Underrated is a difficult term to use when referring to actors and actresses. Appreciation for a tangible work of art—a song, a painting, a movie—is easy to label.

Spies are everywhere in pop culture, including tons of spy movies and TV shows. So why are we so obsessed with secret-agent madness? Is it nostalgia, or a reflection of new, real-life preoccupations?

Jurassic World, a theme-park populated with cloned dinosaurs, begins 22 years after the incident at Jurassic Park on the same island. Owen Grady (Pratt) trains the park’s four Velociraptors, who consider him their alpha. The head of security believes raptors can be trained for military use, but this is disputed. Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell are sent there to visit their aunt, Claire Dearing (Howard), the park’s operations manager. Claire’s assistant is their guide, while Claire recruits corporate sponsors with a new attraction—a genetically modified dinosaur called Indominus rex. The dinosaur has the DNA of several predatory dinosaurs and modern-day animals, designed to satisfy the public's demand for ever-higher-levels of dinosaur excitement. Chief geneticist Dr. Henry Wu keeps the exact genetic makeup classified.

Since comedy is not a science, but an art, there are no rules and it can be very subjective. The original meaning of the word comedy was merely a dramatic play that featured a happy ending, basically the opposite of tragedy.

Binge viewing or binge watching shows is not the future, it’s the present.In a survey conducted by Netflix February 2015, 73 percent of people define binge-watching as “watching between 2-6 episodes of the same show in one sitting.” Binge-watching, as an observed cultural phenomenon, has become popular with the rise of online media services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, which the viewer can watch on-demand.

Between May and August, movie studios typically release their biggest and most
crowd-pleasing films. So, you’ll want to have a tub of popcorn within reach at all times!

Last month I said we would talk about some of the statistics one reads in magazines and sees in the paper. In fact, it seems these days that those sorts of numbers are bombarding us at every turn. Their goal seems to be to get us poor little people to change our minds. I have read unemployment statistics ranging from 5.7 percent up to 12 percent. Both of those cannot be correct, can they?

When “Saturday Night Live” aired for the first time on Oct. 11, 1975, no one knew it was the beginning of a comedy revolution. Never before had the ‘60s generation’s style of irreverent humor and unabashedly anti-authoritarian perspective found a weekly home on American television. Audiences discovered a hip and hilarious cast of “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players,” which included Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd. This new era comedy show was lead by Canadian Lorne Michaels, an unknown 30-year-old producer.

Halloween (or Hallowe’en ... also known as Samhain, Summer’s End, All Hallow’s Eve, and Witches Night) is a holiday celebrated annually on the night of October 31. It originated in Ireland and is said to be among the world’s oldest holidays. It has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture). The essential elements of Halloween—bonfires, costuming, trick-or-treating, telling ghost stories and attending parties—can all be traced back to as early as 2000 years ago.

 School has started, which means most children are encouraged to read more. Whether you have a child or grandchild who loves reading or not, try the following method for added interest and perspective: Select a book that has been made into a movie. The reward for reading the book is getting to watch the movie together afterward (add popcorn for extra enthusiasm). Children may become much more interested in reading after realizing how much of the storyline is often left out of films. Here is a list of films and their book origins that might be of interest:

Get ready for Superheros, Sequels and Wild Comedies

As part of my itinerary for a trip to Rome to celebrate my birthday I put the Cinecittà Studios, the hub of Italian cinema, on my list. As a film enthusiast, I could not miss the opportunity to explore memorabilia of great Italian directors, such as Fellini, or catch a film clip of my favorite Italian actress, Anna Magnani. With a convenient subway stop, Cinecittà was easy to locate and packed full of fascinating information.

Get ready for Superheros, Sequels and Wild Comedies