I know, I know, this movie came out a month ago and why am I posting Monday’s reviews on Tuesday? Oh well, I’ll crank out a few reviews today and just hope people show up… What Works: The script is generic, the villain (clearly based on the late Steve Jobs, who did nothing but innovate) is…
Category: Mindless Mondays
TV Reviews: “Dracula” and “Grimm”
NBC had a double wallop of cheese last night on their new “scary” Fridays. The fact that this is the scariest thing on broadcast TV—-while even basic cable gets away with the likes of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story—-is mildly amusing. [How long until Hannibal comes back again?] “Grimm”…While both shows went…
“League of Denial” Will Change the Way You Think About Football
Last Tuesday, PBS aired a documentary called “Frontline: League of Denial” that covered the overwhelming evidence that NFL players are at a far greater risk for dementia and various other neurological disorders. It also covered the NFL’s attempts to deny this link and hide the data at every turn. Simply put: see it. Even if you…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Captain Phillips
A very strong movie that excels in you-are-there dramatic verisimilitude more than creativity, but any film that I know the ending of ahead of time but still manages to create genuine third-act suspense is doing something very right. Director Paul Greengrass is best known for directing two of the Matt Damon as Jason Bourne films but his…
Why It’s NOT a Good Thing Charlie Hunnam was Bullied Out of “50 Shades” Movie
I don’t know that I’ve ever written an article about “50 Shades of Grey,” and I don’t know that I ever will because this article is really about a particularly nasty strain of “fan” that isn’t all that different from an anti-fan. For today’s “fans” nothing is good enough. They’re rapid fanboys (or, just as often, fangirls)…
Movie Review: Don Jon
Better late than never for Joseph Gordon Levitt’s terrific directorial debut. This movie is really good, and I wish I were telling you that before it’s about to leave theaters, but…Oh well… What Works: Although “Don Jon” is billed as a comedy about porn addiction it’s really about the fantasies young men and women indulge in that…
I’m One of the Few People to See “Machete Kills” So You Don’t Have to
I ranked “Machete Kills” (the sequel to Machete, itself inspired by a fake trailer in front of Robert Rodriguez’s half of Grindhouse, still the only Quentin Tarantino movie to not make its budget back at the box office) as one of my least anticipated movies of the Fall, and it looks like audiences agreed with…
“Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” =Unintentionally Hilarious
This show may be one of the most jaw-droppingly silly programs I’ve ever seen on a broadcast network. It looks like it would fit right in on the Syfy channel after a re-airing of Sharknado, and is somehow even goofier than the show it spun off from, “Once Upon a Time.” Maybe it’s because almost…
TV Review: American Horror Story
I skipped the entire second season of American Horror Story because, for some crazy reason, a show set entirely in a dreary, old-style insane asylum with torture and a serial killer named Bloody Face on the loose just didn’t appeal to me. However, I was willing to give this new season a try because of…
Movie Review: “Gravity” in IMAX 3D May Be the Film Event of the Fall
The box office for this film was amazing, the audience grade was a strong A- and the rotten tomatoes score was an unreal 97 percent. So there’s not a lot of praise I can sing for this movie that hasn’t already been sung but I’ll try anyway. The short review: See this movie, and do…
Movie Review: “Inequality for All” Best Documentary of the Year So Far #inequalityforall
I could write a very long review about the new documentary on income inequality, but the absolute best thing for anyone to do is see it. What Works: This film lays out the economic case for exactly how staggering income inequality in the U.S. has become, and exactly why that’s the most disastrous thing that…
Mom Joke: A Real Corny One
A camper brought a very limp dog into the veterinary clinic. As he lay the dog on the table, the doctor pulled out his stethoscope, placing the receptor on the dog’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, but your dog has passed away.” “What?”…
TV Reviews: Super Fun Night, We’re the Millers, Sean Saves the World
Three new comedy shows, none of them very good, but one of them is almost good, so that’s something…[Also, what’s up with longer names for comedy series? Who wants to say “Sean Saves the World” every time they’re talking about a show they just watched?] Sean Saves the World…A gay man has to raise a daughter…