Contributor: Bob Smithouser

The Girl With the NFL Tattoo

The first round of the NFL playoffs is set, and as fate would have it, one Golden Globe-nominated actress has a rooting interest in both of this Sunday’s games. You could say it’s in her blood. In fact, every syllable of 26-year-old Rooney Mara’s name …

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Life Lessons from Middle-Earth (Part II)

The blogosphere continues to buzz with news about the production of The Hobbit. Can you believe we are exactly one year away from that film’s Dec. 14, 2012 release? I can’t wait! To hold us over, I thought I’d share the rest of the comments I collected …

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Check Out the Ride

Parents walk a fine line every day in the quest for balance in the home. That’s especially true right now, around the holidays, when we want our kids to enjoy themselves to the fullest but without jeopardizing their physical, emotional or spiritual wel …

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Ocean’s Eleven

If Hollywood had an All-Star Game, it would be this movie. It’s a new multistar vehicle about a team of con men set to take on Vegas.

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Candid Conversation with Kermit

It’s the rare child of the ’70s who doesn’t have fond memories of the Muppets. Sesame Street. The Muppet Show. All those wacky movies. Well, this week Kermit the Frog and the gang are staging a big-screen comeback in Disney’s The Muppets. It’s a PG-rat …

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Music’s Greatest Scandal

A dark moment in music history occurred 21 years ago this weekend. That’s when the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences had to strip Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus of what may be the most controversial Grammy Award ever handed out. Since then, t …

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Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

This movie combines state-of-the-art technology with Neo-Pagan theology for a summer sci-fi hit that’s part escapist fun, part spiritual counterfeit.

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Ice Age

With winter’s fury bearing down, a colorful convoy of prehistoric creatures begins migrating south.

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A Tale of Two Marriages

On Monday, reality TV star Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from her husband, Kris Humphries, citing irreconcilable differences after just 72 days of marriage. The pair wed Aug. 20 amid a media circus that netted them tens of millions of dollars. Their …

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Arlington Road

Should it be “love thy neighbor” or “fear thy neighbor”? According to the makers of the psychological thriller “Arlington Road,” the latter.

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Not Another Teen Movie

Written by Phil Beauman and Buddy Johnson, the same team that crafted the obscene ‘Scary Movie,’ this comedy builds on the basic plot from ‘She’s All That.’

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The Original Angry Birds

Last week, I noticed that the video game Angry Birds has inspired a theme park in China, which got me thinking about that whole phenomenon: Since when does a cute, feathered Weeble with bushy eyebrows qualify as an angry bird? Seriously. I realize this …

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Reindeer Games

All is not as it seems and people aren’t necessarily who they pretend to be in this twisting R-rated action movie from screenwriter-of-the-moment Ehren Kruger.

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Panic Room

…little do they know that, on the very first night in their new home, they’ll have to use their “panic room” in a life-and-death struggle with tenacious burglars.

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Music-Fueled Identity Crisis

Beckah Shae is “fed up, upset, angry and frustrated.” What did it take to get the Christian singer/songwriter so peeved? The current state of pop music. In fact, Shae is so concerned about the character-shaping power of contemporary tunes in the lives …

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