Teddy Roosevelt has been somewhat of a dominant figure in my life these last few weeks. By coincidence, I have just finished reading an excellent collection of the man's letters in a volume entitled The Scarlet Letters Of Theodore Roosevelt. These kinds of books are wonderful opportunities to get to know an historical figure through his own words, often directed at close friends and family with whom he felt comfortable enough to refrain from censoring his words quite so much. Then there's the two Night At The Museum films which I recently watched and reviewed for these pages.

One of the first books I read about the restaurant business was a title called Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. He describes the people who work at restaurants to be a band of misfits, those who are probably only there because of an irrational dedication to cooking. That would certainly describe the people who work at the Slammin Salmon, the latest comedy from Broken Lizard group.

Remakes are a fact of life. It might seem now more than ever that we are plagued with this reality, but it's been true for a very long time. It's not so new, as you might expect. Even the lauded Cecil B. Demille The Ten Commandments was a remake of his own silent 1923 film. They've existed almost as long as the movies themselves and will continue to exist for the foreseeable future. So, the question should be: Why should a particular film be remade? Often technology catches up with the content in a film. The ability to create on the screen something that was simply impossible originally is a legitimate reason to tackle an older film. Sometimes the movie is so powerful that it bears retelling for a new generation.

The Falcon Crest series ran 227 episodes from December of 1981 to May of 1990. The show’s creator, Earl Hamner actually worked on the Waltons and wanted to make a show about a family in the wine industry. However, when CBS got a hold of the series they wanted to make it more like rival show, Dallas. Translation: we want more smut and backstabbing. The show, Falcon Crest was born. I think John Boy would have been shot in the first season had he lived in Tuscany Valley. Good night indeed.

Nearly 10 years before Ben Stiller spent his first Night At The Museum with that eclectic cast of characters, The Relic brought us a much different kind of night at a museum. What comes to life here is anything but playful. There's nothing amusing about this nightmare in a museum. Peter Hyams might be more famous for several other action science fiction films, but none of his works before or since The Relic could claim to be quite so atmospheric. Together with the truly genius invention of creature creator extraordinaire Stan Winston

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello began their career completely by accident. Bud Abbott had tried his hand at doing the straight man bit with limited success. One night in 1931 he was working as a cashier for a vaudeville company when Lou Costello's partner came down with an illness. The performer needed a stand-in, and Bud Abbott filled in for the night. It was a temporary gig, to be sure. A temporary gig that happened to last 25 years. The two continued to work together on stage. While the team certainly reused a ton of the classic routines of the era, there was something unique and clever about the duo

Holy crap, this movie made a boat load of money for Fox when it came out around Christmas 2006, making $250 million and running second only to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel for box office money. And to see Ben Stiller finally appear in a film that could be considered a blockbuster success was nice too. And in Night at the Museum, he gets to play Larry, night security guard in the New York Museum of Natural History.

Ice Age – The Meltdown is a  funny, well-animated sequel that offers up a new adventure for the memorable characters from the original Ice Age film. As a great bonus, it’s nicely balanced for audiences young and old.

20th Century Fox Animation is still a poor second cousin to Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios, but for sheer entertainment value, Ice Age – The Meltdown doesn’t get knocked completely out of the water by top-shelf blockbusters like The Incredibles. Sure, the animation is weaker, and story is less inspired, but the voice work is excellent, with the talent of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, Jay Leno, and the list goes on.

Call of Duty: The Break Up, Halo: Full of Bull, & Ubisoft wants to improve the DRM experience? - Welcome to the column that is full of bull and we aren’t talking about a cow either known as Dare to Play the Game.

Ever been in one of those moods where you can’t figure out what to play but yet you have dozens of games lying around unopened? So what do you do?

"One … two… Freddy’s coming for you, three… four… better lock the door, five… six… grab your crucifix..."

Freddy might have been born in the mind of Wes Craven, but he grew and developed in the knife-wielding hands of Robert Englund. Granted, not all of these films are equal in quality, but the first was everything you could ask for in a horror/slasher film of the era. Freddy himself is by far the most colorful and animated of the slashers. His burned face, fedora, striped sweater, and knife-blade glove were all integral parts of the wise-cracking maniac.