power of America. "Election Day" is an example of that power.
If there's one thing that makes America unique in the world, it's the synergy that drives the country. We come from different places, we bring our native cultures with us, we settle into little neighborhoods, we bicker among ourselves and bemoan the larger powers that be — at least until we become a part of those larger powers that...

Movie Review: Imagination

Ray Ellis — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:11:55 EDT

First rule of making an art film: don't set out to make an art film.
Defining art isn’t easy—it’s like pornography in that you know it when you see it, or hear it, or experience it, as the case may be. I’ll be the first to fess up to the core fact that I don’t always know what art is, since the term is thrown around like discarded tissue. I knew an “artist” in the eighties...

TV Review: Traces of the Trade - A Story From the Deep North

Ray Ellis — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:43:00 EDT

Do we share in the shame of our ancestors? Think about your answer.
2008 marks the bicentennial of the United States’ abolition of the slave trade on its shores. That’s a landmark event in the nation’s history, and yet, it’s been largely overlooked. Maybe it’s because we like to pat ourselves on the back about the quantum leaps we’ve made in the two centuries since, or perhaps...

The Coming Convergence: TV Is In Your Hands

Ray Ellis — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:27:17 EDT

Traditional TV and the Internet are not at odds--they're sleeping together.
It’s another hot and muggy June night, and I’ve been working all day, dealing with what I’ll politely call “the public.” I get home, thumb through my mail, and discard the three no interest for six months credit card offers and the 75% discount magazine subscriptions, save the various bills, filing them in my mental...

TV Review: Weeds, Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Scripted TV Returns! (finally)

Ray Ellis — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:16:58 EDT

Choices are not always a matter of choice. Then again, it's all alternatives, isn't it?
There’s really no such thing as an “alternative lifestyle” when you think about it since every choice we make in life is an alternative to another choice, and they all end up being a lifestyle. It’s only when we justify, or make peace with, our own choices that we smugly label other people’s decisions as somehow...