On April 26, 1986, Reactor #4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded and sent radioactive steam and other material into the area around the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. It was one of the worst disasters involving a nuclear power plant to ever occur. The area surrounding the plant wasContinue Reading
In the mid-1970s, Mobile, Alabama was going through an economic depression. President Johnson had closed Brookley Air Force Base and that caused unemployment to rise to 20% in the city by 1976. Thankfully, the local economy was about to get a shot in the arm from an unlikely source: ColumbiaContinue Reading
In the world of fandom, Star Wars fans are arguably among the most dedicated of aficionados. (Although, I’m sure that Star Trek fans can make a passionate case against that statement.) At the heart of every Star Wars fan’s affection is an almost equally passionate opinion either for or againstContinue Reading
If you’ve seen the 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, you may think that the recent ad campaign for Anvil! The Story of Anvil is an attempt to market a similar movie. Despite the fact that there are many similarities between the two films, Anvil is a real band andContinue Reading
Hollywood lures many people with the promise of fame and fortune. Some make it big but most do not. Some lucky souls manage to carve out enough of a niche for themselves to survive. Confessions of a Superhero documents the stories of four people who have managed to eke outContinue Reading
Soda pop machines kill more people each year than sharks do. That’s one of the tidbits of information scattered throughout Rob Stewart’s impassioned documentary, Sharkwater. Stewart may not have set out to make An Inconvenient Truth about sharks but that’s essentially what the movie is. Through the use of someContinue Reading
Jesus Camp is the single scariest movie I’ve ever seen. It also works as hilarious comedy. The problem is that it’s a documentary and its subject is the brainwashing of children — and there’s no other way to put it — by Evangelical ministries to turn them into Christian warriors whoContinue Reading