Weird Creature of the Night (Review: The Batman)
There aren’t many fictional characters that have as many character facets as Batman. You could go in a number of different directions beyond horror...
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Lasted Articles for Tampa, Florida
As the World Struggles It’s Way Into the New Normal, Here Are Linda Ballou’s Travel Tips for 2022
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Linda Ballou The only thing certain about travel in 2022 is that it is uncertain. People...
Continue ReadingMovie Review: “SOLD OUT” The Right Note
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsAs you read this, somebody is working a soulless customer service job. They’re getting screamed at by a customer with an almost sociopathic lack of...
Continue ReadingIllinois Business News: Chicagoland Equipment & Supply Acquires United Fast Food & Beverage
Sean Leary BusinessChicagoland Equipment & Supply (CES), a portfolio company of Cooper Management, LLC, and a leading supplier of equipment, supplies and service to...
Continue ReadingLinda Ballou Shares Why Winter Is A Perfect Time to Enjoy a “Wild Time” on the Central Coast of California
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Winter on the Central Coasts means fewer tourists and plentiful wildlife. Birds and marine...
Continue ReadingA Regular Dude (Review: Vengeance Is Mine)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThere have been eleven movies made with the title Vengeance is Mine. The first of those films was made way back in 1912, proving that even in those...
Continue ReadingMichael’s Game (Review: Halloween Kills)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsHe was close. He thought he was ready, but at the last moment, he stepped away. Wait — let me back up and I’ll explain. To set the stage, last...
Continue ReadingAntisocial Worker (The Gateway)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsMovie stars are good. Serious Actors are better. Best of all are That Guys.* Even if you’re a casual film viewer, you likely have a favorite That...
Continue ReadingA Vulgar Business (Review: Worth)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWe say that all lives have value. Do they? If so, what exactly is that value? To ponder a question like that is, at best, distasteful. At worst,...
Continue ReadingRoad Trip!! Linda Ballou Says Now’s the Time to Cool Your Jets on the Southern Oregon Coast
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Smith River Steaming temps in the inland valleys of Southern Oregon are sending smart...
Continue ReadingDeadly Hands of Kung-Fu (Review: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Marvel Cinematic Universe is a trend-setter, and it’s kind of amazing considering the risks taken. Consider the lead of Iron Man was a troubled...
Continue ReadingBruja (Review: The Old Ways)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsI’m a genre nerd. While a thoughtful documentary or smart drama will capture my attention, nothing gets my nerd radar pinging faster than a film...
Continue ReadingUncaged (Review: Pig)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsIs it fair to call Nicolas Cage a film icon? Not in the religious sense of the word, but more the idea that an icon represents a concept. Take a...
Continue ReadingSigns and Portents (Review: The Green Knight)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe past is a distant country. The further away we travel from it, the more strange the customs feel and the more unlike our own times it becomes....
Continue ReadingThe Do-Over (Review: The Suicide Squad)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsOnce upon a time, there was a director who got royally screwed. His name was (and continues to be) David Ayer, and his upbringing in South Central...
Continue ReadingEverything’s Fine (Review: No Sudden Move)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsNo Sudden Move is streaming on HBO MAX I adore crime movies, though some flavors more than others. About half of Quentin Tarantino’s filmography...
Continue ReadingBudapest With An S.H. (Review: Black Widow)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsBlack Widow is streaming on Disney+ Prequels are terrible. That is, until they aren’t. It used to be that the idea of checking out the earlier...
Continue ReadingLinda Ballou Wonders Whether She Was ‘Blissfully Sinking’ or ‘Gloriously Synching’ into River Time, During Her Recent Rogue River Raft Trip. Either Way, She Relished Every Moment.
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Every bend of the river beckons—every pool may bring better luck. Life should be like...
Continue ReadingMommy Brain (Review: False Positive)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsFalse Positive is streaming on Hulu In 2016, the World Health Organization estimated that around 830 women die on a daily basis due to complications...
Continue ReadingThe Devil Went Down to Connecticut (Review: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is streaming on HBO Max Much like life, franchises find a way. Sooner or later, they realize...
Continue ReadingSex Positive (Review: Plan B)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Plan B” is streaming on Hulu A while back, Toni Morrison said, “All good art is political.” I think that’s about right, yet I’d...
