It sucks when your favorite shows get cancelled. It also sucks when some not so promising shows get renewed over them. Still, I’d say the broadcast networks got it mostly right with their decisions this year (while HBO and TNT dropped the ball big time). 5 Cancelled Shows I’ll Miss… 5. Honorable Mention: Fringe and…
Category: Entertainment Editorial
Pop Culture Battle 3, Book of the Summer: “The Interestings” vs. “Reconstructing Amelia”
What’s the book of the Summer? Both of these books have been mentioned on countless lists, and it’s time to settle this… The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer…About: A group of six creative kids goes to a summer camp for artists in the 70’s and make friendships that last a lifetime, even as some of them…
Pop Culture Battle, Part 2: Netflix’s House of Cards vs. the BBC’s House of Cards
Netflix is hustling to get in the original content game (this month’s Arrested Development return is probably their biggest coup to date), and their nasty political drama, “House of Cards,” truly is as good as anything on most cable networks. [I still don’t think it touches most dramas on AMC or HBO.] It’s smart, well-made, and excellently…
Pop Culture Battle…Bates Motel vs. The Following vs. Hannibal
Three shows enter, only one show shall leave (the first of three pop culture battles today). What’s the best serial killer show on TV? Bates Motel…Going for it: Is the show better than I thought it would be? Yes, but that’s not saying much. The cast is strong, particularly Vera Farminga as the infamous Mother…
More Book Reviews: The Teleportation Accident, What the Family Needed
Two literary novels with a sci-fi angle that are more interesting than truly successful… The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman…This book has already been described as a “cult hit,” which means that most people probably won’t like it very much. Sadly, I’m in that category. It is occasionally brilliant (a man in 30’s Germany wonders about…
Book Reviews: Ghost Man, Dinner, 12 Tribes of Hattie, Bringing Up the Bodies
Ready for a round-up of books that came out last year or a few months ago? No…well, too bad… Bringing Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel…This book came out last year and pretty much everyone who was going to read it already has, but I thought I would weigh in briefly on this (slightly)…
Most Anticipated Movies of Summer, And Least Anticipated
It’s time to think about summer movies, and I humbly submit some (most of them smaller films that could get lost in the shuffle) films for you to consider… Most Anticipated… 10. “The East” and “Shadow Dancer”…Two smart, sleek looking indie-thrillers. “The East” is about corporate espionage, and “Shadow Dancer” stars Clive Owen as a…
Book Reviews: How to Get Filthy Rich in Fast-Rising Asia, We Live in Water
Note: Two books that experiment with narrative, both looking (on the surface) like something wildly different than novels… How to Get Filthy Rich in Fast-Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid…This clever novel takes the form of a self-help business book, a popular hybrid usually written by some rich-guy/scam-artist that promises to make people rich through…
Book Reviews: The Andalucian Friend, The Burn Palace
Two books, two thrillers, both of them better than average, and both with a snake on the cover… The Andalucian Friend by Alexander Soderbergh…An unassuming nurse treats (and falls for) a patient that just so happens to be the heir to a notorious Spanish crime family currently in a fight for its life against…
Book Reviews: The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, Bringing Up the Bodies
Note: Both of these books are from last year, so I won’t review them in-depth. Most people who will read them probably already have, BUT don’t worry, I’ll have reviews for several newer titles throughout the day… The Twelve Tribes of Hattie…Nearly perfect. It follows “the African-American experience” through Hattie and her children and…
Roger Ebert: A Great Champion of Movies, Interracial Couples, and Cancer Victims
Last Thursday brought the devastating news that the country’s most iconic film critic, Roger Ebert, had passed away after announcing only the day before that his cancer was resurgent. It’s hard to explain the impact Ebert had on movies, but he has unquestionably had the most influence over the shape of film criticism over the…
Best Docs of 2012: House I Live In, Queen of Versailles, Imposter, Side by Side, Mansome, Ai Weiwei
Last Monday, I reviewed the majority of what the Academy Awards considered the best documentaries of 2012, and yet…I don’t think a one of them would have made my list. Only The Invisible War would even be close. So what would make the cut? Runner-Up: Mansome…Morgan Spurlock’s dissection of what makes a man in the…
“The Good Wife” Only Portrays Black Women as Antagonists
The Good Wife is supposed to be set in Chicago (it’s really filmed in New York) and is a pretty realistic depiction of politics and power in that city. And yet…black recurring characters are few and far between, odd for a city that is known for having a strong base of African-American influence (Obama said…