DVD review: “The Forsyte Saga Collection” (2002) December 01, 2012 | Comment on this article Leave a comment Fans of “Upstairs, Downstairs,” “Downton Abbey” and other high-toned British costume productions of that ilk, have one widely acknowledged 1967 BBC series to thank for paving the way and setting the standard for all multi-character, serial melodramas to follow. That would be “The Forsyte Saga,” a... Read More
‘Richard Burton Diaries’ reveal acting giant nagged by insecurities November 29, 2012 The much-hyped release of Lifetime’s tantalizing biopic “Liz & Dick” brings the carousing, larger-than-life Welsh thespian Richard Burton back into the national spotlight, and some of the resulting public curiosity should rightfully fall to the recently released volume “The Richard Burton Diaries”... Read More
Theater review: ‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’ November 27, 2012 NEW YORK – In recent years – thanks to constant cable TV play – “A Christmas Story” has joined “Miracle on 34th Street” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” among the most beloved holiday movies ever. Based on the nostalgic but craggy short stories of writer and radio raconteur Jean Shepherd, this quirky... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: '12 Christmas Wishes for My Dog' November 27, 2012 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists: “12 Christmas Wishes for My Dog” Looking for a warm-fuzzy, family (and pet) friendly diversion from holiday shopping? Check out the thoroughly wholesome, G-rated “12 Christmas Wishes for My Dog” (due out on DVD Tuesday). This Lionsgate Home... Read More
Biography of ‘The Redgraves’ tells colorful, controversial family saga November 15, 2012 With the 1907 marriage of British actress Daisy Scudamore to matinee idol Roy Redgrave, an acting dynasty was born that has profoundly touched the worlds of stage, screen, television and politics in the 105 years since. The Redgraves in typically dramatic – and melodramatic – fashion evolved into one of the... Read More
DVD/Blu-ray review: 'Charlie is My Darling' - Ireland 1965 November 13, 2012 In celebration of the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary, ABKO Films has unearthed the long lost “Charlie is My Darling,” a 1965 documentary treasure chronicling the band’s brief tour of Ireland just after the release of its first bona fide worldwide megahit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'Snowmageddon' November 13, 2012 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “Snowmageddon” “White Christmas” gets a quirky, kitschy, Syfy Channel spin in “Snowmageddon,” a gimmicky disaster fantasy due out on DVD Tuesday. Typical of most Syfy Original productions, this 2011 mash-up of holiday horror, disaster,... Read More
Daniel Craig makes role of Bond his own November 09, 2012 BY DENNIS KING NEW YORK — As Daniel Craig dons his sharply tailored tuxedo and hefts his trusty Walther PPK for “Skyfall,” his third outing as British Secret Service Agent 007, the hunky actor seems   to be finding a firm footing in one of filmdom’s most darkly iconic roles. Initially dissed by... Read More
Movie review: 'Skyfall' brings new high to Bond series November 09, 2012 As British superspy James Bond turns 50 with “Skyfall,” he’s demoted by his doubtful MI6 handlers, saddled with middle-age aches and pains, nagged by a sense of creeping mortality, confronted with a shadowy new world of cyber terrorism and accosted by perhaps the most deliriously, floridly lunatic villain... Read More
Keeping ‘Skyfall’s’ secrets is no easy task November 06, 2012 NEW YORK – When it comes to the various plot twists and startling secret revelations contained in “Skyfall,” the 23rd super-spy adventure in the James Bond franchise (set to open Nov. 9), the film’s producers maintain that loose lips may sink blockbusters. Before a preview media screening and during... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'What Happened to Jack Kerouac?' (Deluxe Edition) November 05, 2012 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “What Happened to Jack Kerouac?” (Deluxe Edition) With director Walter Salles’ highly anticipated film adaptation of  Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” set for a Dec. 21st release, it’s an apt time to revisit this iconic bad boy of the Beat... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: Kino Classics Edition' October 30, 2012 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians: Kino Classics Special Edition” Like dressing up a shaggy mutt in a finely tailored tuxedo, the cheapo 1968 sci-fi spoof “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” is now being released in a fully restored, bonus-filled... Read More
Films offer good Halloween scares October 26, 2012 BY GENE TRIPLETT When the trick-or-treat traffic finally trickles away and all the little ghosts and goblins have gone home to bed, here’s some recommended home theater viewing for foot-weary doorbell slaves who yearn for some Halloween happiness of their own. Read More
VOD review: ‘Knuckleball!’ a fluttery homage to a mysterious pitch October 25, 2012 In baseball lore, it’s known as the pitch that requires the nerves of a cat burglar and the serene patience of a Zen Buddhist. It’s the mysterious knuckleball, and in all of baseball history only a small fraternity of pitchers – most of them considered colorful eccentrics – have mastered its quirky demands.... Read More
Blu-ray review: 'A Cat in Paris' October 25, 2012 It’s pretty much a given that cats are fickle, and that insouciant, c’est la vie nature of felines is at the heart of the gorgeously artful and oh so French animated feature “A Cat in Paris,” an Oscar-nominated film now out on Blu-ray DVD. Among the most unique of last year’s animated Oscar nominees... Read More
DVD review: ‘Peter Gunn' — The Complete Series October 22, 2012 Sophisticated film noir came to television in the fall of 1958 when the private detective series “Peter Gunn” debuted on NBC-TV, and all 114 episodes are available for the first time in the 12-DVD box set, “Peter Gunn” — The Complete Series. Created by Tulsa-born producer-writer-director Blake Edwards,... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'Vinny the Chin: The Long Island Legend' October 22, 2012 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “Vinny The Chin: The Long Island Legend” When it comes to self-aggrandizing “Guidos” with buff physiques, outsized egos and pea-sized brains, the Jersey shore has nothing on Long Island, which is the gaudy playground of one notorious meathead... Read More
DVD review: ‘The Carol Burnett Show — Carol's Favorites' October 19, 2012 One of the last of television’s great comedy-variety programs was “The Carol Burnett Show,” which aired from September 1967 to September 1979, and featured the perfect-chemistry ensemble cast of Burnett, Vicki Lawrence (who looked enough like Carol to be her kid sister), sketch-comedy master Harvey... Read More
DVD review: “Yancy Derringer – The Complete Series, All 34 Episodes” October 18, 2012 Jock Mahoney was a journeyman actor with scores of B-movie Westerns to his credit and a manly reputation as a World War II fighter pilot and durable stuntman when he took on the TV role of riverboat gambler Yancy Derringer in 1958. And although the distinctive series lasted only one season, Mahoney’s dashing... Read More
Blu-ray review: ‘Strangers on a Train' October 17, 2012 Robert Burk’s Oscar-nominated black-and-white cinematography never looked sharper, moodier or more visually inventive than it does in the new Blu-ray edition of “Strangers on a Train” (1951), which remains right on track as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest psychological thrillers. Robert Walker gives... Read More
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About the writers

