So tomorrow night will see the series finale of the sporadically great, occasionally frustrating Fox sci-fi show Fringe, which somehow managed to stay on the air for five seasons despite always being on the ratings bubble, and really struggling in its last couple seasons on Friday nights. [No real surprise though, since Friday is where…
Category: Mindless Mondays
Entertainment Editorial: A Review of Broadway’s The Heiress (and a Quick Note About Meeting Jessica Chastain)
I don’t get to see enough Broadway shows to make theater-reviews a regular part of the site, but if I catch one worth talking about afterwards, I think it’s worth mentioning. And The Heiress is one of those shows. Roughly a year ago, I gave the (then) red-hot play Other Desert Cities a mixed review,…
TV Reviews of “Girls,” “Californication,” and the Great, Underrated “Enlightened”
Last night brought the season premieres of three “comedies” as premium cable has now come to define the word: without laughs. That’s not true entirely, as all shows are sporadically funny, but they’re also not exclusively concerned with making people hee-haw, instead asking viewers to go on a journey that might be found more in…
Movie Review: “The Impossible,” the White-Washed Tsunami Movie
Otherwise known as “the tsunami” movie with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. [I have to say this, because The Impossible is a lousy, forgettable title that tells you nothing about the movie, even people that have watched it sometimes forget what it’s called.] For me, this movie boils down to one fantastic, jaw-on-the-floor sequence, and…
Movie Review: Not Fade Away
Another indie few people have seen and fewer still will like. Arguably less impressive than Hyde Park on the Hudson… This movie is a passion project for director David Chase (who created The Sopranos, but has never made a film before…and it shows), and is clearly autobiographical. It’s about a band in New Jersey during…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Hyde Park on the Hudson
Well if that title’s not enough of a mouthful for you, you’re in the right place. Clearly, you’re a dedicated Alabama Liberal fan, which you might have to be to care about this independent film that few people have seen, and fewer still have liked. Sure, the Golden Globes threw it some nominations, but that’s…
Oscar Nominations are Announced…Who Will Win, Who Should Win, and Who Was Robbed
Gooooooooooooodddddddddamn, these nominations were some tricky devils, diverging heavily from the Screen Actor’s Guild, the Director’s Guild, and the Golden Globe awards. [Although the Golden Globes shouldn’t be entirely unexpected, as the Academy has embraced a more independent-movie-based mindset than their gaudy, celebrity-driven friends in the Hollywood Foreign Press.] Oh well, let’s get to it……
TV Reviews: Justified’s Great Season Premiere, and Deception’s Lousy One
And now, a study in opposites as I review one terrific show kicking off its 4th season with a solid, firing-on-all-cylinders episode and a brand-new show that already feels stale. Deception…I like to do the bad news first, and NBC’s new Monday night drama Deception (for those that are restless for Revolution to come back)…
Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty
My pick for the third best movie of the year is tense, thrilling, and contains yet another great performance from phenomenon-on-the-rise Jessica Chastain. The film contains one big flaw (which I’ll get to below) but it’s hard to imagine anyone really hating this movie. It’s not the near-perfect film that The Hurt Locker was, but…
Movie Review: Django Unchained
It’s not possible for Quentin Tarantino to make an uninteresting film, but I would argue that Django Unchained may be his first bad one (depending on exactly how you felt about Death Proof, his half of Grindhouse), and left me underwhelmed. Is it in poor taste to make a slavery/spaghetti-western/blaxploitation mashup? Maybe it is, but…
Movie Review: “Promised Land,” an Underdog Movie You Should Seek Out
Sometimes a movie opens and you can just tell it’s destined to slip through the cracks and be underrated. Promised Land is already one of those movies, as it opened and died in theaters this weekend and is unlikely to get any Oscar nominations when those are announced on Thursday. And yet, it’s my pick…
Mom Jokes: The Medium
In a dark and hazy room, peering into a crystal ball, the Mystic delivered grave news: “There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I’ll just be blunt. Prepare yourself to be a widow. Your husband will die a violent and horrible death this year.” Visibly shaken, Laura stared at the woman’s …
Every 2012 Movie, From Worst to Best
Just like last year’s list, this won’t be every movie that came out in 2012, but instead a list of the movies I’ve reviewed (and some that will be reviewed in the near-future). Because, well, one of our favorite things about the end of a year is listing everything we liked (or didn’t), so why not get…