DVD reviews: Warner Bros. adds to film noir collection - ‘Scene of the Crime,' ‘Code Two,' ‘Death in Small Doses' January 28, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment Warner Bros. Archive Collection adds three new titles to its film noir series, the best of which is “Scene of the Crime” (1949), with Van Johnson cast in the role of a hard-boiled cop out to avenge the murder of his partner. Now, Johnson’s red-haired, wholesome, boy-next-door image landed him in lots of... Read More
Blu-ray review: 'End of Watch' a heart-pounding cops-eye-view of life on streets of Los Angeles January 28, 2013 Writer-director David Ayer’s “End of Watch” is even tougher and more realistically brutal than “Training Day,” his 2001 Antoine Fuqua-helmed screenplay about a thoroughly dirty narcotics cop working the meanest streets in Los Angeles (a role that won Denzel a Best Actor Oscar). This time Ayer is calling... Read More
DVD review: ‘Enlightened' — The Complete First Season January 28, 2013 The first episode of the first season of “Enlightened” doesn’t begin promisingly for ambitious corporate executive Amy Jellicoe (Laura Dern) when work pressures and her own self-destructive nature trigger her very public and humiliating nervous breakdown. But that’s where the allure of the HBO comedy-drama... Read More
Fly Fishing Film Tour schedules stop in Oklahoma City January 28, 2013 The schedule for the 2013 edition of the Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) has been released, and this year Oklahoma anglers will no longer have to journey to neighboring states to sample the newest works of the sport’s best, cutting-edge filmmakers. The F3T officially kicks off this week with shows in Denver and... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley' January 28, 2013 This week, the oddest DVD on release lists is: “The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley: The Complete Series” A quirky comic creation that made its way from late-night to Saturday-morning TV, Martin Short’s nattering nerd Ed Grimley enjoyed one short, eccentric season of animated antics in... Read More
Oscar-nominated ‘Searching for Sugar Man' renews singer-songwriter's career January 28, 2013 BY GENE TRIPLETT His was an urban legend that spread from the dingy riverside bars of Detroit to the other side of the globe, where his songs became anthems for the anti-apartheid people of South Africa. Yet, in his own country he was virtually unknown, this blue collar folk singer known only as Rodriguez.... Read More
Book serves up rousing, uncritical celebration of John Wayne’s legend January 25, 2013 From a book authorized by John Wayne Enterprises, you certainly can’t expect a warts-and-all expose of a big, rambunctious, politically conservative movie icon who stomped on more than a few toes in liberal Hollywood during his storied career. And with the lushly produced, highly entertaining and baldly... Read More
Movie review: Documentary reveals profound failure of U.S. ‘war on drugs’ January 23, 2013 In the four-plus decades since President Nixon launched the so-called “war on drugs,” declaring illegal street drugs a national scourge, the U.S. has spent about $1 trillion on anti-drug campaigns and made some 45 million arrests. And yet today the scourge festers on, virtually unchanged. In his powerhouse... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis' January 21, 2013 This week, the oddest DVD on release lists is: “Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis” A running show-business joke for many decades has honed in on the French regard for Jerry Lewis as a comic genius, while in America the manic comedian’s star has been somewhat tarnished. Oh, those wacky French and their... Read More
Parsing the memorable mathematics of movies January 20, 2013   If you’ve recently experienced the extravagant big-screen adaption of the theatrical pop-opera “Les Miserables,” you’re likely to be walking around with a nagging numerical nugget lodged in your head. That would be 24601, the prison ID number of the saintly Jean Valjean, first evoked in song by... Read More
Movie review: ‘Chasing Ice’ shows stark visual aspect of inconvenient truth January 16, 2013 The 2006 Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” presented its arguments on the terrible realities of global warming in methodical, statistical and academic terms, following its professorial protagonist Al Gore as he trekked through airports, auditoriums and lecture halls to deliver his message.... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: '30 Nights of Paranormal Activity With the Devil' January 14, 2013 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “30 Nights of Paranormal Activity With the Devil” With Marlon Wayans’ freewheeling horror spoof “A Haunted House” now in theaters, the usual camp followers are showing up on the home video market in the form of the slapdash, lowbrow parody “30... Read More
Movie review: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ seeks complex story behind the headlines January 11, 2013 If “Zero Dark Thirty” were merely an action thriller, it would be remarkable in that even though the whole world knows the deadly outcome, it’s still incredibly suspenseful. But as director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal’s gripping, journalistic narrative about the long, grueling hunt for 9/11... Read More
Kathryn Bigelow identified with tough women behind bin Laden manhunt January 11, 2013 BY DENNIS KING NEW YORK – Kathryn Bigelow is accustomed to moving with ease, grace and confidence through what is essentially a man’s world. In Hollywood, and especially in the realm of tough, action-oriented movies, she’s carved out a unique directing career that features hard-edged works such as “Near... Read More
Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden' January 09, 2013 This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is: “SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden” Big blockbuster movies often seem to spawn lesser knockoffs in their wake. Such is the case with the pithy post-9/11 thriller “Zero Dark Thirty,” which towers over a similar version of the same story... Read More
‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is filmmaking in real time January 09, 2013 BY DENNIS KING NEW YORK –  Most journalists are used to working in real time and seeing the earth shift beneath their feet even as their stories are developing. That’s what happened to Mark Boal, investigative journalist turned screenwriter, as he was working on the initial draft of a script about the... Read More
Naomi Watts succeeds playing 'Impossible' role January 08, 2013 BY GENE TRIPLETT BEVERLY HILLS — After nearly two hours of watching her made up as a muddied, bloodied, bruised and broken woman struggling to survive the aftermath of a horrific tsunami, it’s almost startling to see how nicely Naomi Watts cleans up in the morning. The blonde actress was as radiant as the... Read More
Tulsan’s documentary to be screened at Siskel Film Center January 08, 2013 CHICAGO – “Bill’s Thud,” a personal documentary by Tulsan Clark Wiens to honor Vietnam War veterans, will be screened Sunday and Monday (Jan. 6-7) at the Gene Siskel Film Center as part of the theater’s Stranger Than Fiction: Documentary Premieres series. The 77-minute video documentary follows Wiens on... Read More
Movie review: 'Promised Land' reminiscent of Frank Capra films January 04, 2013 Matt Damon reteams with his “Good Will Hunting” director Gus Van Sant for “Promised Land,” a movie that tackles a tough energy-vs.-environment issue but winds up becoming an optimistic story of conscientious citizenship vs. corporate greed reminiscent of classic Frank Capra. Read More
Top 10 movies of 2012 had fascinating characters, stories based on fiction, fact January 04, 2013 BY GENE TRIPLETT Courageous kids, crazy lovers, Southern gunslingers and a hungry Bengal tiger are just a few of the fascinating figures who populate the best films of 2012, some of which were the wildest of fiction while others were based on amazing fact. But none was more fascinating than one of the most... 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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