Are Movie Theaters Sanctuaries?
I was kicked out of a theater the other day. I’d settled in to review Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel in a downtown Denver theater. It wasn’t a private screening for reviewers (the way I see most of the films I write about) but that was no biggie: I’ve reviewed lots of movies without […]
Movie Monday: Divergent
Sorry, Kermie, the Muppets weren’t the most wanted stars this weekend. Audiences took, shall we say, a more divergent path. Divergent, the newest aspiring movie franchise based on a series of young adult books, got off to a strong $56 million start this weekend to lap the rest of the box office field. OK, so […]
Were the Good Old Days Ever Good?
My family and I were watching The Twilight Zone the other day—a Season Two episode called “Static.” It featured an old grouch named Ed who can’t understand why all his housemates schedule their lives around the television—and indeed, they appear to mindlessly watch whatever might be on. He winds up hauling his old, huge radio […]
Setting Tech Aside for God
Adam Holz wrote a blog on the Dalai Lama’s Instagram account last week. He included some really cogent thoughts from the Dalai and Pope Francis, both of whom have embraced social media but caution against its overuse. Now another religious figure—Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle—is talking about social networking. In fact, he […]
Movie Monday: Mr. Peabody & Sherman
Moviegoers hopped into their own wayback machine this weekend, visiting some old, old Saturday-morning friends. Yes, that’s right: Mr. Peabody & Sherman, the dog and his boy who originally rose to fame as part of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons of the 1950s and ’60s (and who reintroduced themselves repeatedly through the magic of reruns), […]
Movie Monday: It’s All Greek to Us
Neither LEGOs nor Liam Neeson nor very smart animated dogs could topple the power that was ancient Greece. Not on this weekend, anyway. 300: Rise of an Empire rose to the top of the box office, cutting down all competitors and bellowing taunts at its adversaries along the way. The splashy historical fantasy earned an […]
What a Selfie Says
My Oscar night was a little crazy. Normally, I spend the evening watching the event with my wife and kids. This time around, though, I was technically working—tweeting dutifully to whoever might be listening. I was spending time with four screens Sunday night: The television, a laptop and iPad for my tweets, and my smartphone […]
Movie Monday: Non-Stop
As well-crafted as those little blocks are, you couldn’t expect LEGO to lock onto the top of the box office forever. This week, The LEGO Movie was finally pulled from its perch by two notable newcomers. Non-Stop flew to the top box-office hill this weekend. Liam Neeson’s up-in-the-air thriller soared to an estimated $30 million […]
Watching the Oscars? Join Us!
On Sunday, March 2, movie glitterati will rush Hollywood’s Dolby Theater for the 86th Academy Awards, hoping to rip golden statuettes from the trembling hands of the presenters. They’ll laugh and cry and quip and thank way too many people and be embarrassingly drowned out by the orchestra. But no matter: Almost everyone who’s anyone—at […]
Movie Monday: Lego Kills 3 Days, Blows Past Pompeii
Who is “the Special?” Try The LEGO Movie. In February, this most blockish of blockbusters has been very special indeed. For the third straight week, Emmet Brickowski and his cadre of interlocking pals dominated at the box office, stacking another $31.5 million (estimated, of course) on its ever-growing gross. Any flick that would dare to […]