I’ve been using TURBOTAX for years. Some years the software is better than other years. I installed TURBOTAX yesterday–it was a breeze–and entered my tax data. In about a half hour I was done. Sadly, I have to pay about $200 to the Feds and about $800 to New York State (it costs a lot to live here!). I could have spent more time looking for more deductions, but I decided it wasn’t worth it if it resulted in an audit. Fortunately, my stocks were up yesterday so that more than covered my tax bills. I e-filed both my Federal and State tax returns. I have to send my tax checks in by April 15. How are you doing on your taxes?

I’ve been putting off seeing 12 Year’s A Slave for months. But I finally decided this was the time to see it and so I went into a surprisingly crowded local movie theater (the movie came out in October!). What followed was two hours and 13 minutes of unrelenting cruelty, beatings, whippings, and torture. Director Steve McQueen doesn’t sugar-coat slavery. All the brutality is shown. The sadistic overseers, the detached plantation owners, and the slave dealers display their contempt for the slaves. Solomon Northup (played brilliantly by Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free African-American living in Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1841, he’s tricked by two visitors and sold into slavery. For the next 12 years every manner of cruelty befalls Solomon. The story is remarkable because Solomon manages to keep his sanity and survive. I find it hard to recommend this movie. My wife cannot bear watching extreme violence so she declined to see 12 Years A Slave. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would find these graphic depictions of slavery upsetting. But, of course, that’s the point of this movie. 12 Years A Slave will probably win the Oscar for BEST MOVIE. GRADE: A

“The Death of College (As We Know It)” was the original title for this column that I submitted to the Buffalo News, our local newspaper. The Editors changed the title to something more mundane, but the contents of the column was published intact. The current business model for colleges and universities is breaking down. Students graduate with $100,000 of student debt…and can’t find a job. Student Loan debt exceeds Credit Card debt in the U.S. Something needs to be done, so I wrote this column to generate some discussion. Click here to read what was published in the Buffalo News months ago.  My insights haven’t changed.

When I asked my wife what she wanted for Valentine’s Day, she relied: “I want to see The LEGO Movie. So we went to an AMC theater about 10 minutes away. At 10:45 A.M. not many people were in the theater: eight adults and five children including us. The plot of The LEGO Movie is fairly straight-forward: An ordinary LEGO construction figure named Emmet is recruited to join a quest to stop the evil LEGO tyrant–President Business–from threatening the Universe. Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) steals every scene he’s in. As with most of these animated movies, there’s a kid level and an adult level. There are plenty of liens kids won’t “get” but the adults will…and they’ll laugh. If you’re looking for some silly fun, go see The LEGO movie! GRADE: B+

Someone in Hollywood must have thought remaking the classic Paul Verhoeven movie Robocop was a Great Idea. Sadly, this new version of Robocop offers no new surprises. In a near-future Detroit, crime is out of control. The Omnicorp company makes drones and military robots, but they are banned for use in the United States. The CEO of Omnicorp decides to subvert the laws by rebuilding a damaged policeman (played admirably by Joel Kinnaman–he plays Detective Holder in The Killing). Plenty of CGI special effects follow. The predictable plot, the lack of a compelling villain, and zero suspense sinks this film. GRADE: C

Harvard professor Anita Elbere provides an informative and surprising analysis of blockbusters. Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment shows how blockbusters are made. For example, major Hollywood studios who used to produce many more movies than they do today have adopted the “home-run” strategy to making movies. That’s great when a movie like The Avengers makes over a billion dollars. That approach doesn’t work so well as Disney found out when John Carter flopped. I learned a lot blockbusters from Elberse’s book. For example, Disney paid Robert Downey, Jr. $50 million to play Tony Stark in The Avengers. Was the money worth it or not? Elberse has her own ideas about investing in Superstars. We’re stuck with this Blockbuster mentality In entertainment it seems. Now, I have a better understanding of how it works. GRADE: A
Table of Contents

Prologue: Show Business—a Business of Blockbusters 1

One: Betting on Blockbusters 15
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Grand Central Publishing, Marvel Entertainment

Two: Launching and Managing Blockbusters 56
Lady Gaga, Octone Records

Three: Investing in Superstars 83
Real Madrid, Boca Juniors

Four: How Superstars Use Their Powers 118
MGM and Tom Cruise, Maria Sharapova, LeBron James

Five: Will Digital Technology End the Dominance of Blockbusters? 150
YouTube, Hulu, the Metropolitan Opera

Six: Will Digital Technology Threaten Powerful Producers? 187
Radiohead, Major League Baseball, the National Football League

Seven: The Future of Blockbuster Strategies 220
Jay-Z, Lady Gaga

Epilogue: No Business Like Show Business? 251
Marquee New York City

Notes 267
Acknowledgments 289
Index 295

I like Robert E. Howard’s quirky Puritan adventurer, Solomon Kane. For some unknown reason, Howard sent Solomon Kane to Africa in story after story (some of the best in the series). I was curious about the movie version of Solomon Kane which did not make it to a theater around here. When I found a copy of Solomon Kane in Wal-Mart for $5.00 I immediately bought it. I watched the movie and can report the movie Solomon Kane has little to do with the Robert E. Howard stories. Other than the title Solomon Kane and Kane’s Pilgrim hat, this predictable adventure is devoid of anything in the Solomon Kane saga and holds few surprises for the viewer. I did like the performance of James Purefoy who plays Solomon Kane (and takes a lot of punishment). There are some nice supernatural elements which I wanted to see more of. If there’s a sequel, I’d watch it. But I wish the script for Solomon Kane followed one of Howard’s stories. GRADE: C+

You can lose yourself browsing through David Thomson’s addictive Moments That Made the Movies.” With over 250 photos, David Thomson presents what he thinks are the most classic, most iconic scenes in film history. This is not a “best movie” book. Thomson disclaims that Moments That Made the Movies” is a book about his favorite movies. Instead, Thomson tries to capture the essence of movies in a series of still photographs, some in color but most in black & white. I also found plenty to learn by reading Thomson’s commentary. I never realized that in Taxi Driver director Martin Scorsese is the passenger in the backseat of Travis Bickle’s cab who watches his wife having an affair. There are dozens of great movie tidbits in Thomson’s mini-essays on each film. I loved everything about this book! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
One Woman Stand. Another Sitting and Crossing Legs
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Sunrise
Pandora’s Box
Morocco
M
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Doswoth
Bringing Up Baby
Gone With the Wind
The Shop Around the Corner
The Letter
Citizen Kane
The Lady Eve
Casablanca
Laura
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Big Sleep
The Red Shoes
The Third Man
White Heat
Sunset Blvd
A Place in the Sun
Strangers on a Train
Tokyo Story
The Band Wagon
A Star is Born
Sansho the Bailiff
Lola Montes
The Night of the Hunter
The Searchers
Sweet Smell of Success
Touch of Evil
Anatomy of a Murder
North By Northwest
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Psycho
Jules and Jim
The Exterminating Angel
Vivre Sa Vie
L’Eclisse/The Eclipse
Pierrot le Fou
Mickey One
Blow-up
Point Blank
Bonnie and Clyde
The Conformist
Klute
The King of Marvin Gardens
The Godfather
Pat Garrett & Billey the Kid
Don’t Look Now
Celine and Julie Go Boating
Chinatown
The Passenger
Taxi Driver
The Shining
The Right Stuff
Blue Velvet
When Harry Met Sally…
Hoffa
One False Move
Heat
The Piano Teacher
In the Cut
Birth
A History of Violence
Zodiac
Burn After Reading
Still Photograph, Vancouver
Index
Acknowledgements
Photo Credits