The “Paranormal Activity” franchise continues to deliver the expected goods — scares or laughs, depending on your mindset — in its fourth entry. But like the “Saw” series that used to dominate October, the law of diminishing returns naturally factors in a bit more each year. “Paranormal Activity” was spoofed by “The Simpsons” in a “Treehouse of […]
For the sake of simplicity, “Star Wars” stories can be divided into four eras. The classic trilogy era started with the movie “Star Wars” (1977), the post-“Return of the Jedi” era started in earnest with the book “Heir to the Empire” (1991) and the prequel era started in earnest with the movie “The Phantom Menace” […]
“The Walking Dead’s” (8 p.m. Central Sundays on AMC) third season starts with a rarity: Good news. The gang finds a prison that could serve as an excellent home base. They even enjoy a picnic and a sing-along.
‘Aliens/Predator’ Universe flashback (Movie review): Scott returns to his “Alien” universe to give us thinking fan’s sci-fi, for better or worse.
We’re in a curious situation right now where 94 percent of the country supports pro-war presidential candidates yet other polls show that the majority of people are against war (although most of Congress is pro-war). Of course, war is a complicated issue, and I don’t pretend to understand all of it (although I certainly respect […]
This might be a sign that I’m obsessed: I just bought a “Star Wars” book about “Star Wars” books. To a non-fan, this might seem as silly as Kramer’s coffee table book about coffee tables on “Seinfeld,” but the initiated will understand the appeal of “The Essential Reader’s Companion.”
Timothy Zahn wraps up his “Hand of Thrawn” duology with the meaty “Vision of the Future”(1998), which — at 520 pages for the hardcover and 694 pages for the paperback — is the longest Bantam “Star Wars” novel. (In fact, in Germany it was split into two books.)
“Nashville” (8 p.m. Central Wednesdays, ABC, starts Oct. 10) starts off with a good-but-not-great first episode (it’s now available on Hulu); among “going inside the industry” shows it’s considerably better than “Smash,” but not as free-wheeling and fun as “The L.A. Complex” or — to go back a few years — “Love Monkey.”
Being both an “important” movie and a “feel-good” movie, right off the bat “Won’t Back Down” is in danger of being filled with cartoon villains that you want to punch in the face even as the story layers on the schmaltz en route to a blatantly telegraphed happy ending. Luckily, there’s more to the movie than that. […]
“Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (8:30 a.m. Central Saturdays, Cartoon Network), which has switched from Friday nights to Saturday mornings with little fanfare for its fifth season, isn’t content to ease into a new batch of episodes. Picking up from the Season 4 finale, it jumps right back into showing Darth Maul and Savage Opress terrorizing […]