Nicholas Bruner
Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Young Adult Author
Category: nfp
Ranking the Twilight Zone
I’m engaged in a project with my twelve-year old daughter to watch every single Twilight Zone episode and rank them. We watch and run them through a rubric to give them a score from 0 to 7. The episodes are graded in three categories:… Continue Reading “Ranking the Twilight Zone”
What I’m Reading: Blood, Iron, and Gold
Blood, Iron, and Gold, by Christian Wolmar, is a straightforward history of the railroad. It’s thorough and clear, with a minimum of editorializing, content to be simply a lucid survey of a somewhat niche subject. I know right now that not a lot of… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: Blood, Iron, and Gold”
Scary Movies: The Bad Seed
Okay, here’s the review of our final film of this year’s horror movie season: The Bad Seed, from 1956. In keeping with this year’s theme, Creepy Kids, this one features the creepiest kid of all. More plausible than Damien, more murderous than Danny, Rhoda… Continue Reading “Scary Movies: The Bad Seed”
Scary Movies: Return of the Vampire
As usual, we have a bit of a horror movie overhang now in November, with a couple movie reviews I still need to wrap up. The movie this time is 1943’s Return of the Vampire, starring Bela Lugosi. After an unpromising start, it turned… Continue Reading “Scary Movies: Return of the Vampire”
Scary Movies: The Shining
The movie this week is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which I haven’t seen since high school and have wanted to see again for a long time. Upon rewatching, I think what makes this such a popular horror movie is how its ambiguities lend themselves… Continue Reading “Scary Movies: The Shining”
Scary Movies: Sixth Sense
Last time, we did I Bury the Living, which started off great but totally flubbed its ending. Here, with the Sixth Sense, the 1999 film directed by M. Night Shyamalan, we have a movie that stuck the landing as well as any horror movie… Continue Reading “Scary Movies: Sixth Sense”
What I’m Reading: The Authentic Adam Smith
The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas by James Buchan is an erudite but straightforward biography of Adam Smith. I was a bit worried at first that it would be partisan and revisionist, because the book cover claims Smith and his theories have… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: The Authentic Adam Smith”
Scary Movies: I Bury the Living
This is one I saw about fifteen years ago and wanted to watch again. It’s amazingly well-made for a low-budget B-movie from the 1950s, but totally wusses out on the ending. This review will have spoilers of this sixty-four year old film, so don’t… Continue Reading “Scary Movies: I Bury the Living”