Continue ReadingCommon Things (Review: The Dry)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“The Dry” is streaming on Prime We all have secrets. From the smallest to the most squalid, everyone has a moment, a decision that they...
Continue ReadingUnderstuffed (Review: Benny Loves You)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Benny Loves You” is streaming on Prime Back in the day, the vast majority of scary cinema didn’t exactly knock themselves out in terms...
Continue ReadingSkater Boy Meets World (Review: North Hollywood)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“North Hollywood” is Streaming On Demand. A few years from now, my kid will graduate from high school. Before that happens, he’ll live...
Continue ReadingH Like A Bomb (Review: Wrath of Man)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Wrath of Man” is Streaming On Demand. There aren’t that many movies that kicked off an entire sub-genre. I’ll concede that, prior to...
Continue ReadingInto the Void (Review: Stowaway)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Stowaway” is streaming on Netflix Life is fragile. It’s easy to forget that on an average day. Last Thursday, for example, many of us...
Continue ReadingErin Go AARGH! (Review: Boys From County Hell)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsBoys From County Hell is streaming on Shudder As I write this, we’re well into springtime in Colorado’s Front Range.* The sun sets later, flowers...
Continue ReadingAs Mother’s Day Approaches, Linda Ballou Recalls Her Recent Visit to “Mom’s Meadow” – And Delivering the Fruitcake
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate After eleven years, I decided it was time to deliver the fruitcake my mother had sent me in...
Continue ReadingAddiction Nation (Review: Crisis)
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Crisis” is streaming on Prime Years ago, I was driving to the low-pay, high-stress job I held at the time. I turned my head to check my...
Continue ReadingA Little Blood (Review: For the Sake of Vicious)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsFor the Sake of Vicious is streaming on Apple TV There’s one aspect of filmmaking that’s never gotten the respect it deserves. Directors are...
Continue ReadingGiant Animal Smashy-Smashy (Review: Godzilla vs. Kong)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsGodzilla vs. Kong is streaming on HBO Max There are those of you who might scoff at the idea of intentionally watching a Godzilla movie. I’m not...
Continue ReadingGods Among Us (Review: Zack Snyder’s Justice League)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsZack Snyder’s Justice League is streaming on HBO Max Second chances don’t come around too often. That’s just as true in the movie business as...
Continue ReadingShoot, Stab, Repeat (Review: Boss Level)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsBoss Level is streaming on Hulu In the world of Hollywood, it can take time for a genre to emerge. That’s mostly due to the overwhelming cowardice...
Continue ReadingDown The Road (Review: Nomadland)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsNomadland is streaming on Hulu The nature of the world is to change. It’s always been so, despite our best efforts to push back against it. Some of...
Continue ReadingIn Writing ‘Embrace of the Wild,’ Linda Ballou Hopes to Turn Covid-19’s Lemons to Zesty Limoncello
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate In writing Embrace of the Wild I hope to have turned the lemons of Covid-19 into...
Continue ReadingIf You’re A Human Being Living On Earth, You Need To Read This
Sean Leary Sean LearyWelcome to the column for all carbon-based life-forms. If you breathe oxygen, this is for you. And if you live on a planet, especially Earth, well,...
Continue ReadingTravel Wings Clipped by Pandemic, Adventure Travel Writer Linda Ballou Pens Historical Novel About Equestrian Explorer Lady Isabella Lucy Bird: Embrace of the Wild
Linda Ballou TravelI was not initially familiar with the story of Englishwoman Lady Isabella Lucy Bird, so I didn’t know what to expect when I began reading Linda...
Continue ReadingDetails, Details (Review: The Little Things)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Little Things is streaming on HBOMax Hey, you! You, the person who just dropped a few hundred bucks on screenwriting software and who bought a...
Continue ReadingNice Guys (Review: Promising Young Woman)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsPromising Young Woman is streaming on Prime They said he came from a respectable family. Regarding his character, they said he was kind, loving, and...
Continue ReadingYou’ll Foster Good Will Towards The Latest Video You Deserve
Sean Leary Sean LearyIt’s Monday, and it’s time once again for The Video You Deserve. Now, the past several videos we’ve featured have all been vintage stuff from...
