Written and directed by Steven Zaillian. Based on the book by Jonathan Harr. Running time: 118 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language). Not to be uncivilized, but Steven Zaillian’s film adaptation of Jonathan Harr’s best-selling book, “A Civil Action,” is hardly worth the trumped-up hype it’s… Read More
With such talents as Eddie Murphy and Will Vinton involved, why does “The PJs” feel so lightweight? The new half-hour series, which debuts at 8:30 p.m. Sunday on Fox before moving to its regular 8:30 p.m. Tuesday time slot Jan. 12, centers on the life… Read More
A CELEBRATION OF MAINE CHILDREN’S BOOKS by Lynn Plourde and Paul Knowles, University of Maine Press, Orono, 1998, 336 pages with 72 illustrations, $16. They’ll be home — our children, that is. Even if we don’t get clobbered by a few school-canceling snowstorms, the February… Read More
GREEN RIDER by Kristen Britain, Daw Books Inc., 1998, 504 pages, hardbound, $23.95. If you hold the view that women are on the whole equal to men in hand-to-hand combat, and your favorite movie is “The Never-Ending Story,” then “Green Rider,” the first novel of… Read More
THE JURY IS EXCUSED by Wayne P. Libhart, self-published, 346 pages, $14.95. This is an engaging mystery set in Southwest Harbor and on Mount Desert Island. It’s a murder and a romance, and it’s all told in a low-key first-person style that is deceptively rambling. Read More
CAPTAIN’S CASTAWAY by Angeli Perrow, illustrated by Emily Harris, Down East Books, Camden, 1998, 32 pages, hardcover, $15.95. Want to be prepared for the next time a real winter storm strikes? In addition to your candles, battery-powered radio and nonperishable food supplies, keep a copy… Read More
NBC has learned the value of the philosophy K.I.S.S. (“Keep it simple, stupid”). “Trinity,” a muddle of Irish-American stereotypes, earned a quick yank from the Friday schedule after viewers were unable to peg the multilayered series (was it a cop show, a soap opera, a… Read More
When “Lateline” returns tonight at 9 on NBC, more than a few people will be asking themselves if they hadn’t seen a show just like it last season. The sharp-witted satire popped up for six episodes last winter, as Peacock programmers threw a little bit… Read More
For Hollywood, the first half of 1998 may have been submerged with a sinking ship — but what a spectacular sinking ship it was, rising only to sweep the Academy Awards in March before sailing on through summer to earn more than $1 billion at the box office. Read More
“Stepmom.” Directed by Chris Columbus. Written by Gigi Levangie, Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins and Ron Bass. Running time: 124 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for language and thematic elements). Chris Columbus’ “Stepmom” is the perfect film for those who are content with low entertainment… Read More
“ONLY IN MAINE: WVOM AND THE ICE STORM OF 1998,” edited by Donna Gold, Charlene Coleman, Jerry Evans and Moon Song Communications, Bangor, 1998, paperback, 155 pages, $15.95. The whole world may not have been watching, but virtually every person in northern Maine was listening. Read More
YOU’VE GOT MAIL, directed by Nora Ephron, written by Ephron and Delia Ephron, based on the screenplay “The Shop Around the Corner” by Samson Raphaelson. Running time: 116 minutes. Rated PG (for brief, mild language). Lately, it seems the only way to generate old-fashioned Hollywood… Read More
You know Christmas is coming when the lights go up outdoors, the trees go up indoors, and when The Canadian Brass sparkles with its unique form of Christmas music. Last night, the five brass players lit up a sold-out house at the Maine Center for the Arts, and… Read More
THE MESSIAH IN THE MEMORIAL GYM AND OTHER WRITINGS, 1973-1998, by Sanford Phippen, Blackberry Books, Nobleboro, 1998, 445 pages, $16.95. The color photograph of a buxom blonde dressed in baby blue, yellow and white, a Mona Lisa smile gracing her rosebud lips, all but leaps… Read More
In the annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” which opened Wednesday night at Penobscot Theatre in Bangor, Ebenezer Scrooge takes just a little over an hour to let his spirit go forth generously in life rather than wear the chains of greed for eternity. Not bad for a… Read More
It wouldn’t be fair to walk away from a meal at Denny’s Classic Diner and complain that it was too greasy, too salty and too white-bread. But it would be accurate to say that a meal at Denny’s will be greasy, salty and white. Why do people go… Read More
“The Celebration.” Directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Written by Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov. Running time: 105 minutes. In Dutch with English subtitles. No MPAA rating (brief nudity, language, violence). Nightly, Dec. 14-17, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Celebration” is that rare film that takes… Read More
