I know, I know, this movie opened a month ago and nobody really cares about it anymore, but they’ll be reviews of new movies (End of Watch, Trouble with the Curve, Dredd 3D) later today too. For now, I’ll just make this quick… What Works: The old school claymation has an entirely different look and…
Category: Mindless Mondays
Mom Jokes: Board of Directors
Schwartz, Cohen, and Ginsberg, were all close friends since childhood. They decided they wanted to go into business together. Schwartz says “All right, I’ll invest 100,000.” Cohen says “Okay, I’ll invest 200,000.” Ginsberg says “Well, I’ll put in 1,000.” Cohen says “If I’m putting in 200,000 I’ll be the president and CEO of the corporation. Schwartz,…
The Emmys, Who Might Win…More Importantly, Who SHOULD Win
Unlike The Oscars, which have almost no surprises by the time the other five dozen movie awards shows have already come on, The Emmy awards are extremely hard to predict. That’s because the only other televised awards shows that deal with TV (The Golden Globes, and The SAG Awards) also deal with movies, and, therefore, pretty…
Quick-Hit TV Reviews of Louie, Up All Night, SNL Special, The Office, and Parks and Recreation
NBC’s comedy block was back tonight, and FX had one of the most significant (plot-wise) episodes of Louie ever. Let’s get to it… Louie: This often brilliant, sometimes frustrating show is widely touted as the best comedy on TV, with the caveat that it’s not really a comedy show so much as a show centered…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: The Master…Less About Scientology Than Psychology
Any new Paul Thomas Anderson movie (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood) is an event in certain circles, the film critic equivalent of a new Marvel Comics movie. His latest follows a troubled WWII veteran (Joaquin Phoenix, sensationally animalistic yet nuanced) who feels adrift when he returns home, but…
TV Reviews: Boardwalk Empire, Revolution, SNL, Guys with Kids, and The New Normal
Fall TV is back, and so is cramming in a lot of reviews for new shows and season premieres alike… Boardwalk Empire’s Season Three Premiere: It’s funny the way we like some characters and not others, isn’t it? Breaking Bad’s Walter White is my absolute favorite character on TV, and I acknowledge that he’s a…
Entertainment Editorial: 10 Fall Movies To Be Excited About (and Five Not to Be)
It’s great to pretend that critics go into movies entirely neutral about them, but, honestly, they don’t. There are just always going to be some movies you look more forward to than others. It was true when I did a similar list in the summer, and especially true in the Fall…where Hollywood rolls out their…
September’s Book of the Month Club Selection Is…Amy Waldman’s The Submission!
Usually, whenever I start the month I have no clue what that month’s pick will be. I run down a list of books I’ve read in the last six months (or am currently reading) and narrow down to one I think is the strongest for that month. None of that is true for Amy Waldman’s…
TV Reviews: Totally Biased, Web Therapy, and Episodes
As we gear up for the new Fall season (which, to be honest, doesn’t seem like a particularly strong crop this year), let’s take a look at some “in-between” shows that clean up during the low competition months. Totally Biased…This is W. Kamau Bell’s new show on FX, and if you don’t know who that…
Movie Review: “Obama 2016″…When Campaign Attack Ads Pretend To Be Movies
Speaking of negative movie portrayals of interracial couples (as per my Hit and Run review), now we get a “documentary” about Obama’s doomed childhood, heavily influenced by his white mother and African father’s tumultuous marriage, and his father’s belief system. This “documentary” (and, from what I understand, documentaries are supposed to be non-fiction films) is made…
Movie Review: Hit and Run
This is a movie that not many have seen (it tanked at the box office) and probably not many have even heard of it either. It stars Dax Shepard as a former getaway driver for bank robberies (a great “movie job” that may not exist in real life as most bank robbers would do their…
Mom Jokes: Will You Live to See 80?
An old woman was exhaustively tested by her new doctor. He told the 70-year-old that she was “Doing well for her age.” A little concerned about that comment, she asked him “Do you think I’ll live to see 80?” He asked her “Do you smoke tobacco or marijuana? Drink beer, wine, or hard liquor?” “Oh…
Reviewing HBO’s Summer Documentaries Series…
For the last couple summers, HBO has featured a Monday night documentary series. They show a different doc every week, and I’m glad they do. Still, I think last year’s crop (that included the hilarious wannabe superheroes doc, the fascinating Afghanistan women’s prison doc Love Crimes in Kabul, and the excellent expose of our legal…