This must begin with a shameful confession, which is that the trailer for Larry Crowne made me want to see some horrible fate befall Julia Roberts. Look, I know it’s terrible. I barely even know how to hurt another person, let alone a balloon animal like the one Roberts plays in Larry Crowne. But if movies starring Tom Hanks have taught me anything, they have taught me that it’s important to do the right thing.
This must begin with a shameful confession, which is that the trailer for Larry Crowne made me want to see some horrible fate befall Julia Roberts. Look, I know it’s terrible. I barely even know how to hurt another person, let alone a balloon animal like the one Roberts plays in Larry Crowne. But if movies starring Tom Hanks have taught me anything, they have taught me that it’s important to do the right thing.
Regular readers of this column know that Super 8 left me cold. That film had been billed as one of the good ones. But that’s in a world—to borrow the blockbuster-trailer parlance—where “good” means predictably “shallow and sentimental.” As a grudging habitue and tiny-paycheck-collecting parasite of Hollywood excess, I know all too well that the […]
“Necessary Roughness” Wednesday 10pm, USA USA continues to crank out its female-friendly dramas with this new series about a soon-to-be divorced therapist who finds financial and professional fulfillment head shrinking a team of unruly professional football players. It’s a novel-enough concept, the pro-sports setting should provide some interesting footage, and USA has basically perfected the […]
I was sending out some coordination e-mails. I’ve been running the Charlottesville Photography Initiative since August of 2009. We’re a group of about 270 amateur and professional photographers in town, and we’re largely involved with education and community outreach.
"I am looking through images for this Charlottesville City schools website, compiling new pictures to go up on the site. I teach art to everyone at Clark Elementary and half the population at Greenbrier. This is my ninth year teaching."
“From writer-director J.J. Abrams,” the poster says in big letters, “and producer Steven Spielberg,” in letters just as big. That triumph of dual brand-identity marketing is the first thing people talk about, and Super 8’s salient feature.
“Wilfred” Thursday 10pm, FX Well, here’s something different. Elijah Wood stars as Ryan, a down-on-his-luck young man who finds help from an unlikely source: his neighbor’s dog, Wilfred. To everyone else Wilfred is a regular pooch. To Ryan, he is an Australian dude in a shoddy dog costume. He can talk, he can walk, he […]
THEATERS: Carmike Cinema 6 (1005 Garden Blvd., 973-4294) Regal Downtown 6 (200 W. Main St., 979-7669) Regal Seminole Square 4 (2306 India Dr., 978-1607) Vinegar Hill Theatre (220 W. Market St., 977-4911)
Maybe it’s to Woody Allen’s advantage that his golden age is presumed to be behind him. It makes it easy to accept this 75-year-old writer-director as a good-humored nostalgist who understands the basic problem with nostalgia: There’s no future in it.
“Jon Benjamin Has a Van" Tuesday 10:30pm, Comedy Central You might not immediately recognize H. Jon Benjamin, but he’ll probably sound familiar. The comedian has been getting steady voice-acting roles in cartoons for years now, on series as far back as “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,” and as recent as “Bob’s Burgers” and “Archer,” where he […]