“Star Trek: Insurrection” is a worthy heir to the “Star Trek” legacy of peaceful interaction among races first created by Gene Roddenberry more than 30 years ago. The third and best film featuring the “Next Generation” cast, the crew of the Enterprise, especially Capt. Jean-Luc… Read More
STEAL AWAY, by Katharine Clark, Fawcett Books (Ballantine Publishing Group), New York, 1998, 368 pages, $24. When your 9-year-old is snatched on his way home from school, the investigating detective seems more interested in developing a case against you than in looking for other suspects. Read More
REFLECTIONS ON MAINE: A collection of poetry, essays, photographs and art, edited by Margaret Cox Murray, Rainbow Press, Bangor, 1998, paperback, 91 pages, $9.95. Are you caught in the middle of the holiday rush? Do you still have presents to buy for friends and relatives?… Read More
MURDER IN THE NEWSROOM by Robert Kanehl, Windswept House Publishers, Mount Desert, 1998, 156 pages, $8. I nearly tumbled off my chair recently when a colleague handed me this book for possible review. Murder in what newsroom? Had we, the staff of Maine’s largest daily,… Read More
CATS IN THE DARK, by Kate Rowinski, illustrated by Bonnie Bishop, Down East Books, Camden, 1998, hardcover, 32 pages, $14.95. Does your house boast monsters under the bed, creatures in the closet, or other mysterious inhabitants that appear uninvited when all you desire is a… Read More
Listening to Impromptu!’s Christmas CD “Above All the Bustle” is like having carolers come to your door on a snowy December night. Only these are not your run-of-the-mill, slightly off-key friends and neighbors, these are really fine singers, some of the region’s best. Impromptu! is… Read More
When we were young, our parents used to tell us to finish every bite at dinner time because of the poor, starving people in China who would give anything to have our meatloaf leftovers. It was a badly constructed piece of logic on the part of that generation,… Read More
If you arrived five minutes before Saturday’s holiday concert by the Acadia Choral Society, chances are you had to sit in the back of St. Saviour’s Church in Bar Harbor. Enthusiastic community members were lined up at the door to hear this massive group, led by Shirley Smith,… Read More
“The Nutcracker” may well be the most popular performing arts event of the year. The Robinson Ballet Company teamed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra this weekend at the Maine Center for the Arts to highlight all the reasons for this. Tchaikovsky’s dreamscape of childhood holiday magic has the… Read More
“Psycho.” Directed by Gus Van Sant. Written by Joseph Stefano, based on a novel by Robert Bloch. Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (for brief nudity and bloody violence). So, then, let’s dispense with the Gus work: Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot, line-by-line retread of Alfred… Read More
“A Bug’s Life.” Directed by John Lasseter, written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery and Bob Shaw. Running time: 94 minutes. Rated G. “Babe: Pig in the City.” Directed by George Miller, written by Judy Morris, Mark Lamprell and Miller. Running time: 96 minutes. Rated G. Read More
When Tchaikovsky wrote “Swan Lake” in 1877, it’s unlikely he envisioned the ballet would ever be performed on ice. It’s also unlikely in 1998 that any of the regular theatergoers at the Maine Center ever expected to see a small ice rink on the stage there. Read More
Visitors to the Sea Dog in Bangor took a step back in time Wednesday night, returning to an era when disco and funk reigned. Lights flashed as Motor Booty Affair mounted the stage. The introduction from their album “Feel the Love” intoned: “Born in the… Read More
“Enemy of the State.” Directed by Tony Scott and written by David Marconi. Running time: 128 minutes. Rated R (for language and violence). One of the best thrillers of the 1970s was Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” which featured Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert… Read More
Have you noticed that Christmas comes earlier every year? That’s not so heartwarming when you’re talking about stores and wish lists and bank accounts. But with Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Inspecting Carol,” which opened over the weekend and runs through Dec. 6, an early start is nothing short… Read More
By now, even if you live in a cave, you’ve probably become aware of “Rugrats.” They’re on TV. They’re in toy and department stores. They’re featured in a new campaign at a major fast-food outlet. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
