“Well, it’s not as if we’re running a hospital for sick children down here.” –James “Hobie” Hobart in “The Goldfinch.” Ahhh, but repair — spiritual repair — is exactly what is being practiced by the exceptionally kind, decent supporting character named “Hobie” in Donna Tartt’s sprawling “The Goldfinch.” It’s just that Hobie ministers to only...Read More
Who’ll Play the Lead in the Movie? The most memorable excerpt from Tara Westover’s harrowing memoir of growing up, off-the-grid, in rural Idaho isn’t from the book. It appears in The New York Times’ book review: “Educated” is, among other things, a catalog of job-site horrors: fingers lost, legs gashed, bodies horribly burned. No pointy-headed bureaucrat could...Read More
Quick! Who What Does an Executioner Execute?** If you like Quentin Tarantino’s movies but not all the Tarantino-esque violence and gore, I’ve got an alternative: read the screenplay instead. That’s an option for Tarantino’s latest movie, “The Hateful Eight,” because the movie was adapted from Tarantino’s earlier screenplay. At least on the page, you can...Read More
Refunds at the Casino, Courtesy of Taxpayers [Editor’s Note: Gary Marshall, who passed away yesterday at the age of 81, was best-known for creating such mega-hits as “Mork and Mindy” and “Happy Days” (TV), and for directing films like “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries.” But, my favorite Gary Marshall role was as a supporting...Read More
A Little Passover Irony, or “Wait a Second! Isn’t ‘Exodus’ Associated with Getting OUT??” I’ve made my peace with paying close to $10 for a movie ticket. However, $4 for a smallish candy bar or a box of M&M’s is another thing. So — full confession — we Kaplan’s have been known to smuggle a...Read More
Review: “Humpback Whales” at the Science Museum’s Omni Theater It turns out that a “Nantucket sleighride” has nothing to with Christmas, snow, or even winter. It’s what 19th century whalers called what happened immediately after they harpooned a whale — as in, they “got taken on a Nantucket sleighride” (grim but true). The term also...Read More
