Fredrick Turner

Reflections


Media Reviews

  • Media Notes: Mickey 17

    Years ago, a friend lent us a copy of a Korean film director’s monster film, The Host. It was creative, imaginative, funny, suspenseful, and the creature was wonderful. The director was Bong Joon Ho. His film, Parasite, won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2019. Both are highly recommended. We recently rewatched The Host to Continue reading

  • Revisiting: Documentaries

    My recent post on upcoming documentary projects had me thinking about a few of my favorite ones. The reason that they’re favorites is not just because they are very well made but the love and respect that they show for magic is evident throughout. Our Magic (R. Paul Wilson): Whenever I feel discouraged about magic, Continue reading

  • Coming Soon

    Let’s begin with a syllogism: I like movies and documentaries.I like magic.Therefore, I like movies and documentaries about magic. The problem with syllogisms is that while they are logically sound; they are not necessarily accurate. In this case, I can name many films with performance magic at it’s center that I’d watch again and again Continue reading

  • Media Notes: Tow

    We’re blessed to have a small, independent movie theater nearby. Last month, we were treated to the latest Jim Jarmusch film, Father, Mother, Sister, Brother. It’s a wonderful anthology film about family relationships, struggles to understand each other, and how little we know about the people closest to us. It’s a great film that deserves Continue reading

  • The Phoenix: Volume 1 Number 12

    Yeah, I know. It’s been awhile since the last installment. Number 12 is all Lu Brent. According to Genii’s Magipedia: Lu Brent (1903 – 1993) was a semi-professional magician starting in 1927. He specialized in small magic. His legal name was Benjamin Joseph Lubrant. The name Lu Brent came accidentally, from a clerk’s mistake, when Continue reading

  • Book Notes: Maltese Falcon

    John Huston’s 1941 film, The Maltese Falcon, is an amazing film. It had a great cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, and Peter Lore. Like many films, it was first a novel. Written by Dashiell Hammett, the novel is not only a great detective story but it’s very well written. To John Huston’s credit, Continue reading

  • Revisiting: True Astonishment

    I expect that there will be many Revisits in 2026 as I’ve declared this to be a “no-buy” year and that the majority of new releases are crap that’s pushed into production to try to satisfy the demand of a market jonesing for the endorphins of clicking “buy now.” January has been focused on revisiting Continue reading