The Bliss family summer home has all the appearances of a lovely spot for the weekend. There’s the garden, the piano, teatime and laughter. But it’s really a grand set for the performance of the Bliss family psychodrama in Noel Coward’s comedy “Hay Fever.” Mother… Read More
MAINE LOBSTERBOATS: BUILDERS AND LOBSTERMEN SPEAK OF THEIR CRAFT by Virginia L. Thorndike, Downeast Books, Camden, 1998, 168 pages, $15.95. “It’s a common belief among fishermen that if you whistle aboard a boat the wind will start to blow.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
Don’t be fooled by the name of the White Barn Inn. Yes, it is constructed from a boardinghouse built in 1820. It even has “rustic Yankee ambience,” as proprietor Laurence Bongiorno might say. But the White Barn Inn of Kennebunkport is white-glove all the way. Read More
Claude Debussy probably did not mean to be flattering when he described the music of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg as “a bon-bon filled with snow.” But after hearing the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Grieg’s Norwegian Dances, Opus 35, on Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts,… Read More
All you really need to know about “Lord of the Dance,” the popular dance spectacle that performed two shows this weekend at the Bangor Auditorium, is this: There was a fury of Irish-style dancing and it was brilliantly fun to watch. But since we’re all… Read More
“Touch of Evil,” written and directed by Orson Welles. Based on the novel “Badge of Evil,” by Whit Masterson. Running Time: 100 minutes. No rating. Nightly, Nov. 16-19, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. At the heart of Orson Welles’ great noir film, “Touch of Evil,” is… Read More
The Squirrel Nut Zippers have one. So do Jordan Ferrer-Norton, Diana Krall, Baby Face, Chicago, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand and Hanson. The sounds of Christmas are upon us. Compact discs by recording artists who have seen the top of the charts and performers who will always dangle… Read More
SALMON SUMMER, written and illustrated by Bruce McMillan, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1998, 32 pages, $16. Are your spouse and children more interested in hunting and fishing than they are in reading? Do they get sort of grumpy when the inevitable nasty weekend weather keeps… Read More
AN EYE FOR THE COAST: The Maritime and Monhegan Island Photographs of Eric Hudson, by Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. and W.H. Bunting, with a foreword by Jamie Wyeth, Tillbury House, Gardiner, 212 pages, $25. Eric Hudson arrived on Monhegan Island in 1897 for two reasons. Read More
THE CONTINENTAL RISQUE by James L. Nelson, Pocket Books, 1998, 372 pages, paperback, $14. The year is 1775. A heavily armed British frigate is chasing you and your brig — which happens to be carrying the renegade John Adams — through Long Island Sound. Your… Read More
GREEN WOOD AND CHLOROFORM, by Anthony Betts, M.D., Down East Books, 1998, 208 pages, paperback, $12.95. It was 30 degrees below zero Dec. 30, 1954, when Dr. Anthony Betts pulled into Eagle Lake. The town had a 40-bed hospital and was without the services of… Read More
“Welcome, my friends, to the show that never ends.” Emerson, Lake and Palmer may have sung that first, but Blues Traveler could easily adopt that as their motto today. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner… Read More
TARGET HIROSHIMA, by Al Christman, U.S. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 1998; 305 pages, $29.95 cloth. “Target Hiroshima,” by Al Christman is subtitled “Deak Parsons and the Creation of the Atomic Bomb.” And that’s essentially what it is: a history of how the bomb came… Read More
When applied to a chamber music orchestra, the word `young’ can have an unflattering twist. Indeed, classical music may be the only performing art left these days that celebrates maturity in the way a wine lover would. Yet to call Quebec City’s Les Violons du… Read More
“Happiness,” written and directed by Todd Solondz. Running time: 140 minutes. No MPAA rating (language, sexuality and extreme adult themes). Nightly, Nov. 9-12, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. In a recent telephone interview with this critic, Todd Solondz, the award-winning writer-director of 1996’s “Welcome to the… Read More
SOMEBODY’S CHILD, by Dennis A. Williams; Simon & Schuster, New York; 285 pages, $22.00 cloth. SAFARI WEST, by John A. Williams; Hochelaga Press, Montreal; 78 pages, $10.95 paper. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner =… Read More
Lyle Lovett might be the only musician who could perform inside a phone booth. At his sold-out show Thursday night, the Texas treasure stood stock still, to the point of being stiff, with his legs together and his knees slightly bent as he played his… Read More
