Movie Monday: Hop
The animated Easter movie Hop bounded to first place at the box office this weekend, stuffing $38.1 million into its multi-hued basket. The opening had its makers over at Universal Pictures jumping for joy: The holiday flick may not have delved into the true meaning of Easter, but it did outperform its modest expectations and […]
YouTube Sensations Are People Too
It’s Friday, Friday, had to write a blog on Friday. So what better person to write about today than Rebecca Black? For those who haven’t heard of the 13-year-old singer, let me fill you in. On a whim last year, Rebecca and her family ponied up $2,000 and gave it to Ark Music Records, a […]
Of Moses and Dad: Fraser Heston Remembers His Father
I just wrote a story about the intersection between faith and film (look for it April 4), in which I opined that Hollywood is far from the irreligious entity Christians sometimes accuse it of being. We’ve seen a barrage of movies lately that take faith and spirituality very seriously. Granted, they rarely espouse a traditional […]
Movie Monday: Wimpy Kid Thumps Sucker Punch
Leave it to a wimpy kid to win a weak weekend. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules floored Zack Snyder’s newest stylized rumble Sucker Punch to claim the box office belt this week. Perhaps Wimpy took some tips from the NCAA tourney’s VCU this weekend, as its upset victory wasn’t even that close: Wimpy […]
Elizabeth Taylor: 1932-2011
Last night, my wife, daughter and I started watching Cleopatra, the lavish 1963 epic starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. It was our curious little way to mark the passing of the film’s unforgettable star: Taylor died March 23 at the age of 79. Cleopatra was a colossal success or fabulous flop, depending […]
How We Shall Miss Thee, Skins. Not!
See ya, Skins. It’s been, um, interesting. On March 21, MTV bid farewell to this British import (at least for the season, and likely forever), bringing to a close one of the strangest, wackiest television sagas this side of V. And we’re just talking about what took place offscreen. Onscreen, the show was bad enough. […]
Movie Monday: Limitless
It was a mind-blowing weekend for the film Limitless, which edged past modest predictions to pocket $19 million and become the most-watched movie of the weekend. The rest of the box office, though, was a bit limited. Holdovers Rango and Battle Los Angeles finished second and third, logging in at an estimated$15.3 and $14.6 million […]
There’s a Lot of Junk on Television … Literally
So, the other night, my 17-year-old daughter and I were channel surfing, looking for a “documentary” to laugh at (like Extraterrestrial Major Leaguers: The Real Story of the 1927 Yankees), when we landed on Auction Kings, a program on the Discovery Channel that basically films the inner workings of an auction house. My first thought: […]
Movie Monday: Battle Los Angeles
City of Angels? More like City of Extraterrestrials. Late last year, a horde of space-surfing aliens swooped into Los Angeles and showed us humans what’s what in the film Skyline. It made a meager $21 million in North America. Well, second time’s a charm, right? This weekend, aliens invaded L.A. again—specifically, the charming community of […]
Look Out, Ken. There’s a New Doll in Town
You know you’re a big deal when you get your own action figure. By that measure, Mark Zuckerberg has finally made it. Forget the fact that he invented Facebook. Forget that he could now buy much of Central Europe and still have money to purchase a Caribbean island or two. Now that M.I.C. Gadget has […]