Continue ReadingIn the Company of Wolves (Movie Review: Hunted)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsHunted is streaming on Shudder She didn’t want to go. It would mean leaving the safety of the village, leaving behind a world of predictability and...
Continue ReadingToday’s Video You Deserve… A Cheeky Kanye, A Legend, A Black Eyed Pea, And An Award-Winning Singer’s Big Hit
Sean Leary EntertainmentMondays can be rough. And so, every Monday, we give you a music video. A fun, funny music video. Something that’ll make you smile, make you laugh,...
Continue ReadingLast Man (Review: The Midnight Sky)
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsMy kid Liam is around six months into his thirteenth year. He’s kind, smart, funny, and I can already see that he’ll go much further in life than...
Continue ReadingThe Inspiration For Buffalo Head Guy, This Week’s Inaugural Week Video You Deserve…
Sean Leary EntertainmentIt’s Monday. Yeah. We feel you. And so, every Monday, we give you a music video. A fun, funny music video. Something that’ll make you smile, make...
Continue ReadingLife On Earth
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsIf you’re reading this, you’re alive and you survived 2020. Trust me when I tell you, that’s good! We had an insanely acrimonious presidential...
Continue ReadingAge of Wonder
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWonder Woman 1984 is Streaming on HBO Max To one degree or another, superheroes are all about symbolism. Despite having been originally designed as...
Continue ReadingLinda Ballou Shares Her Recent ‘Wander to the Edge’ Podcast Interview
Linda Ballou TravelIt’s a wrap! 2020 is coming to a close. Adventure Travel Writer, Linda Ballou, shares highlights of her year in this interview with Adam Asher and...
Continue ReadingThe Self-Made Myth
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsHillbilly Elegy is streaming on Netflix There’s a story many of us tell ourselves about poverty.* Poor people are poor due to their own actions or...
Continue ReadingDying Is Easy
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsAll Joking Aside is streaming on Prime When it comes to the arts, there’s nothing harder than stand-up comedy. Don’t get me wrong; to play...
Continue ReadingDisorder In the Court
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Trial of the Chicago 7 is streaming on Netflix There’s a long and semi-proud tradition in Hollywood of the courtroom movie. Some of them, such...
Continue ReadingWings COVID-Clipped, Linda Ballou Shares How She’s Experiencing Jubilation in the Year of the Virus
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate The Mexican people call retired persons “Jubilants.” I was so busy I never thought much...
Continue ReadingSecond Verse, A Little Different Than the First
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsBorat Subsequent Moviefilm is streaming on Prime How does he do it? He must have the luck of Loki or some other trickster god on his side,...
Continue ReadingMiss Mystery
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsEnola Holmes is streaming on Netflix Perhaps the best part of a movie, for me, is the first couple of seconds. By that point, I have a broad idea of...
Continue ReadingThat Old Time Religion
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Devil All the Time is streaming on Netflix I’ve been to the South, but I’ve never been to The South. To clarify, years ago my wife and I took...
Continue ReadingTempest in a Teapot
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsCuties is streaming on Netflix Take a seat. Better yet, make a nice, hot cup of tea, pull up your nearest fainting couch, and get ready for some...
Continue ReadingBe Excellent To Each Other
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsBill & Ted Face the Music is streaming on Prime Let’s talk about trilogies. Specifically, how unbelievably hard they are to pull off. It’s...
Continue ReadingA Gorilla Never Forgets
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe One and Only Ivan is streaming on Disney+. Once upon a time, there was a mall, located in a faraway land known as Tacoma. This mall wasn’t the...
Continue ReadingSuperheavy
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsProject Power is streaming on Netflix Next to westerns, there’s no other genre that has the flexibility that superheroes have in terms of...
Continue ReadingHeadspace
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews7500 is streaming on Amazon Prime Americans are not good at empathy. We like to think we are, but the hard truth is, we suck at it. Why? Because...
Continue ReadingWhat A Croc
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Pool is streaming on Shudder. There aren’t too many animals that genuinely scare me. Sure, I know that my place on the food chain isn’t...
Continue ReadingLove, Die, Repeat
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsSometimes, the best-case scenario is to be wrong. We all have our blind spots, right? I was wrong about Andy Samberg. Wrong as hell. For a while...
