Guns, guts and graphic novels

Amidst the high-profile comic book movies flooding theaters this summer (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, The Dark Knight, Hellboy 2), there’s one more whose roots trace, rather quietly, back to the graphic novel format. Wanted is based on a six-issue miniseries by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones published in 2003. Admittedly, the movie version takes […]

One Ringwald to rule them all

“Secret Life of the American Teenager”Tuesday 8pm, ABC FamilyDid you like Juno? Of course you did. So now here comes Hollywood to force lesser clones of the indie smash down your throat, starting with this new series on the increasingly edgy ABC Family. But wait—there is good news. While this is another story of a […]

Love is a Muxtape

How do you herald the start of an enormous musical experience? Do you move from the ground up, or from the top down? Bring a thunderous ruckus like Wu-Tang Clan, or testify to “the strength of street knowledge,” like N.W.A.? Do you walk like an Egyptian, smell like teen spirit, dance with yourself? Do you […]

He talk pretty

Every writer (especially the self-absorbed ones) dream of being David Sedaris, the author and memoirist whose every book shoots to the top of the bestseller list, and whose Santaland Diaries on NPR (about working as a Macy’s elf) has become a seasonal classic.

Movies playing in town

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (PG, 140 minutes) The Pevensie kids return to the magical land of Narnia, only to find that 1,000 years have passed since their last visit, leaving Narnia a far different place than it was before. Wouldn’t you know it, an evil general has taken over the land and it’s […]

“Sorry about that, chief”

Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and it’s one of the driving forces behind the new, feature film adaptation of the ’60s spy spoof TV series, “Get Smart.” Rather than totally reinvent the show (Mission: Impossible), slavishly re-create it (The Addams Family) or completely lampoon it (The Brady Bunch Movie), the makers of this action comedy […]

Game show mania

“I Survived a Japanese Game Show”Tuesday 9pm, ABC There’s a great episode of “The Simpsons” where the family gets stranded in Japan and, to earn plane fare home, they subject themselves to the unspeakable humiliations of a Japanese game show. I’m guessing the producers of this series saw that one, since this is pretty much […]

Storm’s coming

There are more than 60 versions of “Peaceable Kingdom” by Quaker painter Edward Hicks—different iterations of all creatures great and small, sleek-coated predators and skittish prey, hunkered down together wearing expressions that could make a Zen master jealous. The “Peaceable Kingdom” series comes from a line the Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah (and, for brevity’s […]