Category: TV & Movies

  • “Dark Knight Rises” Thoughts & Spoilers

    Despite my sadness at the Aurora shootings and a little bit of anxiety about copycats, I went with a friend to see the 9:30pm “Dark Knight Rises” last night. Warning: Massive Spoiler Alerts. The movie held my attention and adeptly concluded the trilogy of Bat-movies.  It’s compelling, well-shot, well acted and even has a vestigial…

  • Short Post: “Newsroom” Annoyances

    Compulsively watchable?  Check. Smug as hell?  Check. Probably not able to hold up in the long run?  Check. But here are things about the new HBO Aaron Sorkin drama “The Newsroom” that are annoying me today: Why are Jim & Maggie the junior varsity version of Will and MacKenzie?  What is that parallel buying the…

  • Why Avengers ROCKS + Top 5 Superhero Movies

    Yesterday my almost-seven-year-old son and I took in a 3D matinee of “The Avengers” and had a blast. We loved it so much that we plan to see it again in iMax. The movie has everything—Joss Whedon directing off a terrific screenplay he co-authored, a huge budget with huge stars, and, startlingly for a popcorn…

  • TV Trans-Genre Moments: Last Night’s “Castle”

    Note: Massive, Promiscuous Spoiler Alerts– you have been warned Last night saw the fourth season premiere of “Castle” on ABC, and it was an enjoyable hour-long police procedural that has as its main job to UNDO everything that had been done during the cliff-hanger end of the third season, but in doing so the show…

  • Netflix’s Big OOPS– didn’t these guys take Psych 101?

    Topline takeway for this post: Netflix has screwed up, turning unconsidered background choices into front-of-mind considerations. They don’t understand how pleasure and satisfaction work. I’m on vacation and somewhat unplugged, but I was still connected enought to receive a surprising email from Netflix yesterday saying that if I want to retain both unlimited streaming and…

  • Simile Search: Please Help This Writer!

    I’m looking for evocative comparisons that talk about how one thing so automatically comes with another that we take the pairing for granted. Like, “the juice comes with the meat” (except it often doesn’t) or “the warmth that comes with the fire” but preferably less flabby.  Something taste or smell related (for its Proustian oomph)…

  • Super Storytelling Smackdown: “Smallville” vs. “Thor”

    This is a post about the difference between experiencing a story and remembering it later, a distinction that we pay too little attention to in the media world.  I’ll talk about theater, movies, TV, Superman, Thor and Shakespeare, and there will be spoilers… lots of ’em about the “Smallville” series finale, but I’ll be careful…