This micro-indie (currently playing on only 17 screens across the nation) is one of those quiet stunners that sneaks up on you. It’s about a successful, “assimilated” Palestinian surgeon working in an Israeli hospital in Tel Aviv. He’s one of the few Palestinians who have successfully integrated into the Israeli elite and he’s seen getting…
Author: Alabama Liberal
Mom Jokes: Shaving Ball
An eighty year old man went to the barbershop and complained that his cheeks were too sunken-in and wrinkly to get a clean shave on them. The barber reached for a metal ball and told the old man to put it in his cheek to smooth it out for a shave. “Hey, that works terrific!”…
Meeting the Legendary Author Elmore Leonard
[Note: I originally wrote this last year during Elmore Leonard’s book tour for Raylan, his final finished novel. I thought it was the only fitting way to say goodbye to a literary legend and one of the most enjoyable contemporary authors.] Evvvvvvery once and a while I get to “meet” a celebrity (usually meaning I…
Depressing Week as Rutina Divorces, Leonard Dies, and Manning Becomes Woman
Some weeks just seem a little drearier than others, and this week certainly took the cake… 5. Bradley Manning, the whistle-blower who leaked all those documents to Wikileaks announced that he’s really a woman trapped in a man’s body, and he now wants to be called Chelsea Manning. I swear I’m not making this shit…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Kick Ass 2
This film received no love at the box office this weekend, the reviews were terrible, the audience grade wasn’t great, and even co-star Jim Carrey (desperately in need of a hit) wouldn’t promote it out of some misguided thinking about the Newton shootings and Kick Ass’s violence. What gives? Is the movie really that bad?…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Jobs
If you already know the story of Steve Jobs, this movie probably won’t provide you with much fresh insight, but it’s still worth a watch. Although it must be said that it never even comes close to the heights of the other film about a prickly tech titan: The Social Network. What Works: Steve Jobs was a…
Monday Morning Movie Review: The Butler
A movie that feels slightly all-over-the-place but sneaks up on you to create a sum total far greater than its parts. What Works: The story of Cecil Gaines, a black butler who started out on a horrific cotton farm in the South but became a White House butler for seven different presidents, is just original…
Movie Review: We’re the Millers
A limp, uninspired comedy that wants so badly to be “outrageous” but grows progressively lamer and tamer the more it keeps going. What Works: [crickets]…uhhh…well, if you’ve ever wondered what Jennifer Aniston might look like in a platinum stripper wig and black spandex, the first ten minutes will be decent for you to watch. Still,…
Movie Reviews: Planes
A direct and blatant rip-off of Pixar’s Cars except now with planes (and a few cars for good measure). Similar to Turbo in that only hardcore animation fans or families that desperately want something to do with their kids will really find value in it. What Works: The idea of a race around the world…
TV Reviews: Finales of “True Blood” and “Whodunnit”
Two shamefully bad shows that have grown into the ultimate guilty pleasures. True Blood in that it was a once-promising show that has devolved into a parody of itself. And Whodunnit in that it is probably the single worst show I have ever watched from start to finish…yet I found unexplainable enjoyment in it the…
The “Duck Dynasty” Gang are the Ultimate Hypocrites/Rich Assholes of the Month
I know I haven’t been keeping up with the Rich Asshole of the Month section, but sometimes a special case just reaches out and demands your attention. August’s Rich Asshole of the Month just couldn’t be ignored… I’m choosing the Robertson family from A&E’s unexplainably popular Duck Dynasty. [They recently received a raise to where…
HBO’s Summer Docs, Part II…Casting By, First Comes Love, Pussy Riot, and Cheshire Murders
I felt reviewing a whopping eight documentaries in one post would have been too much, so now the B-team documentaries of HBO’s Summer Documentary series… The Cheshire Murders…I honestly don’t even get why they made this movie. I’m not trying to be funny or snarky, but I watched the whole thing thinking “What’s the…
HBO’S Summer Docs: Americans in Bed, Gasland II, Love Marilyn, and Gideon’s Army
Another Summer, another series from HBO to make Mondays go by a little faster. I can’t say this is my favorite collection of docs, as most of them have been only so-so, but it’s nice to know that HBO maintains their commitment to this series. Americans in Bed…Last night’s addition to the list has…