Miley and the Lost Decade
Miley Cyrus still sings. She still can act. But the former Miss Hannah Montana has really become more of a professional celebrity. She has the ability to make tabloid mags and gossip sites weak in the knees, and a good chunk of America is forever eager to see what sort of outrageous misstep she makes […]
Movie Monday: The Wolverine
You just can’t keep a tortured superhero down. The Wolverine—much like the film’s titular character—was durable, if not wholly indestructible, in its box office debut. The angsty X-Man sliced and diced his way to an estimated $55 million weekend, a touch below most prognostications and 35% off of X-Men Origins: Wolverine tallies, but still a […]
Blowing Up the Summer Blockbuster
We’re through the teeth of the summer movie season now, and a number of entertainment pundits are asking one very salient question: Why so many big-budget bombs? After Earth, starring Will and Jaden Smith, allegedly cost about $130 million to make, but only collected $27.5 mil during its opening weekend, and just $59.8 million during […]
Movie Monday: The Conjuring
Late one night, as the official box office tally-keeper was keeping tally of the latest movies, he heard strange noises … a sporadic clapping … coming from a huge wardrobe in the corner of his office. “Huh,” he said. “Don’t remember that being there before.” And so he lit a match (the official tally keeper […]
Television’s House of Cards
Emmy nominations were announced this morning. And as always, there were some interesting shows in the mix. The Bible, History Channel’s surprise hit of a miniseries, earned a nomination for Best Miniseries or Movie, Joining the likes of American Horror Story: Asylum (FX), Behind the Candelabra (HBO), Phil Spector (HBO), Political Animals (USA) and Top […]
Movie … Sunday: Sequels Sink Pacific Rim
Our Plugged In blog will be undergoing a bit o’ work on Monday morning. Our intrepid blog experts tell me that everything should be back to normal sometime Tuesday morning. Or, at least, that’s what I think they told me. They’re bespectacled yellow creatures that mumble quite a bit, so they’re a little difficult to […]
I Want My Boring TV
Earlier this year, I wrote a story about how Norwegians flocked by the millions to their television sets for “National Firewood Night”—a 12-hour special devoted to the cutting, igniting and watching of firewood. The show’s last several hours featured, simply, an active fireplace. The most gripping moments of the telecast were those rare instances when […]
Movie Monday: Despicable Me 2
Disney may Gru the day it tried to take on a certain animated antihero and his horde of yellow minions. Universal’s Despicable Me 2 had a very un-despicable run at the multiplex, transforming into a veritable box office monster. The animated sequel filched an estimated $82.5 million during the traditional three-day weekend. Counting its Wednesday-Thursday […]
From Film Star to Faithful Servant
Dolores Hicks never wanted to be a nun. From the time she was 7, Dolores had Hollywood in her sights. She wanted to become a big-time film actress and—unlike so many of her star-struck contemporaries—that’s exactly what she became. In the 1950s and ’60s, Hicks (changing her name to Dolores Hart) appeared in such movies […]
Movie Monday: Monsters Win (But Feel the Heat)
It was a tag-team battle royale this weekend at the box office, with odd couples in every corner. But when the defending champs are a pair of Pixar monsters, chances of getting tossed out of the ring are pretty high. Mike and Sulley pushed Monsters University to an estimated $46.2 million for its second box […]
