The Problem With a Pocket-Sized God
September is a month of tradition—of rote ceremony that we observe to mark the beginning of another fall. School has just begun or is beginning. The football season kicks off. And, reliably as clockwork, the folks at Cupertino unveil another Apple product to get gadget fans a-drooling. I am, admittedly, one of those fans. Every […]
Dolphin Tale 2: A Film With Porpoise
The movie Dolphin Tale 2, which releases tomorrow, is a secular story. You won’t find preachers laying hands on injured dolphins or anyone discovering eternal salvation. But despite the fact that bottlenose dolphins don’t pray here (as far as we know), a surprisingly spiritual undercurrent buoys this movie. The makers of Dolphin Tale 2 have […]
Movie Monday: Galactic Repetition
They don’t call the universe the “black void of space” for nothing. Everything we see and can detect out there—stars, planets, galaxies—makes up just 4% of the universe. Sure, there’s some dark matter and energy to consider, scientists tell us. But for the most part, the cosmos we live in is pretty empty. A lot […]
They’ve Won the Movies: Now, Superheroes Return to the Small Screen
You’d think we would’ve gotten sick of ’em by now. I’m talking superheroes. And before y’all start throwing rocks at me, let me remind you I’m a longtime fan. Like, the first words out of my mouth were “up,” “up” and “away” kind of fan. I grew up watching many of them on TV, from […]
Movie Monday: Guardians of the Box Office
I don’t think movie studios are even trying anymore. It’s been five weeks since Guardians of the Galaxy was released to the masses, and the thing still is beating down all comers, financially speaking—as if Drax had put his muscle to crunching numbers instead of villainous thugs or Groot was using his excess bark to […]
Taking Comfort (?) in the Emmys
The Emmys were held last night, and most of them went to folks who already had their share. ABC’s Modern Family won for outstanding comedy for the fifth straight year. Breaking Bad was again dubbed the year’s outstanding drama, and the show’s lead character, Bryan Cranston, won his fourth lead actor trophy (tying NYPD Blue’s […]
Movie Monday: Guardians at the Top (Again)
Sometimes, slow and steady wins the race. Every turtle with a meager knowledge of Aesop knows that. Funny that a quartet of speedy turtles got a little refresher course from a sentient tree. After finishing second to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for two straight weeks, Guardians of the Galaxy climbed back into the box office’s […]
Movie Monday: Turtles Power to the Top Again
Fake cops? Not a threat. Oldish action movie stars? Puleeese. A teen with strange and terrifying insights? If you want to topple a quartet of highly trained, mutagen-powered reptiles, you gotta do better than that. Moviegoers shelled out an estimated $28.4 million to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, sending the mutants to the top of […]
Love, Sex and The Bachelorette in the 21st Century
As ABC’s The Bachelorette wrapped up its latest season early last week, Andi Dorfman selected her new beau, Josh Murray, and the two are now set to live happily ever after. Or, at least, happily until the cameras stop rolling. But Andi’s final selection proved to be a little anticlimactic when angry runner-up Nick Viall confirmed, […]
A Headline in a Half Shell
My wife likes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not me. No siree. If the Turtles hadn’t been kind of a pop culture thing when we were dating, I never would’ve watched the show. Or seen the movie. Or played their video game. Or knew that they had a surreal musical stage show (“Coming Out of […]