“John Carpenter’s Vampires.” Directed by John Carpenter. Written by Don Jakoby, based on the novel “Vampire$” by John Steakley. Running time: 107 minutes. Rated R (for strong, graphic violence, nudity, language and sexuality). Taking a clear and resounding cue from vampires everywhere, “John Carpenter’s Vampires”… Read More
Ted Danson has found out that Sam Malone casts a long shadow. For a dozen years on the comedy classic “Cheers,” Danson played the lunkheaded but likable Malone, who tended the bar where “everybody knows your name.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
The black-and-white world of “Pleasantville” is a tempting place. There’s no crime, no weather, and most importantly no messy emotions. “Pleasantville” is where contemporary teen David (played by Tobey Maguire) longs to be. Living with his divorced mother and slutty older sister, he appreciates the… Read More
The Taildraggers have got the blues. But that ain’t bad. The Bangor-area quartet has been drawn together by a shared appreciation of the classic American musical form. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
It’s Halloween and that means horror films. The following is a list of some of the best and scariest for entertainment this weekend. “The Shining.” Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Running time: 142 minutes. Rated R. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
What has 6-foot-tall babies with foam heads, adult characters perched on scaffolding, humanoid tools, an opera diva, and a 20-foot-tall green dinosaur? That would be “Rugrats: A Live Adventure,” which delighted a crowd of 2,450 children and parents Tuesday night in the first of four… Read More
“Pecker.” Written and directed by John Waters. Running time: 87 minutes. Rated R (for language, graphic nudity and drug use). Nightly at 9:30, Oct. 26-29, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. The very title of John Waters’ latest comedy offers the critic a wealth of unusual possibilities,… Read More
Nancy Kerrigan brought an ice show with a Halloween theme Friday night to the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland. But what was really scary was how much a TV taping disrupted the evening of entertainment. “Halloween on Ice” will air at 8 tonight on… Read More
Say this for Fox. They do offer some different TV series. At 8 p.m. Fridays, CBS and ABC serve up sickly sweet comedies for the kiddies. On NBC, the 12th weekly edition of “Dateline” provides scandal and pseudo-news. UPN has got the western throwback “Legacy.”… Read More
To theatergoing audiences, Sandra Hardy is known best for directing musicals. And she’s a cinch at comedy. But with a new production of Judith Thompson’s searing drama “The Crackwalker” at the University of Maine, Hardy isn’t singing or laughing. She’s getting right up in your face, poking you… Read More
Aye tare her tattered ensign down, Long has it waved on high … And many an eye has danced to see that banner in the sky. Beneath it rang the battle shout and burst the cannon’s roar. The meteor of the ocean’s air shall sweep the clouds no… Read More
When a Bar Harbor restaurant closed last year, Julie Berberian and Julie Harris were out of work. But they didn’t want to be. So they teamed up with College of the Atlantic senior Susanne Hathaway and opened Cafe This Way a year ago. The Julies got to work… Read More
“Beloved.” Directed by Jonathan Demme. Written by Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese and Adam Brooks. Based on the novel by Toni Morrison. Running time: 175 minutes. Rated R (for graphic nudity, sexuality and violence). In “Beloved,” Jonathan Demme’s film adaptation of Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel,… Read More
BANGOR — As a child, Stephen King found himself intrigued and frightened by the musical tale “Peter and the Wolf.” But on Saturday night, it was his turn to deliver the thrills and chills as he narrated Sergei Prokofiev’s scary 1936 classic during the first-ever Halloween Pops Concert… Read More
Lyle Victor Albert likes to push the envelope of his existence. Some of us do this once in a lifetime. Or on Saturdays. He does it three times a week — by shaving. Albert has cerebral palsy, a condition which affects motor skills and makes… Read More
Ondekoza may mean “demon drummers” in Japanese but, in practice, this sinewy group of percussionists is much closer to the opposite of evil. On a return visit Thursday to the Maine Center for the Arts (they were last here in March 1996), Ondekoza drummed up an arousing storm… Read More
Even the top TV creators have the occasional strikeout to go with their hits. For Steven Bochco, who gave TV viewers such classics as “Hill Street Blues” and “NYPD Blue,” there was last season’s “Public Morals” and “Total Security.” (You blinked, you missed ’em.). googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More
