TV: The New Season’s Winners and Losers
It’s mid-November, and most of the broadcast television networks’ new scripted shows have seen the light of day (though Fox is holding its last big new entry, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, for Nov. 30). With that in mind, let’s take a quick look back and see if we can spot any trends. Trend No. […]
Movie Monday: Immortals
In these uncertain and disturbing economic times, there’s at least one thing that’s looking a bit (ahem) bullish: Immortals. The R-rated fantasy—loosely pegged to the legend of the sword-slinging, minotaur-fighting Greek hero Theseus—triumphed at the box office this week, grabbing $32 million and the week’s metaphorical golden fleece (I know I’m mixing legends, but bear […]
Telling Tales Out of Class
I can be pretty cynical sometimes. My brain is wired to quibble. My personal and professional background make me prone to doubt. I am Thomas or worse, and it’s hard for me to trust sometimes. It’s hard for me to believe. But every now and then, something comes along that drops me—something that makes me […]
Movie Monday: Tower Heist Gets Booted
We were supposed to witness a heist this weekend—as in Tower Heist, a comedy caper that was intended to yoke economic angst to a bevy of medium-wattage stars (Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda) and shoot straight to the top of the box office. But it appears as though Heist’s box-office crown was itself pilfered—by […]
Are You Ready For Some … Reality TV?
Quick: what’s the most popular reality television show this autumn? Dancing With the Stars? The X-Factor? Survivor? Sorry, but no. Sure, they’re popular. They’re reportedly real. They’re undeniably on television. But to find the most popular reality programming out there, you’ll have to tune into a different sort of competition: One with helmets and cleats […]
A Little Horror Exorcise
On Friday, Bob Hoose posted about why our society has a collective yen for horror flicks. It is a curious phenomenon: None of us love to hear something go bump in the night—particularly if it’s an unexplained bump in your hall closet. But things that go bump on screen? We love it. The reasons, as […]
Movie Monday: Puss in Boots
Leave it to a swashbuckling, animated cat to do a little trick-or-treating this Halloween weekend. Puss in Boots, a spinoff from DreamWorks’ Shrek series, flouted conventional wisdom by knocking off the more Halloween-centric Paranormal Activity 3 and treating moviegoers with some surprisingly family friendly fare. Of course, one could argue that everyone who wanted to […]
Movie Monday: Paranormal Activity 3
For weeks, the box office has felt fairly … dispirited. Oh, sure, we’ve dutifully reported the weekly winners in this space every Monday, but let’s face facts: Some of these high-profile films were making less than Lady Gaga spends on fake bone protuberances. The movie scene seemed a little, um, dead. Or at least it […]
The Meaning of Life? The iPhone (Thinks It) Knows
About 4 million folks have picked up a shiny new iPhone 4S since its release a couple of weeks ago, and most of them knew exactly what they were getting: It’s a phone, a calendar, a GPS, a mini-computer, a … well, you get the idea. Everyone knows what smartphones are capable of. Still, some […]
Movie Monday: Real Steel Still Real Deal
Hollywood may get weak in the knees over 1980s remakes, but the movie-going public thinks they’re just plain weak. Or at least that’s my interpretation of this weekend’s box-office derby, which saw last week’s champ Real Steel claim the title yet again—this time over the reboot of 1984’s Footloose. Hugh Jackman’s robo-movie thumped those retro, […]