Movie Monday: The Twilight Saga Goes Supernova
He has the tux, his specially imprinted Walther PPK/S, his Aston Martin. What does 007 not have in Skyfall? The No. 1 slot in this weekend’s box office derby. James Bond was no match for a hoard of warring sparkly vampires. But then again, who thought he would be? Edward, Bella, Jacob and Co. overcame […]
Ariel Winter and the Importance of Parenting
Ariel Winter wants to be an adult. The 14-year-old actress best known as Alex in Modern Family is asking for legal emancipation from her mother, Chris Workman. She alleges that her mother has physically and emotionally abused her for years. Workman argues that she’s never been abusive; Winter’s upset (Workman says) because Workman caught the […]
Movie Monday: Skyfall
Cash. Big Cash. That’s what Skyfall earned at the box office this weekend. Daniel Craig’s third turn as 007 gunned down an estimated $87.8 million in North America, augmenting the $428.8 million it has already made overseas. That’s about $516.6 million overall, for those of you keeping track—and James Bond’s barely cruised through the equivalent […]
License to Watch?
Don’t tell my editor this … but I have a soft spot for James Bond. It’s partly my grandmother’s fault. Grandma, a woman who was our family’s embodiment of prim, old-fashioned perfection, had a weakness for only two things: the Phoenix Suns basketball team and Britain’s favorite superspy. And when I was a teen and […]
Movie Monday: Wreck-It Ralph
Game over, man. Disney Animation’s Wreck-It Ralph, about an old-school videogame villain who’s tired of being the (literal) fall guy, made the week’s box office competition a no-doubt route. The sweet (but occasionally crass) fable collected an estimated $49.1 million—or more than 196 million quarters. The victory nearly doubled up on Flight, the weekend’s second-place […]
The Gawking Dead
It’s not often you see a 3-foot-6 zombie, particularly one that knocks on your door. But that’s what happened to me Wednesday night, groaning not for brains, but for individually-wrapped Twix bars. The zombie in question was tastefully done, as far as zombies go—no dangling eyeballs or flapping skin or anything. The whitish pallor of […]
Movie Monday: Paranormal Activity 4
So, I found this eerie video footage of some guy counting the box office receipts for the weekend. I’d show it to you, but it’s really way too scary to put it on the Internet for everyone to see. But here’s essentially what happens: He’s in this darkened office, surrounded by stacks and stacks of […]
Where Google Keeps Its Stuff (and Yours, Too)
I have seen the inside of Google—the very symbol of technological omnipotence—and it looks like a cross between an Orwellian preschool and the Death Star. I know, I know. Hard to believe. I was expecting something different. A little … fluffier, perhaps. Turns out, all of Google’s “cloud” technology doesn’t reside in clouds at all, […]
Movie Monday: Taken 2 Takes Two
Five—count ’em, five—national releases trundled out to theaters this week, but none of them could take down Liam Neeson. Then again, if they’d seen Taken 2, maybe they were just too scared to try. Taken 2 held onto its earnings crown by virtue of an estimated $22.5 million weekend. The thriller has already sprinted past […]
Marriage: It’s All About the Pyrotechnics
My wife likes movies with big explosions. And boy, am I glad. It’s not because I like big, pyrotechnic-heavy movies myself (though I kinda do). It’s not because I’m allergic to chick flicks (because I watch enough of them on the job, thank you very much). It’s because our marriage may be healthier because my […]