“Holy Man.” Directed by Stephen Herek. Written by Tom Schulman. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG (for language). There aren’t enough prayers in the world to save “Holy Man” from being a great big holy-rolling disaster of a comedy. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, STARLIGHT CAFE?, by Will Anderson, Anderson & Sons’ publishers, Portland, 1998, 144 pages, $24.95. You won’t ever find Will Anderson slurping an Arby’s milkshake or wolfing down a Whopper Jr. The Portland author swears chain-owned restaurant food is no match for… Read More
MAINE LIGHTHOUSES A Pictorial Guide, by Courtney Thompson, CatNap Publications, Mount Desert, Second Edition, 1998, hardcover, 128 pages. Celebrated in paintings, remembered in nostalgia, Maine lighthouses saved many a sailor and populated many a novel. You can find them in calendars, as jigsaw puzzles and… Read More
CALICO BUSH by Rachel Field, illustrated with wood engravings by Allen Lewis, Macmillan Publishing, 1931, 1966, paperback, 201 pages, $4.99. Though first published as juvenile fiction in 1931, “Calico Bush” is a timeless tale for all ages. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
THE MERRY WIDOW FOX-TROT, by Donald Mortland, North Country Press, 1996, paperback, 212 pages, $14.95. Maybe, as the book’s back cover tells us, Donald Mortland’s first collection of short stories is about life after 60. Then again, maybe it isn’t, exactly. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
STONE WALL SECRETS by Kristine and Robert Thorson, illustrated by Gustav Moore, Tilbury House, 1998, 40 pages, hardcover, $16.95 It would be impossible to imagine a more eloquent testimony to the resilience and resourcefulness of early New England farmers than the ubiquitous stone wall. One… Read More
For those seeking their costume-drama fix since “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” went off the air, UPN offers a passable alternative. Like “Dr. Quinn,” “Legacy,” which premieres at 8 tonight, is more soap opera than true Western. The series was created by executive producer Chris Abbott,… Read More
For most of us, standing on our own two feet is quite enough of a challenge in the workaday world. But if you’re a member of the National Acrobats of China, which performed to an awed crowd Tuesday at the Maine Center for the Arts, then you not… Read More
The concept of time travel is hardly a novel one on TV. “7 Days,” which has its two-hour premiere at 8 tonight on UPN, offers a slightly different wrinkle on the idea, giving it an “X-Files” twist. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
When “Star Trek” guru Gene Roddenberry first pitched the idea of his groundbreaking series to skeptical NBC executives, he described it as “Wagon Train” in space. Today, even though science fiction has become a grudgingly accepted genre on TV, creators still need to peg their… Read More
“Music is a miracle,” Czech composer Sylvie Bodorova said Sunday at the opening concert of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 1998-99 season. On a lecture tour in the United States, the Prague-based Bodorova showed up at the Maine Center for the Arts to hear the American premiere of her… Read More
“Antz.” Directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson. Written by Todd Alcot, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Running time: 83 minutes. Rated: PG (for mild language and some violence). On paper, “Antz,” must have seemed a winner: Feature Woody Allen as Z, a worker ant… Read More
BAG OF BONES, by Stephen King, Scribner, hardcover, 529 pages, $28. Stephen King pulls the ultimate in suspense tricks-and-bleats in “Bag of Bones,” his newest horror tale and the first publication from Scribner presses. Yes, there are ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump… Read More
You have to wait awhile in “The Devil’s Disciple,” which the Belfast Maskers opened last weekend, before you get a real taste of George Bernard Shaw’s wit. Those who know Shaw’s work might even say that the first part of this melodrama could have been written by anyone. Read More
This season’s freshest new series is found on adventurous WB. The coming-of-age drama “Felicity,” airing at 9 tonight, follows a college freshman taking her first tentative steps on her own, and experiencing the consequences of her actions. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
“The Governess.” Written and directed by Sandra Goldbacher. Running time: 114 minutes. Rated R (for nudity, sexuality and adult content). Nightly Sept. 28-Oct. 1, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. It is not without some unique measure of risk that writer and director Sandra Goldbacher set out… Read More
