Arts

Adrien Brody and Topher Grace joining forces to revive a franchise inaugurated by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura doesn’t exactly say, “Badass!” or even, “Necessary!”

“Covert Affairs” Tuesday 10pm, USA This unimaginatively titled new drama addition to USA’s summer procedural slate has been dismissed as “Alias Lite.” As a huge fan of the spy series that made J.J. Abrams, Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper household names, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. “Covert” stars the very pretty Piper Perabo […]

  The A-Team (PG-13, 117 minutes) From Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan, it’s the inevitable big-screen update of the ‘80s TV action-comedy, starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and some other guys, plus Jessica Biel. Regal Downtown Mall 6 Get Him to the Greek (R, 109 minutes) Russell Brand stars as Aldous Snow in this spinoff […]

You worry going into these cartoon flicks. With their bright computerized colors and loud noises and urgent insistence on 3D, you worry that you’ll come out more or less empty-handed, entertainment-wise. That the movie simply will be lame. With low standards in mind, Despicable Me doesn’t disappoint. That is, it’s not really lame at all, […]

“Jeopardy”  Wednesday 7:30pm, NBC29 I love Kids Week on “Jeopardy”; it’s the one time I can actually beat the contestants as I play along at home. I joke—those little buggers still beat me. The venerable quiz show will be dominated by the preteen set this week, as contestants aged 10 to 12 show off their […]

What are you working on right now? I’m working on a large oil painting of foxes in an early Flemish style. And I’m working on small copper paintings of small birds. The big one’s probably going to take all summer. The little ones only take me a couple of hours.   Locally, who would you […]

The A-Team (PG-13, 117 minutes) From Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan, it’s the inevitable big-screen update of the ‘80s TV action-comedy, starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and some other guys, plus Jessica Biel. Regal Downtown Mall 6 Despicable Me (PG, 95 minutes) Steve Carrell voices an evil genius whose plot to steal the moon is threatened by […]

 What are you working on right now? Russ Warren, whose painting can be seen on the cover of this week’s paper, works at the farm he shares with wife Lyn Bolen Warren. Right now I’m working like mad on a series of paintings that started about a year or so ago. I kind of picked […]

Writer-director Nicole Holofcener seems to get better with every film, and now she’s cruising along the well-trodden path of neurotic New Yorker comedy-drama with grace and comely confidence.  Catherine Keener and a cast of excellent women star in Nicole Holofcener’s newest low-key emotional rollercoaster, where a family awaits the death of an elderly woman whose […]

“Top Chef: D.C.”  Wednesday 9pm, Bravo The new season of Bravo’s popular cooking competition snuck up on me. But now that we’re a couple episodes in, two things are clear. First, there’s a lot of talent in this crop of chefs. Second, the show has the exact same problem it had last time around, specifically […]