Come to think of it, Mao’s Last Dancer is just the movie you’d expect from seeing ballet star Cunxin Li’s memoir adapted for the director of Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford) by the writer of Shine (Jan Sardi). Not that it would ever occur to you to expect such a movie. But here it is, […]
Come to think of it, Mao’s Last Dancer is just the movie you’d expect from seeing ballet star Cunxin Li’s memoir adapted for the director of Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford) by the writer of Shine (Jan Sardi). Not that it would ever occur to you to expect such a movie. But here it is, […]
“No Ordinary Family” Tuesday 8pm, ABC If you liked The Incredibles or The Fantastic Four (the comic series, not the crappy movies) you’ll probably dig this. The Powell family is the picture of modern American malaise. Father Jim (Michael Chiklis, “The Shield”) is having a borderline midlife crisis, mom Stephanie (Julie Benz, “Dexter”) is a […]
We’ve been on tour for the last month and a half, but we had a week off in Charleston.
Early on in The Town, we see Ben Affleck in a Boston Bruins jacket. Then we see him in a Red Sox jacket. But no Celtics, no Patriots. What, not a fan? Or is it that hockey and baseball actually do figure in to the plot, and this is Affleck’s idea of foreshadowing? Rebecca Hall […]
“Glee” Tuesday 8pm, Fox A pop-culture backlash is imminent, if not already here, and with good reason. While “Glee” has many wonderful qualities—great cast, novel idea, crack-addictive musical numbers—it has giant, glaring flaws. The characters are almost all caricatures, the plotting ranges from the maudlin to the nonsensical, and the showrunners have the narrative focus […]
I was actually working on something top secret. It is an architectural competition to design a sukkah
Wait. Summer’s over? Again? How the hell does this keep happening? Can’t something be done? Well, why don’t we just keep going to the movies anyway? Here’s a handful of films that’ll be playing this fall. M. Night Shyamalan’s Devil. Devil. (Opening September 17; with Chris Messina) If there’s anything worse than being trapped in […]
“Top Chef: Just Desserts” Wednesday 11pm, Bravo Anyone who watches “Top Chef” knows that desserts have routinely been the downfall of many a great chef on that show. We’ve been told over and over again that there is a huge difference between cooking and baking. Baking involves precise measurements and miracles of chemistry, and generally […]
It’s not every weekend that two movies about practiced killers are new in theaters simultaneously.
“Hellcats” Wednesday, 9pm, CW The new fall season is here, and CW is first up with this new series set in the competitive world of collegiate cheerleading. The cast looks like the remainders of a discount Disney Channel talent bin, with Alyson Michalka (“Phil of the Future,” one half of the pop duo Aly & […]