Continue ReadingBlast From the Past
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Old Guard is streaming on Netflix So there I was, in the midst of a bout of pandemic depression. The old ways of coping were gone for the moment....
Continue ReadingTheir Performance Is an Adventure
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsEurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is streaming on Netflix I like to think I’m a relatively knowledgeable guy. I read a number of...
Continue ReadingForget Q-Anon, It’s Time To Go Down The Rabbit Hole To Discover A New Conspiracy Hero, S-Anon
Sean Leary ComedyListen, I’m not going to say that Kanye West dropped out of the race for President of the United States just because I announced I was running....
Continue ReadingCritic & Son – MCU Edition
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsI’m writing this on the morning of July 2. By now, we should have been a couple of months deep into the summer movie season. I’d be lying if I...
Continue ReadingBrothers
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsDa 5 Bloods is streaming on Netflix I’ve never served in the military. At the tail end of high school, recruiters from the Army bombarded my phone,...
Continue ReadingGirl Kills World
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsEveryone who’s into movies has a thing. A thing that is endlessly fascinating and that can be refracted through a thousand different lenses. One...
Continue ReadingIntroducing… The Video You Deserve: The Greatest Music Video Of All Time!
Sean Leary EntertainmentIt’s Monday. Yeah. We feel you. And so, we’re debuting a new feature. This feature. And in this feature, every Monday, we’re going...
Continue ReadingAin’t Love Grand?
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Lovebirds is streaming on Netflix If you’re like me, you could use some quiet time. There’s something to be said for bringing back naps and...
Continue ReadingAmateurs
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsTime to Hunt is streaming on Netflix We should be in the summer movie season right now. We should be bombarded by entertainment options: a little...
Continue ReadingCritic & Son – Star Wars Edition
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsYou shouldn’t expect your kids to be into the same things you are. It certainly wasn’t the case with my father and me. Bill was a World War II...
Continue ReadingTouchable
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsSometimes the meaning of a life is revealed at the end of it. We’ve seen that in film for decades, and perhaps the best example of this is Citizen...
Continue ReadingThe Worst of All Possible Parents
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Willoughbys is streaming on Netflix Once upon a time, there lived a parent. This parent had the colossal misfortune to be a) alive during a...
Continue ReadingLinda Ballou Shares How to Make Travel Writing Work for You AND Get Great Trips for Free
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate When I am not adventuring on horseback through pristine country, hiking some of the...
Continue ReadingReturn of the Sad Action Guy
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsExtraction is streaming on Netflix now. Not all action movies are created equally. You know that, and you know there’s a wide world of difference...
Continue ReadingThe Expanse of Dreams
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Room is currently streaming on Shudder. Some people love home renovation projects. Can’t get enough of them. I am not one of those people, due...
Continue ReadingLanguage!
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsCoffee & Kareem is streaming on Netflix. We can’t help what we find funny. Who knows where it comes from in the first place? We all have those...
Continue ReadingMahk’s Pahking the Cah in Hahvahd Yahd
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsSpenser Confidential is streaming on Netflix. Gather round, children, and let Graybeard Tim regale you with tales of the Long Ago Times! Back in the...
Continue ReadingTrolls World Tour Digitally Released this Friday!
Tess Abney MoviesDreamWorks’ Trolls World Tour, which was originally set to open in theaters on Apr 10, will now be released digitally on the same day! Trolls World...
Continue ReadingExperience Coachella From the Comfort of Home
Tess Abney EntertainmentAlthough Coachella 2020 has been postponed due to current events, music fans can still experience the festival through the documentary...
Continue ReadingIgnition
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsPortrait of a Lady on Fire is streaming on Hulu. Connections are everything. We all know that humans are social animals. We all know that there’s...
Continue ReadingToo Many Elephants in the Room!!
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate On my visit to South Africa in 2015, I was surprised to learn that there are too many...
Continue ReadingUp The Down Elevator
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe Platform is streaming on Netflix now. It’s hard enough for a quality film to break through to audiences under normal circumstances. The Motion...
Continue ReadingThe Grind
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWe’re all scared. Can you blame us? There’s a pandemic cutting through every corner of the world. The guy who’s supposed to be in charge...
Continue ReadingA Little Magic
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe internet has given us a great deal. From my laptop or phone, I have access to several lifetimes’ worth of information and culture. I can order...
