Finale, finally

“American Idol”Tuesday and Wednesday 8pm, Fox I dropped “Idol” this year before it hit the Top 10; I think it was the second Beatles week that turned me off the show for the first time since Season 3. It’s not that the kids this time were untalented. But…they were unlikable. I mean, as human beings. […]

Movies playing in town

Movies playing in town21 (PG-13, 123 minutes) Inspired by the book Bringing Down the House, this fact-based (let’s not go all the way to “true”) story introduces us to hotshot young M.I.T. student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, Across the Universe). Our boy Ben’s a math wizard, but he’s too poor to afford tuition. Enter evil […]

Need for Speed?

In their first writing/directing effort since the conclusion of the epic Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski brothers grab the wheel in Speed Racer, a live-action adaptation of the classic Japanese cartoon from the ’60s. Given the groundbreaking, if audience-splitting, work the Wachowskis did on the techno-mythical Matrix films, Speed Racer seems like a somewhat junior-grade assignment. […]

Bill and Dave’s excellent adventure

David Alan Harvey thrives on what you bring to him, not on what you take from him. Interpretations of his photographs—moments of intimate family life caught in vibrant, often violent expression—depend on how you perceive intimacy, or family, or violence.

Don’t stand on Superman’s cape

“Smallville”Thursday 8pm, CW I’m a comic geek, so this show frustrates me to no end. It’s not that it changes things from the comics. It’s that all of the changes are stupid. The initial premise was to show Clark Kent’s life as a pre-Super teen and, for the first couple seasons, that made for a […]

Movies playing in town

Movies playing in town21 (PG-13, 123 minutes) Inspired by the book Bringing Down the House, this fact-based (let’s not go all the way to “true”) story introduces us to hotshot young M.I.T. student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, Across the Universe). Our boy Ben’s a math wizard, but he’s too poor to afford tuition. Enter evil […]

Ruling, with an iron fist

The problem with introducing movie-going audiences to a new superhero franchise—something you can expect to witness every summer for the foreseeable future—is that filmmakers are obliged to spend the first flick recounting the age-old “origin” myth. This introductory tale serves to inform viewers how our chosen hero became so damn super in the first place, […]