Something to reflect on: Why are vampires suddenly so popular? (Movie and TV commentary)
Hollywood has been sucking up to creatures of the night lately. Mirroring the hit “Twilight” franchise, Hollywood is up to its neck in vampires, staking tentpole movies and hyped-up TV shows on the fact that people suddenly seem to dig the bloodsuckers.
Will Ferrell’s ‘Land of the Lost’ has too much cheese in the recipe (Movie review)
“Land of the Lost” has tasty ingredients, but doesn’t mix them in the right proportion. It blends comedy, adventure and cheesiness (as per the old TV serial it’s based on), but I can’t recommend the finished concoction. Among goofball sci-fi rides, it’s easier to watch than the painful “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” but not as
Good news for fans of good TV: Comedy Central is going back to the ‘Futurama’ (Commentary)
Comedy Central found a pretty cool way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Futurama.” The network announced on Tuesday that it’s bringing the 1999-2003 Fox series back to the airwaves for at least 26 new episodes starting next year. Read Zap2It’s news story here.
I hate to say it, but ‘The Goode Family’ is another yawner from Mike Judge (TV review)
“Office Space” is a contemporary classic of cubicle culture, and “Idiocracy” is a disturbingly prescient pseudo-comedy about the dumbing down of the world — they’re both excellent movies. But I’ve never quite connected with Mike Judge’s TV work. I’m not really feeling it with his latest effort, ABC’s “The Goode Family,” either.
Lohman stars in the delightful family film ‘Drag Me to Hell’
Movie review: Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots, and brings Alison Lohman along.
Matthew Stover gives Luke Skywalker his due in ‘Star Wars’ novel ‘Shadows of Mindor’ (Book review)
Matthew Stover goes back to the beginning with “Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor” (December 2008, hardcover). Not the beginning of the “Star Wars” timeline, but the beginning of published “Star Wars” novels, as he attempts to capture the swashbuckling adventures of early “Star Wars” fiction.
5 random observations (Commentary)
Here are five random observations: 1. I’ve been listening to a lot of Minnesota Twins games on the radio this year and for some bizarre reason, the chorus of The Cranberries’ 1994 hit “Zombie” often plays over the loudspeaker at the Metrodome. Regardless of the game situation, it strikes me as an odd time to
On ‘Medium,’ family life can be as dramatic as gruesome murders (TV commentary)
“Medium” falls into that category of shows that are half-procedural, half-character drama. Another way of putting it: half of the episode is what keeps it on the air (in this case, Allison Dubois solving hideous, teaser-friendly murders via her dreams), and the other half is why we actually like it (in this case, the drama of
What’s up with all the TV Chucks? (Commentary)
Charles isn’t currently in the top 10 of most popular baby names, but that will change in the coming years. If television is a trend-setter, then Charles, Chuck, Charlie and Charlotte are about to experience a comeback.
State of Television Address, Part 3: ‘Glee’ provides a ray of hope for the fall (TV review)
This is the post where I’m supposed list the new fall shows I’m looking forward to, but after watching clips of the five networks’ 28 newcomers over at Zap2It (scroll down the list to find the pages for each network), I can’t say that anything really jumped out at me.