Continue ReadingIn Which Linda Ballou Shares Part Two of Her Recent ‘Deep Dive Down Under’ ~ Including Palm Cove, Daintree Forest and Sydney
Linda Ballou TravelBy Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate From the extreme arid red center of Australia, our Overseas Adventure Travel group flew to...
Continue ReadingA Disappearing Act
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThe good news is, we’re in a golden age of horror movies. Back in the old days, horror wasn’t taken seriously as a genre. If you liked a good...
Continue ReadingThe Feel Bad Movie of The Year
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsNot long ago on my birthday, I decided to do something for myself. To celebrate my inevitable march toward old age and the grave, a drive in the...
Continue ReadingLinda Ballou Shares Part One of Her Recent ‘Deep Dive Down Under’
Linda Ballou TravelThe ultimate Australian experience with Overseas Adventure Travel is a journey through a maze of micro-climates, multi-cultures and natural wonders....
Continue ReadingObjects in Motion
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWho can say how we’ll react during a crisis? We all want to believe that, when the moment comes, we’ll step up. We’ll perform admirably and be...
Continue ReadingFeathering the Nest
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsI like it when something cool comes from something damaged and terrible. For example, the DC Extended Universe. Initially, they were not off to a...
Continue ReadingDrop the Beat
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsA common belief is that movie critics love to trash movies. It’s thought that we critical types, after emerging from coffins buried in consecrated...
Continue ReadingAlmost, But Not Quite, The Abyss
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsIf you’re a regular viewer of movies, you know you can track the seasons by the kinds of movies playing. Are the theaters jam-packed with big, loud...
Continue ReadingThe Endless Trench
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWe never really reckoned with World War I, not in any meaningful sense. For a while there it was called The War to End All Wars, despite the fact...
Continue ReadingShifting The Lens
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsThere are two incontrovertible facts: the first is that Louisa May Alcott was a fascinating human being. Her parents were Transcendentalists. She...
Continue ReadingPressure Drop
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsAs many of us do, the arrival of the year’s end is a time for me to look back. If I were to sum it up, 2019 was all about surprise. Putting aside...
Continue ReadingThe Force Ricochets
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsIn the beginning, there was the Word…or a bunch of words, anyway. They began with, “It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking...
Continue ReadingA Death Without a Body
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsIf you’re currently married or you were ever married, I’ve got news for you: your marriage is insane. I hate to be the one to tell you, but there...
Continue ReadingThe Doughnut Hole
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsMaking a movie is hard. Making a good movie? That’s really hard. Making a good mystery? These days that appears to be damn near impossible, given...
Continue ReadingThe Man Who Painted Houses
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsWhat is cinema? Is cinema only cinema when you’re watching it in a movie theater? While their methods have changed throughout the years, ultimately...
Continue ReadingGo Like Hell
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsOne of the keenest pleasures found in moviegoing is that of competence porn. A great comedy can flood your brain with endorphins, a solid horror...
Continue ReadingEat The Rich
Tim Brennan Movie Reviews“Someday, even the experts will figure out, that crime is not caused by rap music…or even my music, but by a power structure of self-absorbed...
Continue ReadingThis Franchise is Terminated
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsSometimes it feels like franchises never end. There’s a bunch of films in the Fast and Furious series, the James Bond movies have been trucking...
Continue ReadingA Comedy of Terrors
Tim Brennan Movie ReviewsAnything can be funny, right? There are two schools of thought, there. The first is the theory that anything has the potential to be amusing. Comedy...
Continue ReadingYou Must Come And See – Yosemite
Linda Ballou TravelSkirt the crowds and beat the summer heat in Yosemite with a stay at Tenaya Lodge, an all-inclusive resort with hot and cold pools and a complete spa...
Continue ReadingScott Beck And Bryan Woods Scaring Up New Films With ‘Haunt,’ ‘Boogeyman’
Sean Leary EntertainmentScott Beck and Bryan Woods aren’t slowing down. The duo, who grew up making indie films since their teen years in Bettendorf, Iowa, and currently...
Continue ReadingHow Far Is Too Far In Comics?
Ryan Franks EntertainmentWhile I was working on my list of comics to order from Previews last month I noticed a surprising change to two Marvel series I was ordering. I was...
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