Issue: April 20, 2026

All this talk of djinn has got me thinkin ’bout one of my longtime faves, the One Thousand and One Nights. Can ya tell me what’s the name of the narrator of the 1001 Nights, who’s tellin the stories in the book to Shah Shahryar in a gambit to avoid gettin executed by the cruel & cranky king?

One of Roger Ebert’s more famous movie reviews included this li’l passage:

I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.

Do ya happen to know what Elijah Wood–starrin, Rob Reiner–directed movie was the subject of that pan?