Born to Be Influenced by Media
I reviewed A&E’s Born This Way this week (the review will be posted later today). It’s a reality show that focuses on several young adults with Down syndrome, and a refreshing change from the many reality shows that are predicated on greed and selfishness and bad behavior. It’s a gentler program that, while not exactly […]
Bourne Does Boffo at Box Office
Maybe the movie should’ve been called The Bourne Treasury. Jason Bourne, which marked Matt Damon’s fourth turn as the character, topped the box office this week, gunning its way to an estimated $60 million in North America to finish well ahead of the pack. This new Bourne kicked poor Star Trek Beyond right out of […]
What a Pop Star’s Uber Ride Taught Me
We here at Plugged In have often talked about the unsettling fact that our tech can sometimes consume too much of our attention. But, the fact is, we don’t necessarily need the distractions of our smartphones or tablets to lose sight of what’s cool or beautiful or important in our lives. We’re pretty good at […]
Star Trek Beyond Boldly Goes to No. 1
The summer movie season is a time for pretenders. Studios release their biggest, flashiest products in the hope of hitting a box-office bonanza. But not every high-profile, high-budget film makes it to the top. The Ghostbusters remake couldn’t do it last week. Independence Day: Resurgence was shut out of the top spot a few weeks […]
Pokémon Go. Should We Catch ‘Em All?
In junior high, I was the only kid in school who didn’t have parachute pants. In high school, I never owned a pair of Air Jordans. And now—unlike, it would seem, the rest of the free world—I have not yet downloaded Pokémon Go. My wife has. My grown kids have. I’m about the last holdout […]
Pets Ain’t ‘Fraid of no Ghosts
When there’s movies playin’ in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Animated pets! Or so said American moviegoers this weekend. Despite the arrival of Ghostbusters, the much-ballyhooed big-budget remake of the 1984 semi-classic, another film stood atop the doghouse once again. The Secret Life of Pets dug up an estimated $50.6 million in its North […]
Secret Life of Pets Not So Secret Anymore
Pets can be pretty expensive. You gotta buy ’em food. Take ’em to the vet. Replace the furniture they’ve scratched or gnawed on. And if you’ve got a dog like mine, maybe fork over some cash for the local mailman’s counseling sessions. It’s not often that pets make money. But few of us have pets […]
Television’s House of Horrors
Summertime TV has always been like that proverbial tree in a forest: If a show’s on but nobody watches it, does it make a sound? For years, programmers figured that fewer people watched television in the summer. And it makes sense. The days are longer. The weather’s great. People are off playing golf or eating […]
Finding Dory Flaps to First Again
We’ve all heard about the law of the jungle: Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. We know that those who live in the jungle—be it the literal jungle of the Congo as we see in The Legend of Tarzan or the urban jungle of The Purge: Election Year—are strong and ruthless enough to […]
We All Scream for Our Screens
Last week I ruminated on the joys of unplugging for a bit. But truth is, it didn’t take me long to reconnect. Granted, my job is a little different than most, where being (ahem) plugged in is part of the gig. I’m one of the few people who vows—in the context of a performance review—to […]