‘Nick & Norah’: One movie that’s better than the book (Commentary)

My friend Ally wondered the other day why filmmakers can’t just stay true to the book, especially if it’s a good book. I had mentioned that “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” was my favorite movie of 2008, and she said she hated it because the book was better.

‘10 Things I Hate About You’ saves the summer season (TV review)

I don’t think I’ve seen the Julia Stiles-Heath Ledger movie of the same name, or if I did, it made no impression on me. So I don’t know what the title means, but I do know I like “10 Things I Hate About You” (7 p.m. Central Tuesdays on ABC Family), the first good TV series of

‘Make It or Break It’: Skip it (TV review)

For two weeks once every four years, gymnastics is the most popular sport in America. Like everyone else, I was drawn into the drama of whether Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin and the Americans would bring home the gold last summer.

Happy (day after) Mother’s Day from ‘Gossip Girl’: Brittany Snow returns to TV (Commentary)

It’s appropriate that Brittany Snow spells her name the normal way, rather than “Britney,” “Brittani” or “Britni.” The actress strikes me as an old-fashioned girl, because I first saw her as Meg Pryor in the 1960s-set “American Dreams,” that 2002-05 NBC series where Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” played in the background during every episode.