Dennis King


Movie Critic
King spent 31 years as an ink-stained wretch working for newspapers in Seminole, Ada, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He holds a B.A. degree in English from the University of Central Oklahoma and for 16 years served as an adjunct instructor in journalism and English at Tulsa Community College. For 20 years, he was full-time film critic at the Tulsa World.

In 2006, he left Tulsa and along with his wife, Suzan (a retired English professor), moved to a cabin in Dingmans Ferry, PA. There, along the banks for the Delaware River, he chased after two rambunctious Labrador retrievers, fly fished the waters of the Poconos and did his best to become a full-time trout bum. Still scratching a writer’s itch, he freelanced articles for Explorer magazine and Gray’s Sporting Journal and wrote a stage play about classic movies and old movie theaters, titled “Spirits of the Coronado” (after his long-gone boyhood theater at 39th Street and MacArthur Boulevard).

In December, he and Suzan moved into an apartment in upper Manhattan, where they plan to eat bagels for breakfast and street-cart hot dogs for lunch, haunt the Angelika Theater and the Film Forum, go to plays and museums, ride the subways, complain about the subways and generally live like true New Yorkers.

Gene Triplett


Entertainment Editor

Gene Triplett is another Oklahoma newspaper dinosaur who's been cranking out copy for 34 years, first at the upstart, long defunct Oklahoma Journal, covering just about every news beat imaginable, then at The Oklahoman, where's he's bounced back and forth from features to the news side as assistant city editor, city editor and entertainment editor, managing to hold down the latter position for more than 10 years. He holds a B.A. degree in journalism -- also from the University of Central Oklahoma -- and, also like his colleague King, chases after two loony Labrador retrievers. He does not live by a trout-filled river, but he and his wife Carol do own a swimming pool, much to the delight of their dogs.


The Tripletts enjoy gourmet outdoor cooking year-round (rain, sleet or snow), entertaining friends, road trips to scenic wooded parks that rent rustic lakeside cabins, listening to music, watching classic movies and, in the summertime, swimming with their dogs.



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