Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s latest masterpiece, wears several hats: It’s part homage to his Mexican upbringing, part love poem to his nanny and part examination of the political and social schisms of his country in the 1970s. It’s also something of a Hollywood double agent. The black-and-white film, which is garnering substantial Oscar buzz, underscores the …
I spent half my career as a police reporter. After watching Ronald Gene Simmons executed for killing 16 people over the Christmas holiday, I realized I wanted out of the death business. So I took a beat as far-flung from crime as I could imagine: movie critic. In writing this review for a website, …
The media outlet Buzzfeed had to down a plateful of crow today, served up by none other than Robert Mueller. The meal was unexpected for a couple of reasons. One, Buzzfeed is as much of a news outlet as Scientology is a religion. In fact, they share a similar modus operandi: Both try to …
M. Night Shyamalan’s career is something akin to the stock market. After making his Hollywood splash with the Oscar-nominated chiller The Sixth Sense, he was hailed on the cover of Newsweek as the next Steven Spielberg. But since then, his career has seen as many peaks and valleys as The Dow Jones. In anticipation …
Imagine you’re a parent of two toddlers and have foolishly bought a toy from the devil (Who knows? Maybe the kids were your first sucker’s bet with Beelzebub). After the transaction, you learn the details of the Faustian bargain: The toy will forever please them, but it cannot be withheld from them. They must …
Happy Birthday Samuel! Can you believe we met 19 years ago? That’s 6,935 days we’ve known each other. Or 166,440 hours. Or 9,986,400 seconds. But who’s counting? Well, to be honest, I am. Every one of them. I never told you what the doctors told me before they introduced us. They said that most …
Ask any parent of a newborn: There’s no reasoning with a fussy infant. You can either feed him, change him, or swaddle him in his comforting blanket. What you can’t do is cry louder than him to shut him up (though that would make for a great YouTube video). Perhaps that’s the approach the …
From the reaction he solicited, you’d think He Jiankui had genetically modified that giant steer Knickers — then stepped in its 40-pound droppings. Instead, he “genetically edited” the embryonic genes of twins born to Chinese parents, one stricken with the HIV virus. The outrage was swift and gasoline soaked. Jiankui faced a scientific backlash that …
Well, that’s one way to sell a home. By all accounts, the Texas house for sale looked like a slam dunk: It came with a fenced yard, gleaming hardwood floors and an open-concept kitchen. Starter house, perfect for a starter couple. But real estate isn’t exactly booming in Conroe, Texas, perhaps because the city, …
Of my earthly possessions, one of my favorites is a USA Today newspaper box where I keep my old clips stored. In the window of the box is a copy of the paper’s first edition, printed on Sept. 15, 1982. It wasn’t a great day for news. Princess Grace died in a car crash …
The Hollywood Bowles 