Because guns have become an everyday part of the popular media, the revival of knives and brass knuckles in Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Wait Until Dark,” which opened Friday at the Opera House, makes for a curious suspension of disbelief. The thriller appeared on Broadway… Read More
Say goodbye to the “Love Boat” with better scenery that used to be “Fantasy Island.” The motto of “Fantasy Island,” which originally ran from 1978 to 1984 on ABC, was “making your dreams come true.” The premise behind the new “Fantasy Island,” which debuts at… Read More
How’s this for synchronicity? A veteran screen actor makes a triumphant return to television in a series about a legendary private eye who resurfaces in a big way after being missing for 20 years. The actor is the expressive Dennis Farina. The former Chicago cop… Read More
Christina Applegate is an actress badly in need of a new image. For 10 years, she portrayed, perhaps too well, uber-bimbo Kelly Bundy of the breakout Fox comedy “Married … With Children.” A handful of feature-film roles have done little to erase Kelly from the… Read More
Saying something has potential is too often damning with faint praise. Potential means that the item being judged has possibilities, but that it’s not fully formed yet, that it may be better in the future. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]];… Read More
Making a copy of a copy is never a good idea. With each press of the button, the image grows muddier, less distinct, until in the end it is not possible to discern a glimmer of the original. “Spirit of the Dance” is billed as… Read More
“One True Thing.” Directed by Carl Franklin and written by Karen Croner. Based on the novel by Anna Quindlen. Running time: 121 minutes. Rated R (for language). googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner = false;… Read More
George Morgan painted mostly landscape memories of the houses, streets and neighborhoods where he spent his life. There are exceptions — a hunting dog, a church choir — but the artist’s talents are most evident when he reconstructs the crazy grids of his old Augusta-area stomping grounds. Read More
“Rounders.” Directed by John Dahl. Written by David Levien and Brian Koppleman. Running time: 115 minutes. Rated R (for language, brief nudity and adult content). Almost everything that is wrong with John Dahl’s “Rounders” can be directly attributed to Matt Damon’s face; indeed, the film’s… Read More
Think up any small-town American spot. Add some rednecks, an Aunt Pearl, a conservative group that wants to ban “Roots” because it shows only one side of the slavery issue, and a prize-winning essay called “Human Rights: Why Bother?” What do you have? We’ll skip… Read More
THE CHAMBERLAINS OF BREWER, by Diana Halderman Loski, Thomas Publications, Gettsyburg, Pa., 1998, 113 pages, $12. Hollywood has told the thrilling story of how Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the 20th Maine Regiment helped win the Battle of Gettysburg. So have television documentaries, printed biographies, even… Read More
DEAD LADY AT GREEN MEADOWS, by Corrilla D. Hastings, Windswept House, Mount Desert, 243 pages, paperback, $8.95. It is clear from both the language and the content of Corrilla Hastings’ first novel that she has plenty of experience in the garden. “Dead Lady at Green… Read More
COCOA ICE, written by Diana Appelbaum, illustrated by Holly Meade, Orchard Books, New York, 52 pages, hardcover, $16.95. Has your family gone through a lot of ice in a search for relief from the late-summer heat and humidity? Did you obtain this ice easily from… Read More
HEN FRIGATES: WIVES OF MERCHANT CAPTAINS UNDER SAIL, by Joan Druett, Simon & Schuster, 274 pages, hardcover, $25. From our late 20th century vantage point, it’s tempting to think of married life at sea in the Age of Sail as romantic. Off to see the… Read More
CORDELIA UNDERWOOD or the Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League, by Van Reid, Viking-Penguin, New York, 400 pages, hardcover, $24.95. Tobias Walton squinted past his rifle’s sights at Maude. For some inexplicable reason, Walton had been assumed to be the big-game hunter hired to capture… Read More
MOON OVER BROADWAY. Directed by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. Running time: 98 minutes. No rating. Showing nightly, Sept. 7-10, Railroad Square Cinema, Waterville. At the opening of “Moon Over Broadway,” Tom Moore, the director of the Broadway show “Moon Over Buffalo,” leans back against… Read More
“Eating Between the Lines: A Maine Writers’ Cookbook” combines two of my favorite things: food and words. If you’re a big fat wordophile like I am, it doesn’t get any better than this. But the obvious question is: What do writers know about cooking? googletag.cmd.push(function… Read More