Bite Me, Tony

The Count of Monte Cristo - PBS Masterpiece Series First things first: I've never read Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo . I know, I know, it's a timeless classic of world literature but since it wasn't required reading for any of my high school or college courses, I let it slide. Maybe that was a good idea, maybe it wasn't. All I knew back then was that it was a 1300+ page doorstopper of a novel, a mid-19th Century swashbuckler--most likely overwrought and verbose--translated from the French. And since I had places to go and people to see, I simply couldn't picture myself tackling a tome of that size and scope. To this day, I still haven't read it. But let's be honest, how many people do you know who have? I'll wait.  As a limited series,  The Count of Monte Cristo  is currently running on PBS Miami Channel 2, and won't wrap up for another 3 weeks so I thought that, maybe, by watching this, I'd somehow make up for the literary neg...

  Cult Movies # 8 - Mata Hari (1932) An early MGM talkie, Mata Hari serves up big budget opulence and empty-headed posturing in this fictionalized version of the notorious Dutch dancer's last tango in Paris. Set amidst the chaos and intrigue of World War I, the movie follows Mata's various manipulations (and a few miscalculations) as she vamps her way through the glam Parisian nightlife collecting intel for the Germans and thoroughly discombobulating any man foolish enough to fall into her trap. Eventually, of course, Mata crosses the wrong person and is summarily trotted off to a tryst with the firing squad.  As a showcase for enigmatic screen legend Greta Garbo, Mata Hari doesn't scrimp on production values. The sets are sumptuous and exquisitely detailed, the black and white cinematography lushly romantic, evoking memories less of Paris than the dawning of the golden age of Hollywood film studios. Whatever: the film never adds up to much anyway. Indeed, the plot is so l...