Although not one of the “founding fathers,” Abraham Lincoln was always promoted as one of the icons of American history in my early years, right alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Ben Franklin. In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why: Lincoln epitomizes the American Dream. Coming from humble beginnings, Lincoln took responsibility for his own education and eventually... 

I wasn’t a big fan of the original Dark Shadows, which precedes me by a few years. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of the soapy show until the series saw a reboot in the ‘80s with Ben Cross in the lead role of Barnabas Collins, the cursed vampire ancestor of the Collins household at the center of the series. That reboot kept a very serious tone despite the low-budget origins of the original series.... 

Shutter Island is a movie that made our “most anticipated movies” list for the second half of 2009, only to be shunted into 2010 by the studio. Relocation be damned, yet again it made our “most anticipated movie” list for 2010. So now that the picture is here, did it meet our expectations? In a word: easily. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the best movies of 2010 has already arrived. The story...