I didn’t realize that writer-director Thomas McCarthy was one of my favourites until I looked up his latest movie, Win Win. As an actor, I’d seen him as Mr. Riley on the David E. Kelley tv series about teachers, Boston Public. As a writer-director, I loved his first movie (The Station Agent) and his second…
Author: alving4
Paul – Movie Review
Has the pop cultural marketplace become over-saturated by geek-chic? How else can you explain how a comedy from popcult satirists Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (who brought us such great send-ups as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) can take aim at sci-fi geekdom and produce something so unfunny and cliche? (Perhaps it’s the…
The Adjustment Bureau – Movie Review
When I saw the trailer for The Adjustment Bureau, I saw similarities to two other rather different movies and I wondered which one was closer. With mysterious men-in-hats who secretly manipulate the world, is it going to be a mind-bending proto-film-noir like Dark City? Or when boy meets girl and they are kept apart by…
Rango – Movie Review
Rango is weird. He has surreal dreams, wears a Hawaiian shirt, puts on little dramas in his terrarium with a windup toy fish, and has a chorus of mariachi owls singing a lament of his demise. The animated movie from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski is quirky to say the least. Nevertheless, the…
Midseason TV 2011
I confess I’ve been a bit slow on the draw this year to talk about midseason TV. I guess I’ve been too caught up with my pre-Oscar movie-watching. However, I’ve still found the time to enjoy many of the series which have debuted or returned since the start of 2011. What’s more, many if them…
Oscar, Schmoscar 2011
When I first started my “Oscar Schmoscar” posts a few years ago, I was tired of the kinds of nominees that Oscar was coming up with. I lumped together some mini-reviews to let readers know what I thought of some of the nominated movies, but it was meant to be kind of dismissive. A few…
The Green Hornet – movie review
What if Batman had been kind of inept, and Robin had all the skills? I hadn’t known much about The Green Hornet before watching Michel Gondry’s new movie adaptation, but I knew that kung-fu legend, Bruce Lee, played the Hornet’s butt-kicking side-kick Kato in the original TV series. When Seth Rogen was cast in the…
2010: The Year On Screen
Movies Each year I am less inspired to go out to the movie theatres. The hassle and the hell of other movie-goers is rarely compensated by the big screen experience these days despite (or maybe because of) the move to go all 3D all the time. Seeing TRON: Legacy in the second row in IMAX…
2010 TV Characters: Love and Hate
Characters I Loved Danny “Danno” Williams, the awesome update of the theme song, and the amazing computer table are the three things that make the new reboot of Hawaii Five-O a cool show. Danno’s over-stated sarcasm, his love for all things New Jersey over Honolulu, and his refusal to trade his tie-and-dress-shoes attire for the…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 