Movie Monday: Sorry, Carter. Lorax Wins Again
I like the picture we’re running today for our Movie Monday blog—the Lorax staring at a tree stump, hands turned upward in a gesture of remorse, maybe even apology. It feels almost metaphorical for this weekend’s box-office tourney, actually. The Lorax would represent—well, The Lorax, which scored an estimated $39.1 million to win the crown. […]
Stay Strong, Demi
I was introduced to Demi Lovato when I watched Camp Rock, a light, throwaway Disney confection that was one of my first assignments here at Plugged In. I don’t remember much about the show itself—not the plot, not the music, barely the setting. But I do remember one thing: Demi’s smile. It was the sort […]
GCB: Initial Reactions
New York City councilman Peter Vallone is calling on Christians to boycott the new ABC show GCB. He says the title alone (the letters stand for Good Christian B–ches, and the program is still being released under the original name in Australia and New Zealand) is enough to earn the ire of religious TV watchers. […]
Movie Monday: The Lorax
Money doesn’t grow on trees, they say—a patent untruth, really. After all, money is still technically made of paper, which does come from trees. Which leaves us with a salient environmental question this morning: Just how many truffula trees would need to be felled to physically make 70 million dollars? Actually, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax […]
A Month of Junk: The Treasures We Cling to
Verna’s a hoarder, and she knows it. Her house is stacked, floor to ceiling, with 16 years worth of stuff. She collects everything, it seems—broken furniture, empty plastic bottles, yarn. Underneath, mice and rats live and die, unnoticed. Verna abandoned most of her house long ago and now lives, essentially, in the attic: To get […]
Harsh Truth: Is Weinstein’s Bully Movie Too Profane for Kids?
Media mogul Harvey Weinstein had a good night on Sunday. The Weinstein Company’s The Artist won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Its film The Iron Lady propelled Meryl Streep to her third Oscar. The Weinstein Company even produced the documentary Undefeated, which ran away with yet another statue. But in the midst of all […]
Movie Monday: Act of Valor
Ah, the irony. Last night, the entertainment industry feted itself and its biggest, brightest stars at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. But what was the weekend’s biggest movie? A low-budget, high-body-count, outsider flick that features no stars at all. Act of Valor doesn’t even feature many real actors: They’re real Navy SEALs—not-so-regular Joes who may […]
Oscars 2012: Examinations of Innocence
This Sunday, the entertainment industry will gather and congratulate themselves on another year well done. Some will go home with shiny statues. Others will leave with some nice parting gifts (Oscar swag bags are valued at around $75,000 this year). And most of us will have a chance to pass judgment ourselves on the winners […]
A Month of Junk: The Boring Storing Game
Alas. My rented storage unit will never become a celebrity. It’s not just that A&E’s ludicrously popular Storage Wars is based in California and I’m in Colorado. If that was the only barrier, I could cling to the hope that A&E would create a spinoff—much as they did with Storage Wars: Texas or as they […]
Movie Monday: Safe House
Technically, the holiday weekend is still chugging along. With today being President’s Day, the entertainment industry is hoping that scads of holiday-taking lagabouts will spend the day at the local multiplex, watching movie after movie and subsisting on nothing but Milk Duds and Diet Coke. Alas, it is not a holiday for me. So out […]
