The Cinematic Mr Ripley: Final Thoughts and Factoids

Wrapping up my MovieThoughts series on the Tom Ripley novels and the five films based on them, and my review of Deep Water, I had some final ideas that didn't fit into the posts. Like my "Things I Left Out" post about T.H. White, this post collects the afterthoughts for anyone who may be interested. …

Something for International Tolkien Reading Day: The Hobbit, Contractor’s Edition

As many of you may know, today is International Tolkien Reading Day. Many fans and scholars are getting together today to read sections of his work. I had the pleasure to attend the Inkling Folk Fellowship's reading event, where people read from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and Lord of the Rings. A few people read …

Some thoughts on Charles Williams and Dennis Wheatley

I've talked quite a lot about C.S. Lewis on my blog over the years, and his circle of friends known as the Inklings. One of his more mysterious friends was Charles Williams, who was (among other things) a playwright, a Dante scholar who got Dorothy L. Sayers hooked on The Divine Comedy, and a writer …

MovieThoughts Review: Deep Water (2022)

I mentioned at the start of my blog series The Cinematic Mr. Ripley that it seemed like a good idea to look at the various films based on Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books, since a movie based on one of her other thrillers was coming out soon. By coincidence, Deep Water (directed by Adrian Lyne, starring …

Movie Review: Ripley’s Game (The Cinematic Mr. Ripley #5)

This is the fifth post in The Cinematic Mr. Ripley, a series for the MovieThoughts category of my blog that considers moral themes in Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels and the film adaptations of those books. This post looks at Ripley's Game, the 2002 film directed and co-written by Liliana Cavani, adapted from the novel …

Movie Review: The American Friend (The Cinematic Mr. Ripley #4)

This is the fourth post in The Cinematic Mr. Ripley, a series for the MovieThoughts category of my blog that considers moral themes in Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels and the film adaptations of those books. This post looks at The American Friend, the 1977 film written and directed by Wim Wenders and primarily adapted …