Movie Reviews and TV Shows
Ira Glass Hosts the Best Show on TV: This American Life
I take lot of heat for being such a shameless, diehard fan of reality TV shows like The Amazing Race, Survivor, American Idol and all those embarrassingly addictive programs on Bravo such as Project Runway, Top Chef and Top Design. Clothes, food, home décor: It’s like there is a reality show specifically geared to feed each of my secret obsessions! Hurray for digital cable!
Continue reading This American Life: Another Kind of Reality
Yes!
Nothing says, “I Love The Seventies!” quite like this photo of Vincent Gallo, which was sent to me this morning by some dude I know, whom I believe secretly wishes to be Vincent Gallo. Which reminds me, I finally saw The Brown Bunny last summer and it’s definitely worth adding to your Netflix queue, not only for its great Gordon-Lightfoot-song-including soundtrack, but also for the chance to see Vincent Gallo’s junk, which is quite impressive.
The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of
When you plan a trip to your local movie theater, do you secretly wish to find an arty, foreign language film that manages to combine elements of Through The Looking Glass with Saw, while also giving you a Reader’s Digest condensed peek at life in rural Spain during Franco’s fascist regime? If so, I’m happy to tell you that all of your cinematic fantasies have come true with a film I just saw yesterday call Pan’s Labyrinth. This movie may be about the dark, reality-blurring adventures of a lonely, freaked-out ten year old girl named Ofelia but, trust me, it’s not for children. Unless you’re one of those deranged parents who think it’s appropriate to take your eight year old to see Hostel, in which case, pack up the whole brood!
When you see this Dude, Get Ready for Some Fucked Up Shit to Go Down
My favorite part of Pan’s Labyrinth was when Ofelia drew a door on her bedroom wall with some chalk and pushed her way through to the banquet room of The Pale Man, who she has to sneak by in order to steal, I don’t know, some kind of thing that’s behind a locked compartment. Honestly, I wasn’t paying that close of attention. I was too absorbed in trying to figure out what the fuck was up with this naked, fleshy creature seated before a huge, sumptuous feast with his eyeballs on a plate in front of him. Hardcore!
Pan’s Labyrinth is directed by Guillermo Del Toro, the same guy who did cool films like HellBoy and Chronos, so if you liked those films go see it and then write me an email and let me know how much you think it rocked.
Animation Greats William Hanna and Joe Barbera with Tom and Jerry
Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, passed away Monday, December 18th , a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.
I don’t know about you, but I was rasied on Hanna-Barbera cartoons — The Flinstones and The Jetsons being two of my favorites — and even had my first crush on animated boy adventurer, Johnny Quest. The picture below represents many of Hanna-Barbera’s most popular and enduring/iconic characters. That really takes me back. Maybe it’s cheaper to make all cartoons in Asia these days, but you sure don’t see the same quality as you did back in the day.
The Survivor 13 Final Four
I don’t think it’s ever happened in any previous season of Survivor (and I’ve been there since Tagi and Pagong) that my two favorite players went to the final two together. That changed last night, when Yul went up against Ozzy (with Becky thrown in the middle for…some pointless reason) at the final tribal counsel to decide who wins the million dollars.
Continue reading Best Survivor Ever!