Wed 10 Mar 2010
Chris Columbus—Destroyer of Dreams
Posted by Michael under Books We Love, Sweet Nonsense
[17] Comments
(Was going to post this after seeing this movie in preview, but then decided that would be a bit of a spoiler. Lots of people probably wanted to see this movie as much as I had; no reason to kill their joy early. So I drafted it and set it aside til now, when it appears that Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief will be lucky to gross a hundred million dollars. Effectively, this film franchise is already over.)

The wretchedness of some bad movies is forgivable.
You know the ones I mean: There is an artistic vision of some kind behind the mess, a storyteller who got terribly lost. And even though the end result is painful to behold, it still feels like it came from someone who cared. About the wrong things, sure; or about a story no one in their right mind could be bothered to give a damn about, maybe—but whatever the case, you sense someone behind the shambles. The unwatchable hot mess that is Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus falls under this category. As does John Boorman’s Zardoz, and Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic, and—well, a lot of Boorman. You get the picture.
And then there are movies made by witless mediocrities such as Chris Columbus. (more…)


As some of you know, I came to agenting through a bit of a side-hatch. I’m not a former editor. I didn’t complete
Writers generally hate being asked where they get their ideas. Neil Gaiman tackled the
Today Scholastic released the title and cover for Mockingjay, the final installment in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. If you’re a fan of the series, you know why this title works. If you’re not, why are you reading this blog post and not the first two books? What’s wrong with you?
Last night I had the place to myself and fired up the first two episodes in the latest season of Fox’s long-running, melodramatic, completely unrealistic counter-terrorism show 24. And I loved it.

