Dazzling Stars
Director John Ford said that good movies need three golden moments. The Fault in Our Stars, Josh Boone's splendidly well handled new film based on the book by John Green, has more than you can count in...
View Article5 Reasons People With Brains Shouldn't See Transformers: Age of Extinction
If you're one of the people I refer to in the title of this blog -- that is, people with brains -- then you are probably already aware of the things that make Michael Bay one of the most vile and...
View ArticleThe Secret of 'Transformers' Success: Being Transformative
With a first weekend of $100 million domestically, Transformers: Age of Extinction is on the road to blockbuster status, which these days starts around $200 million at the domestic box office. That's...
View ArticleAdventures in Brudderland: Conor Byrne's Foureyes and the New Nostalgia
Hanging out with Conor Byrne is like visiting Movie Nerd Disneyland, and you'd better have your adventure cap on. Just days after winning a Cannes Lions Young Director Award for his short Foureyes, the...
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Teen Wolf 402: "117"
This week's Teen Wolf, "117" picked up right where we left off: Kate Argent the Were-jaguar somehow zapped Derek back in time and turned him into "Baby Derek," the teenaged version of himself played by...
View ArticleLA-LA-LA: 10 Songs With Music's Favorite Catch Phrase
It's a simple phrase heard in music all the time. The famous la-la-la has crossed genres and is sung by nearly every singer from Minnie Riperton and Teena Marie to Sam Smith and Blue Oyster Cult....
View ArticleTransformers: Age of Extinction Is Exactly What You Think It Is
Just when you thought the Transformers saga was finished, Michael Bay went and did it again. Transformers: Age of Extinction is everything you'd expect from the fourth blockbuster film based on a line...
View ArticleTrans Is the New Orange?
The second season of Orange Is the New Black just came out on Netflix, and I think we collectively inhaled it like a sugar-rimmed margarita on a humid summer day. Thirteen episodes of prison escapades...
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MasterChef Recap: 'You Have the Biggest Balls!"
Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 5, Episode 6 of FOX's MasterChef, titled "Top 16 Compete." How depressing! Canned food and stolen panna cotta have a moment this week. But let's start...
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Robin Thicke, Please Check Your White Privilege
Mr. Thicke, I write this as a black man who knows what it means to be treated as a criminal the moment I cross the street. I know what it feels like to hear the words "threatening," "suspicious," and...
View ArticleNot OK, Michael Bay: Transformers: Age of Extinction Sexually Objectifies an...
When we first meet Tessa Yeager, the female protagonist of Transformers: Age of Extinction, she's naughtily video-chatting with a mysterious man. When we next see her, she's being sized up by a leering...
View ArticleIs Netflix Damaging Its Own Shows?
Forgive me, for I have binged. I have used the two Internet-based video services to which I subscribe -- Netflix and Amazon Instant Video -- to watch multiple episodes of a TV series in one sitting....
View ArticleWhere Is This Generation's Clair Huxtable?
The seventies and eighties were a gloriously brave period in American television. Writers/producers like Norman Lear, Bud Yorkin and Bill Cosby took a chance, banking on the intelligence and...
View ArticleA Hard Day's Night: From Loophole to Surprise Hit
The Beatles' first film, A Hard Day's Night, premiered on July 6, 1964 -- some 50 years ago. Because the movie's release came on the heels of the overwhelming success of the Fab Four in the U.S. in the...
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The Summer of Ben Watt: It's Christmas in July
"Is this cheating on Tracey? I dunno," Ben Watt asked. He felt a little funny performing Everything But the Girl's "25th December" in Los Angeles a few weeks ago without his wife and creative partner,...
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Beyonce and Jay-Z Are Perfectly Imperfect in 'On The Run'
MASON POOLE/INVISION FOR PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT Beyonce and Jay-Z prove that being in love is a wonderful feeling that everyone deserves. Despite the internet rumors, their endless love is clearly the...
View Article'Big Bad' Israeli Film
Eitan Reuven paced nervously toward the rear of the theater. His film Another World was about to screen for members of the Israeli Film Academy. The bulb for the projector had burned out and the crowd...
View ArticleJean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language: A Cynical Adieu in 3D
Eighty-three-year-old Jean-Luc Godard's visually innovative film Goodbye to Language won the Jury Prize this year at Cannes, an honor it shared with Xavier Dolan's Mommy. A 3D experience, the veteran...
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Catching Up With Wendy & Lisa Upon Winning ASCAP's Inaugural Shirley Walker...
Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman have always been hard to put in a nutshell - in fact, I can't think of a duo whose musical path through the entertainment industry has been quite as circuitous - or...
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Snowpiercer: A Piercing Commentary on Modern Life Wrapped In Brilliant Sci-fi
The Ensemble of Snowpiercer Thank the universe for the film Snowpiercer; finally, a dystopian sci-fi movie that someone can gush over, one that leaves a lasting effect and a certain dread in the...
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