David Letterman has been much in the news lately due to his fondness for the flesh of young female staffers, and the alleged blackmail plot regarding his exploits in that direction. It seems that old Dave is a bit of a lech who- like many powerful and wealthy individuals– uses his high social status to gain access to the sexual organs of women who would not look at him twice were he not so illustrious a figure. [Read more →]
Advertisements for films are often misleading. The advertisements for Couples Retreat made me think that the film would be a harmless and average comedy, with perhaps a few very funny scenes. The advertisements are accurate; this film is all that and less. [Read more →]
The NYC Veg Fest speaker line-up doesn’t leave you guessing which one of these guests is doin’ his own thing. Attendees, I presume, didn’t dispense with politeness and ask the natural but uncomfortable question, “If not animals, what, exactly, are you a master killer of, Masta Killa?” (I present this incongruity as a vegan, myself, not one of those snarky, I-belong-to-People-Eating-Tasty-Animals nimrods, just FYI.)
And speaking of incongruity, when a porn star and a dude who helped invent something called rap-core can’t make their marriage work, what hope do the rest of us have!?
The Office (Thursday, 9PM, ABC) — My husband told me to get a life last night after I yelled at him for interrupting the finale scene of The Office wedding (he has a knack for doing that… flashback to Grey’s Anatomy season 2 finale, when Izzie killed Denny, Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” was playing and all he could say over and over again was, “She quit? Wait, she quit? Honey, did she quit?” I almost left him on the spot). And he deserved to be yelled at again. We all anticipated Jim and Pam’s wedding, and quite frankly my expectations were low, but the hour-long extravaganza was one of the best episodes written in a long time. To watch the events unfold leading up to the ceremony was brilliant… we’ve seen enough wedding reception mishaps. Here were the highlights for me, and every character contributed: [Read more →]
10. How I Met Your Mailman
9. Jon Plus 4
8. Kate Plus 4
7. The Old and the Toothless
6. The Dentalist
5. Text and the City
4. Law & Order: Overdue Library Book Unit
3. America’s Funniest Answering Machine Messages
2. So You Think You Can Yodel
1. The New Adventures of Old Larry King
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
My horror movie roundups continue — Not all horror movies are scary and full of dismembered corpses. Some are quirky, funny, and enjoyable as a cross-genre exercise. Horror comedies are a rarity. A horror comedy is a movie that is both scary and funny by intent (Shaun of the Dead). Not to be confused with a horror movie that’s funny because it’s so awful it’s physically painful (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan). Still some do exist and are totally worth seeing when you want something Halloween-esque but not terrifying.
After all the credits for Whip It have rolled, the film ends with the words “To all the girls who believe you can… You can.” It is hard not to like a film with this message, especially when this point is made twice. First time director Drew Barrymore seems like a seasoned pro and is aided by Shauna Cross ‘s tight screenplay based on Cross’s 2007 book Derby Girl. The film boasts strong performances from women ranging in age from twenty to fifty. Oh yeah, this female fest also has exciting action sequences, believable characters, a good story and it is fun. [Read more →]
Modern Family & Cougar Town (Wednesday, ABC, 9-10PM) — Sorry I left you hangin’ last week. Life happens. But I’m back this week and I made sure I watched ABC’s new comedies, Modern Family and Cougar Town… again. ABC, typically known for awesomely dramatic hourly sagas, has gotten funny. [Read more →]
10. “So Much Reality! So Little Content!”
9. “The Only Network with an Organ Transplant Drama Set in Pittsburgh!”
8. “Catch This Crap Before It Vanishes Forever!”
7. “Nielsen Families: Watch Our Shows and Get a Kitty!”
6. “Better than a Poke in the Eye with a Sharp Stick! Much Better!”
5. “This is Why Benjamin Franklin Invented TV!”
4. “More Professional-Looking Than YouTube!”
3. “Our Commercials Kick Ass!”
2. “All Jay All the Time!”
