Up in the Air has a marvelous premise. It says: Imagine getting fired—and not directly by your boss, but by George Clooney on behalf of your boss. O.K., not Clooney exactly, but close. It’s him playing the part of Ryan Bingham, roving downsizer, despoiler of livelihoods. “Career transition counselor” is how he’d put it, elaborating […]
“Crazy Christmas Lights” Friday 8am, TLC One of my favorite holiday activities is driving around, looking for ostentatious light displays. I’ve never understood how vomiting candy-colored bulbs all over your lawn shows off your love of Santa or Baby Jesus, but the more your home looks like a cathouse, the happier I’ll be. Charlottesville is […]
2012 (PG-13, 158 minutes) It’s the end of the world as we know it, and John Cusack feels fine. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6 Avatar (PG-13, 162 minutes) James Cameron’s opus uses brand-new filmmaking technology to tell the story of a Marine (Sam Worthington) sent to the planet Pandora on an undercover mission that […]
What are you working on currently? I’m working on my next book of poems, which may be called Wicked Bible. It takes its title from a famous edition of the Bible that left the word “not” out of the seventh commandment, so it says “Thou Shalt Commit Adultery.” Not sort of domestic adultery, but maybe […]
Just try not to think of Clint Eastwood’s new film as cultural colonialism, and everything will be fine. “Unconquerable” is what that title means, as in “Out of the night that covers me,/Black as the Pit from pole to pole,/I thank whatever gods may be/For my unconquerable soul.” Written in 1875 by the British poet […]
“Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars” Saturday 9pm, BBC America In roughly two weeks the Brits will get to meet the new Dr. Who. We’ll get him in America eventually, a few months after the Christmas/New Year’s two-parter bids adieu to current series star David Tennant and replaces him with Matt Smith, who will play […]
2012 (PG-13, 158 minutes) It’s the end of the world as we know it, and John Cusack feels fine. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6 Armored (PG-13, 88 minutes) In this actioner from the director of Vacancy, Matt Dillon plays an armored truck driver who gets caught up in a big heist. Columbus Short co-stars. Playing […]
What are you working on right now? Right now I’m working on two projects. One is Jefferson, In His Own Words, which is a piece for narrator and orchestra that has been co-commissioned by four orchestras. It’ll premiere in Illinois in March and then it will be performed here in Charlottesville by our wonderful symphony […]
In Brothers, a cadaverously thin Tobey Maguire plays an upright Marine gone missing and presumed dead in Afghanistan, leaving his wife to be looked after by his delinquent kid brother. But the wife is played by Natalie Portman, and the brother is played by Jake Gyllenhaal. So that’s some easy looking, both before and after. […]
“Barbara Walters: 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009” Wednesday 10pm, ABC News maven Barbara Walters unveils her annual list of people she deems “fascinating.” This year’s selections range from the obvious tabloid/pop culture fixations (Kate Gosselin, Adam Lambert) to the curiously still-relevant (Brett Favre, Tyler Perry), to people who don’t know when to shut the […]