Author Archives: Maggie Van Ostrand

Maggie Van Ostrand is ashamed to not be a geek, but she’s proud to have once attended a Star Trek convention where Bill Shatner spoke to her. He said “Hi. Are you anybody?”

Maggie graduated from college so long ago, she can’t remember the name of it but thinks it was somewhere in New York. She majored in stuff that has nothing to do with anything she does today, except the classes she audited at the AFI. She knows little or nothing about comic book characters unless they’re drawn by Robert Crumb. She knows nothing of gaming outside of Vegas, and still thinks Moonlight was way better than True Blood. She is here because she reminds the publisher of his grandmother and he felt sorry for her.

Her favorites are anything by Billy Wilder, Godfather I and II, Lawrence of Arabia, & Young Frankenstein. She writes political satire for Huffington Post, was head writer for movie trivia TV show; writes a column about Old West characters; was TV comedy ghostwriter; humor columnist for newspapers and online publications, and other boring stuff.

Twitter: @magpie99
Website: www.maggievanostrand.com

Have You Ever Bought a Car From Morgan Freeman?

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Have you ever wondered whose voice that was behind different car and car product commercials? A voice so familiar you just knew you knew who it was, it’s right on the tip of your tongue, yet you end up saying, “Oh well, it’ll come to me later.”

Comic-Con: Bad News and Good News

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If you’re at Comic-Con this week, here’s one film you won’t see in attendance and one you will.

Top 10 Movie Buddies

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Movie buddy actors have such charisma between them, they could have done the films without dialog. When all acquired layers of civilization are removed from these movie buddies, what is left is naked friendship that we can feel, appreciate — maybe envy.

Top 5 Movie Mirror Scenes

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The most famous and often-copied mirror scene is in 1933′s Duck Soup, starring the Marx Brothers, but there have been many other mirror scenes which are often the standout of an entire film and the one we remember best.

DVD Review: America, America

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From Elia Kazan comes America, America, a black and white paean to his young Greek uncle’s struggles to get out from under Turkish oppression in 1896 and come to America. The film runs three minutes shy of three hours, though it seemed more like a week in Calcutta.

This Year’s Oscars Could Be Bogart Approved

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With the possiblity this year of True Grit’s Jeff Bridges Oscar nomination against actual True Grit Oscar-winner John Wayne, we’d have two actors playing the same role.

The Duke: John Wayne’s True Grit

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What great American event happened between 1907-1979? John Wayne happened, that’s what. With the impending opening of the Coen Brothers’ remake of 1969’s True Grit, where Wayne’s Oscar-winning role is being re-interpreted by Jeff Bridges, this seems a good time to revisit some interesting facts about this star of stars.

Top Ten “Man Up” Movies

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The phrase “Man up!” doesn’t mean you have to go out and get a steel suit, brandish a sword, and wear a Teflon codpiece; it means the time may come when you’ll need to display your inner strength. If you want to know more about manning up, take another look at the characters in these great movies who really knew how to man up.

Halloween Madness: Movies & Books Based on the Life of Ed Gein

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What better time than Halloween to come up with a list of top films and books based on nutter Ed Gein’s grisly habit of wearing his mother’s torso as a face? Here’s a list of my favorite Ed-Gein-based movies and books.

5 Kid Movies That Make Kids Cry

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kidsmoviescry

It’s not enough to have murderous nursery rhymes read to us when we’re kids. After that, when we’re old enough to go to the movies, we’re treated to more death, violence, and buckets of our own tears. These 5 Movies for Kids That Make Kids Cry are salty memories that never leave us.