A total bomb of a movie that had a pitiful 2 million dollar opening weekend (the worst of the year for a wide release). I’m not sure why people were so disinterested in seeing the story of Julian Assange and Wikileaks, and I guess this means people really aren’t interested in whistle blowing or the…
Movie Review: “Bad Grandpa”
Do you think an old man getting into outrageous situations is funny? Do you think a little kid getting into outrageous situations is funny? Well, you’ll need to because that’s pretty much the only two jokes “Bad Grandpa” has got. What Works: The idea of giving a Jackass hidden-camera-style movie a thin plot—-a young boy’s grandpa has…
Movie Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
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…
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…
Petty Issues: Jesus Billboards, Jenner Divorce, Munch Retires, Twitter IPO
A billboard in West Lubbock Texas is inspiring “controversy” because it has a tattooed Jesus Christ helping people with their sins. So the big debate is between people that are really, really religious and tattooed and people that are really, really religious without tattoos. Wow, what diversity of thought we have in this country… Law…
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…
The Latest People to Mock the U.S. Gov. Shutdown? The Taliban
The U.S. government shutdown has lowered congress’ approval rating to single digits. Just how bad a public relations debacle is the U.S. government shutdown? There’s a new critic of U.S. political dysfunction: the Taliban. http://news.yahoo.com/taliban-mock-us-over-government-shutdown-064323672.html They released a statement about the U.S. government shutdown, and described how US institutions were “paralysed,” the Statue of…