1. “Swill! – Now in Hi-Def!”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Well it’s October, or as I call it: Horror Movie Month. It’s baffling to me how movie studios release titles like Halloween 2 (the new Rob Zombie version) in late August. Or February in the case of the new Wolfman, which I’d love to see any weekend in October, but not sure I’m interested in it as a Valentine’s Day date flick. Granted, I’m not a numbers guru but basic fucking logic dictates that you release horror movies around Halloween and Christmas movies in December. Anyway, since there isn’t really a cool horror movie in theaters I’d like to take the next five weeks to do a video round up — Yes, I’m that egomaniacal. This first installment will focus on classic and old horror movies.
This is no way intended to address Roman Polanski’s guilt or innocence or whether his recent arrest for having sex with a 13-year-old over three decades ago was fair or unjust. I merely want to point out that he may have had the most extraordinary life of anyone born in the 20th century; indeed, he lived more by the age of 40 than many families do over generations. Consider: [Read more →]
When Needy Lesnicky (Amanda Seyfried) says her best friend Jennifer (Megan Fox) is evil, boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) agrees. Needy corrects him saying, “No, I mean, she’s actually evil. Not high school evil.” If, like me, lines like this have you rubbing your hands together in delight, you should savor this smart, funny and creepy horror film. [Read more →]
Last week I had the misfortune to read a true journalistic atrocity. Here are but two paragraphs, awful enough to make a baby die were you to read this tripe within earshot of the aforementioned innocent: [Read more →]
Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” premiered yesterday on PBS, delivering with his typically deliberate pacing, a moving portrait of how and why some of the most beautiful places in America, and on the planet, came under the protection of the U.S. government. [Read more →]
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia came back on the air last week, and thank goodness. My world goes out of focus without a collection of insane people running around Philly doing insane things. Not only was the premiere amazing, but I also saw the stage performance of The Night Man Cometh (a rock opera based directly on an episode from last year). The humor of this show is incredibly dark. They are all horrible human beings doing terrible things. They find babies in a dumpster, mentally and emotionally abuse each other, and take advantage of people. Watch it! Love it! SUNNY!
Thursday nights on FX. It’s usually On Demand too.
I watch a lot of talk shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah covers a lot of ground on her show: health with Dr. Oz, finances with Suze Orman, fitness with Bob Greene, interior decorating with Nate Berkus. She’s even covered those unusual topics like “compulsive hoarding”. I thought the hoarding shows were kind of unsettling. Yesterday, however, the Oprah show reached a new level of disturbing. [Read more →]
I am sure I was not alone in feeling a crushing wave of boredom come over me when I heard that Michael Moore was about to release another of his activist documentaries. The boredom however became a faint sense of nausea when I heard that it was to be a caustic attack on ‘capitalism’. Wow. Moore had finally caught up with the radical thinking of mid to late 19th century Europe. What next, I wondered — a devastating assault on critics of Copernicus? A bold expose of the slave trade? Or perhaps an assault on the tyranny of King George III? [Read more →]
This week saw the finale of King of the Hill, the tale of a humble Texas propane salesman, his self-righteous substitute teacher wife, and their dumpy yet wildly flamboyant son. The prime time cartoon narrowly dodged cancellation about a million times earlier in its run (roughly three years ago I interviewed its co-creator Mike Judge–you know him better from Office Space and Beavis and Butt-Head–before a previous scheduled termination), but the axe was bound to connect eventually. And, like so many of the show’s fans, I missed its finale’s scheduled airing. So it was with King of the Hill: inevitably overshadowed and never must-see TV…yet every time I stumble upon a rerun I remember what an extraordinary accomplishment it is. [Read more →]
I think I am supposed to like Bright Star. I am interested in John Keats, I loved Campion’s The Piano and I have a high tolerance for slow period pieces about love. But this film left me cold. Even the credits annoyed me. Keats deserves better. [Read more →]
Chelsea Lately (Weeknights, 11PM, E!) — I don’t know how she did it, but my “I’d-disregard-all-of-my-other-friends-forever-to-actually-be-her-friend” friend Jennifer Aniston appeared on my other “I’d-disregard-my-friend-Jackie-forever-to-actually-be-her-friend” friend Chelsea Handler’s late night show, Chelsea Lately. This meeting of female greatness was the best thing to happen to me since the remote control was invented… and was quite a feat for Chelsea. [Read more →]
