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Marshall Fine

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Shorter and funnier - please!

Marshall Fine | Posted January 8, 2010 | Entertainment


As a critic, I often get the same two questions, virtually back to back:

Have you seen (fill in the blank)? How was it?

Inevitably, I wind up giving one of two answers, if not both:

It was too long.

I wish it had been funnier.

There are very few...

David Wild

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"Night Shift": A Late Night Playlist For Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien

David Wild | Posted January 8, 2010 | Entertainment


Here's my playlist for two nice and funny guys in one awkward TV situation:

NIGHT SHIFT - The Commodores
IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR - Wilson Pickett
THE PRIME TIME OF YOUR LIFE - Daft Punk
NIGHT TIME IS THE RIGHT TIME - Ray Charles
WAITING FOR...

Dan Persons

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ReelzChannel: The Top Ten "Oh, Come On" Moments in Sci-Fi Movies

Dan Persons | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


2010-01-08-Daybreakersblog_v01.jpgAny science-fiction movie is predicated at least a little on the suspension of disbelief. But then there are points where what we're presented with so defies logic, physics, or natural human behavior that the mind rebels. At that point, the credibility of an entire...

Jeff Norman

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Polanski Lawyers Cite Dying Witness as Reason to Hold Hearing Soon

Jeff Norman | Posted January 8, 2010 | Entertainment


At a public hearing yesterday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Chad Hummel, the lead defense attorney in Roman Polanski's criminal matter, wanted it known that although he had recently asked for an in-chambers meeting to confer about one particular issue of "great sensitivity," he had never suggested anything else...

Scott Mendelson

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Better Late Than Never: The Best Movies of 2009

Scott Mendelson | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


Pardon the obvious tardiness, but as often occurs, life got in the way. So, no more procrastination, here are my favorite films of the just finished year, in alphabetical order, with my very favorite pick singled out at the end. And away we go...

Claudia Ricci

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All a Fake, But What Difference Does It Make?

Claudia Ricci | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment



A friend sent me a link to a video featuring something called the Incredible Music Machine. If you haven't seen it, you absolutely must check it out.

Like a gazillion other viewers,...

Emma Ruby-Sachs

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Letterman Needs To Fix His Mistake

Emma Ruby-Sachs | Posted January 7, 2010 | Media


I've heard my fair share of gay jokes. In fact, many of the most high profile come from members of the straight community: celebrities and supporters who use LGB issues to get a laugh, but also to get the issue out there and in the public eye. Sometimes...

Michael Jones

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Nine

Michael Jones | Posted January 7, 2010 | Chicago


Is maddening.

I am a sucker for movies about the creative process. I thought Tristam Shandy, A Cock and Bull Story was one of the best movies of the recently concluded first decade of the MMs. Nine tries to take us into the genius of Frederico Fellini. It fails...

Michael Rose

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Elvis: The King of Rock 'n' Roll Turns 75

Michael Rose | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


2010-01-07-ElvisSnaps.jpg

Teenagers in the 1950s and '60s turned Elvis Presley into an icon. His shaking hips and curled lips sent rock 'n' roll shockwaves reverberating around the world and challenged prevailing notions about sex, race and class. As we celebrate what would have been...

Robert Koehler

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Disposable Gods

Robert Koehler | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


Read the tabs -- watch the tube -- if you want to know how a society that has lost its religiosity can still engage with the deities. The eerily appropriate term "celebrity worship" is evidence of the extent to which we've improved on Greek culture: We've invented disposable gods.

Tiger,...

Marshall Fine

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Interview: Michael Cera's quiet Revolt

Marshall Fine | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


At the age of 21, Michael Cera has been acting professionally for more than half his life, since he was a pre-teen in his native Toronto.

His breakthrough role - at least in Hollywood - was the Emmy-winning but short-lived sit-com, Arrested Development. It showcased his comedy style of misdirection:...

Marshall Fine

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Movie review: Wonderful World

Marshall Fine | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


What's happened to Matthew Broderick? Why is he stuck in the rut of playing joyless schnooks, like his character in the new film, Wonderful World?

I thought of this after I happened to catch Ferris Bueller's Day Off on TV recently, for the first time in ages. In that John...

Kim Morgan

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Vivre Le Creep: Youth In Revolt

Kim Morgan | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


kissmedeadlymeeker-1.png picture by BrandoBardot


Ralph Meeker, Dan Duryea, Vince Edwards, Steve Cochran. There's just something about the asshole. Scratch that. That's too strong and vulgar and dismissive of a word. More like, the shit heel, the...

Alan Elsner

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Half an Hour With Bach Puts Politics in Perspective

Alan Elsner | Posted January 6, 2010 | Entertainment


Read More: Bach, Classical Music, Piano

Whenever I have a spare half hour, I head for the piano. Recently, I've faced a tough choice: the English Suites or French Suites? Classical music mavens of course know I'm referring to keyboard music written almost 300 years ago by J.S. Bach.

There's nothing particularly English about the...

William Bradley

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Doctor Who: The Long Goodbye

William Bradley | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


"He will knock four times."


And so, the finale for the great tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant, came round at last. It was the end of a long goodbye, which itself was part of a long goodbye.

For those who have not seen it, there are spoilers...

Josh Schrei

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Avatar and the Vocabulary of Evildoers -- Or, Why James Cameron's Script Isn't as Bad as You Think

Josh Schrei | Posted January 7, 2010 | Entertainment


While critics have unanimously agreed that the visual spectacle that is James Cameron's Avatar is beyond compare, there has been less enthusiasm for the plot line, which has been called out as flat and unoriginal.

It's quite true that the movie's script -- which centers on a tribe of indigenous...

John W. Whitehead

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It's the Beatles' World (We Just Live in It)

John W. Whitehead | Posted January 6, 2010 | Entertainment


"We were four relatively sane people in the middle of madness."--George Harrison

The Beatles -- with two members of the group deceased -- were, by the end of 2009, projected to make over $1.6 billion from the release of their 13 remastered albums, as well as the video game, Beatles...

Douglas MacKinnon

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James Cameron: The Brilliant Replicant

Douglas MacKinnon | Posted January 6, 2010 | Entertainment


Read More: Avatar, James Cameron, Na'Vi

If you don't go to see Avatar you will be depriving yourself of an amazing experience. James Cameron has reached a new level for cinematic genius and breathtaking technology.

That said, soon after leaving the theatre (3-D only please), your mind should soon decompress from the emerald and...

Steven Nereo

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A Morning Ramble Through the Idiocracy

Steven Nereo | Posted January 6, 2010 | Los Angeles


I remember the first time I saw Mike Judge's Frog Baseball sometime back in the 90s. The idea of two stoner/metalheads laughing about playing baseball with frogs as the ball might seem a bit tame in today's extreme-animation world, but sandwiched between all the Liquid Television fluff, it stood out...

Marshall Fine

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HuffPost Review: Leap Year

Marshall Fine | Posted January 6, 2010 | Entertainment


Leap Year is the kind of movie that shows up weekly, if not daily, on the Lifetime, WE and Hallmark channels.

Apparently, the public has an insatiable appetite for unfunny romantic comedies about opposites, who attract after first repelling each other. And, apparently, Hollywood has a bottomless pit of this...

All posts from 01.08.2010 < 01.07.2010