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9 fall movies other than ‘Machete’ that might be worth checking out (Commentary)

I looked a little closer at my Fall Movie Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly and discovered that “Machete” isn’t the only movie coming out. Here are nine

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Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ finally becomes a real movie (Commentary)

“Now if only they’d make ‘Machete’ into an actual movie instead of just a fake trailer.” That’s how I ended my review of “Grindhouse” — one of

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Summer surprise: ‘Pretty Little Liars’ is actually pretty good (TV review)

I enjoy a good mystery series in the summer. I’m the one guy that watched “Hidden Palms” a few summers ago. I watched “Happy Town”

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‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ is so cool it’s cold — but not in a good way (Movie review)

“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” based on a comic book, takes two universal interests of young males — games and girls — and combines them into

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‘Fever Dream’: This time it’s personal for Special Agent Pendergast (Book review)

“Fever Dream,” the latest Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child novel, opens with FBI Special Agent Pendergast and his wife, Helen, hunting a lion in Africa. I

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On ‘Friday Night Lights,’ why can’t the football stuff be good too? (TV commentary)

Critics have often emphasized that “Friday Night Lights” isn’t just for football fans, because so much of the drama happens off the field. That’s completely true, but

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Douglas Preston makes a geographical ‘Impact’ on this reader (Book review)

I don’t really like traveling. I like the idea of having been someplace, but the actual process of traveling is stressful to me. I’m always

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Should we forgive Adam Sandler for ‘Grown Ups,’ or blame him? (Movie review)

Danielle, one of my comment-thread friends, recently brought up “The Wedding Singer,” an Adam Sandler picture that I vaguely remember as being good. Sandler used to crank

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John’s 300 favorite songs: The top 10

10. Smashing Pumpkins — “1979” — This song reminds me of driving around with my friends in Fargo, N.D., during my high school years. The “1979” of

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John’s 300 favorite songs: 20-11

20. Traveling Wilburys — “Handle with Care” — George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne singing about heartache around the same microphone. ‘Nuff

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