I would just like to take a moment, one single little moment, to express how happy DVD packages make me. I bought Star Trek (2009) recently, which is to say it came out on Tuesday and I owned it before this is posted. And it came as a part of what A Christmas Story devotees would call a statue: a model of the Enterprise. It has its own stand. I can barely look at it without needing to wipe tears from my eye.
“More of this is true than you would believe,” flashes on the screen at the start of The Men Who Stare at Goats. That sounds promising, because the film is based on the well-received nonfiction book by Welsh journalist Jon Ronson. But a disclaimer at the end of the film that goes by too fast to read says that many of the characters and much of the plot has no connection to the book. That is too bad, because the real story sounds funny and fascinating, and the film has a first rate cast. But as an absurd comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats is plodding, and not nearly as funny as it should be. [Read more →]
Glee, Wednesday 9PM, FOX — Glee returned this week and has once again managed to hit the high notes (well almost). It was nice to see Artie as the center story line this week as they focused on the obstacles of his disability and his sheepish romance with Tina (that faker… she never did do a good stutter). His unconventional rendition of “Dancing With Myself” was sweet and one of my favorite numbers of the year.
It was inevitable that this day would come. With the growing knowledge about the Mayan calendar end date of December 21, 2012, it was just a matter of time before Hollywood seized the opportunity to show its version of what the end date could mean. Since worldwide spiritual enlightenment, a slow transition from a patriarchal to matriarchal society, or nearly imperceptible earth-changes are admittedly not the stuff of blockbusters, Hollywood logically opted for a disaster flick. And not just any disaster flick, but a disaster flicks’ greatest hits. [Read more →]
Although TV has had a long standing love affair with science fiction, it has generally avoided basing its SF shows on the works of bonafide science fiction writers as it has in the case of “FlashForward,” originally a book by award-winning SF novelist, Robert Sawyer. Rather than let the book stand on it own merits, the producers have warped it to make it to fit the Network TV mold, adding cops and bad guys, dumbing down the ideas, and perpetuating the TV stereotype that if a scientist ain’t a cop (e.g., “Numbers,” “11th Hour,” “CSIs,” “Fringe,” etc.), then he must be mad and bad.
The contributors of When Falls the Coliseum are an intelligent bunch, providing us with thought-provoking posts on a regular basis, covering politics, sports, parenting and book reviews, among other topics. Therefore, it is my duty to ensure that the useless, mindless discussions stay alive amidst all of this intellect. Because if the stay-at-home moms of the world, such as myself, won’t keep the stupidity alive, then who will? [Read more →]
Director/screenwriter John Krasinski assembled an impressive amount of male talent to fill out Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Unfortunately, their impressive performances are largely wasted in this film. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is not really funny enough to be a good comedy, and its attempts at serious reflection are pretentious and pat rather than insightful. This is a shame, because this film has some interesting ideas and real potential. [Read more →]
For most non-Teutons the idea of German rock is not very appealing. The fatherland of Bach and Beethoven may well have produced many interesting experimental groups (Kraftwerk, Einstürzende Neubauten etc) but on a global, top 40 level it’s an entirely different matter. Consider:
1) The Scorpions- hair metal popular in the 80s, approximately as good as Winger. [Read more →]
So You Think You Can Dance (Tuesday, 8PM, FOX) — I was definitely not ready for another season of SYTYCD. The hours you have to put in to this reality dance competition makes it the perfect summer series, so having it on in the fall made me feel anxious and overwhelmed. With the abundance of fall television, I knew I wasn’t tuning in until at least Vegas week. I never even made it to Vegas which put me at a distinct disadvantage… I knew no one in the top 20. I thought for sure that this season was not in the cards for me… and then they did something brilliant. [Read more →]
I think 30 Rock is the funniest show on TV. At least, I did until this season. I was disappointed with the premiere and found each new episode worse than the previous one, to the point last week I was fastforwarding through the second chunk of commercials and I thought, “You know, I really don’t care what nutty adventures Jack and Liz have visiting Kenneth’s hometown” and switched over to The Office. This leads to the question: how much patience do you show a show before it’s time to move on?
The zombies in Zombieland are seriously frightening, and the film provides a few laughs. While not as clever or as scary as the underrated Jennifer’s Body, the strong lead performances make this diverting film enjoyable. Zombieland is lightweight and fun, but instantly forgettable. [Read more →]
Horror is a genre of the unnatural: things that shouldn’t exist but somehow do; things that do things they shouldn’t; anything and everything that defies the law of physics, biology, and offends the human sensibility. Zombies are an easy example: they aren’t dead when they should be and they do a lot thing dead bodies don’t normally do like walking around and attacking the living. While zombies don’t unnerve me (not even the new fast running crazy zombies) there are some shows and films that do. [Read more →]
It rarely, if ever, gets talked about, but it is possible to find a good horror movie. To qualify, a good horror movie is a good movie with an element of the unnatural that is scary or at least creepy. These movies are generally easy to spot because you’re shocked at the director’s ability to tell a story. I blame the industry. If there weren’t so many terrible and incoherent horror movies the following titles wouldn’t be so stunning.
Last week I made a rare visit to the cinema, and was immediately reminded precisely why my trips are so few and far between. Although I had successfully evaded the Regal ‘First Look’ at sundry pieces of cinematic ordure sliding down the pipeline, no sooner was I sitting comfortably than I was subjected to one of the vilest obscenities I have ever beheld. [Read more →]
The filmmakers involved in New York, I Love You were given three constraints: They had to shoot their segments in 24 hours, they had a week to edit and they needed to give the sense of a particular neighborhood. Some of the short segments are funny, some are dark, some have a twist and some are stronger than others. They also seem intertwined with New York, and as a whole, New York, I Love You is as enjoyable as a whirlwind weekend in New York. [Read more →]
I am so far behind on TV it’s not even funny. Between my vacation (holla to my fellow PV Zoo Party-goers), the baseball playoffs, and my day job, I’m a good 2 weeks behind. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I desperately need some rerun weeks in order for me to catch up. So that being said, this week I can’t tell you highlights, lowlights, and what to watch next week (except for Yankee baseball, of course). So what do I talk about today? [Read more →]
This year we will have 10 Best Picture nominations. 10. Off the top of my head, here are the films I can think of deserving them:
–The Hurt Locker
–Up (primarily for the montage; anyone who’s seen the movie knows what I’m talking about)
That is all. [Read more →]
The first image in A Serious Man is a quote from Rashi: “Accept with simplicity everything that happens to you.” At the end of the credits, among the usual boilerplate, we see that “No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture.” In between is one of the most riveting films I have seen this year. [Read more →]
10. The jack-o-lantern is an orange balloon with a Magic Marker Happy Face.
9. The Wolfman is just a shirtless hairy guy.
8. The scariest movie they could find to show is Mariah Carey’s Glitter.
7. It’s February.
6. Sexiest Costume goes to an Ed Asner lookalike.
5. Bobbing for Apples segues into Hunting for Uncle Sid’s Contact Lens.
4. Most of the guests are dressed as their favorite Certified Public Accountants.
3. All the decorations say “HAPPY,” then “BIRTHDAY” is crossed out and “HALLOWEEN” is written above it.
2. Best Costume goes to a guy in a sheet.
1. Instead of candy: leftover meatloaf.
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Vampires were scary at one point in time. I remember watching the 1931 version of Dracula starring Bela Legosi and feeling shiver go down my spine from time to time based on nothing more than solid acting. But let’s face it the vampire scene has changed and not in a good way. [Read more →]
