Pivotal episodes on three of TV’s tensest dramas… Breaking Bad…The best show on TV, period. I’m sad there are now only four episodes left and it looks like the partnership between Walter White and Jesse is permanently damaged. That being said, I’ve never liked Jesse that much, and don’t agree with the notion that…
Miley Shocks, Trump Swindles, and Some REALLY Don’t Want Affleck as Batman
Miley Cyrus made “news” (celebrity news) this week when she danced erratically on-stage with an understandably uncomfortable Robin Thicke while making Jim Carrey-circa-1995 faces with an enormous drunken teddy bear in the background. Somewhere, Billy Ray Cyrus is wondering why he wasn’t asked to play the teddy bear. Against all odds, Donald Trump’s online University,…
Entertainment Editorial: Some of My Favorite Elmore Leonard Books (and Adaptations)
R.I.P. Elmore Leonard, and now it’s time to look back at some of my favorite Elmore Leonard books (and adaptations). I haven’t read them all (I don’t think I’ve read a single one of his Westerns, preferring his crime fiction period instead), but I’ve read more than a dozen and these are my favorites. I…
TV Reviews: Devious Maids, Camp, Drunk History, and Futurama
Only a few hours ago, I reviewed a stone-sober Israeli/Palestinian conflict drama that deals with suicide bombings and marital trust. And so now, naturally, I must review “Summer Fun” shows that revolve around drunk people telling stories and a soap opera about Spanish maids who almost never speak Spanish. Although honestly, if you’re looking for…
Movie Review: The Attack
This micro-indie (currently playing on only 17 screens across the nation) is one of those quiet stunners that sneaks up on you. It’s about a successful, “assimilated” Palestinian surgeon working in an Israeli hospital in Tel Aviv. He’s one of the few Palestinians who have successfully integrated into the Israeli elite and he’s seen getting…
Mom Jokes: Shaving Ball
An eighty year old man went to the barbershop and complained that his cheeks were too sunken-in and wrinkly to get a clean shave on them. The barber reached for a metal ball and told the old man to put it in his cheek to smooth it out for a shave. “Hey, that works terrific!”…
Meeting the Legendary Author Elmore Leonard
[Note: I originally wrote this last year during Elmore Leonard’s book tour for Raylan, his final finished novel. I thought it was the only fitting way to say goodbye to a literary legend and one of the most enjoyable contemporary authors.] Evvvvvvery once and a while I get to “meet” a celebrity (usually meaning I…
Depressing Week as Rutina Divorces, Leonard Dies, and Manning Becomes Woman
Some weeks just seem a little drearier than others, and this week certainly took the cake… 5. Bradley Manning, the whistle-blower who leaked all those documents to Wikileaks announced that he’s really a woman trapped in a man’s body, and he now wants to be called Chelsea Manning. I swear I’m not making this shit…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Kick Ass 2
This film received no love at the box office this weekend, the reviews were terrible, the audience grade wasn’t great, and even co-star Jim Carrey (desperately in need of a hit) wouldn’t promote it out of some misguided thinking about the Newton shootings and Kick Ass’s violence. What gives? Is the movie really that bad?…
Monday Morning Movie Review: Jobs
If you already know the story of Steve Jobs, this movie probably won’t provide you with much fresh insight, but it’s still worth a watch. Although it must be said that it never even comes close to the heights of the other film about a prickly tech titan: The Social Network. What Works: Steve Jobs was a…
Monday Morning Movie Review: The Butler
A movie that feels slightly all-over-the-place but sneaks up on you to create a sum total far greater than its parts. What Works: The story of Cecil Gaines, a black butler who started out on a horrific cotton farm in the South but became a White House butler for seven different presidents, is just original…
Movie Review: We’re the Millers
A limp, uninspired comedy that wants so badly to be “outrageous” but grows progressively lamer and tamer the more it keeps going. What Works: [crickets]…uhhh…well, if you’ve ever wondered what Jennifer Aniston might look like in a platinum stripper wig and black spandex, the first ten minutes will be decent for you to watch. Still,…
Movie Reviews: Planes
A direct and blatant rip-off of Pixar’s Cars except now with planes (and a few cars for good measure). Similar to Turbo in that only hardcore animation fans or families that desperately want something to do with their kids will really find value in it. What Works: The idea of a race around the world…