Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Summer TV 2010

Sun is shining, weather is nice, perfect time to stay inside and watch TV, right? Well with all the new and returning shows, that’s probably what the networks would like you to think. Summer TV has definitely been growing over the past few years. Besides the bevy of reality shows, there are a number of…

Splice – Movie Review

I wonder what Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein would have been like if rewritten as a modern-day bio-sci-fi horror movie. Would Frankenstein fear the monster? adopt the monster? teach it to spell? dress it up? have sex with it? Splice is only a thematic descendant of that Victorian gothic novel, but I guess the issue of science…

Knight and Day – Movie Review

I can see the pitch meeting now: “What if we took Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible and combined him with Jerry Maguire? And we can cast Tom Cruise in the role!” Though it sounds like a winning idea to take two of Cruise’s more popular roles and try to make a box-office-stomping hybrid, but Roy…

Toy Story 3 – Movie Review

It’s been 11 years since the last Toy Story installment and 15 years since the first movie. How could even a pop-cultural cynic blame Pixar if they were milking the franchise, churning out inferior product just to balance the books in this tough economy? (See how the mighty Shrek has fallen!) Fortunately, that’s not the…

TV Season Wrap-Up 2010

Spoiler alert: If you are still catching up on some of these shows, please don’t read this post as I may be revealing some of the twists or surprise endings. Series Finales Leading up to the last episode of Lost, questions about the Island, the flashes-sideways, Jacob and the Man in Black, and so much…

Iron Man 2 – Movie Review

This Iron Man sequel picks up from the first movie after Tony Stark (played as cocky as you’d expect by Robert Downey Jr.) had announced to the world that he was the man in the iron suit. Things are not great for the fantastic Mr. Stark even as the world/U.S. sees him as a hero….

How To Train Your Dragon – Movie Review

The idea of having a pet dragon is the dream of every fantasy fan. It’s an intelligent, powerful, strong creature that can protect you with its claws and fiery breath, and it can fly you anywhere on its back. In Dreamworks’s latest animated movie, How To Train Your Dragon, a young viking boy named Hiccup…

Alice in Wonderland – Movie Review

Tim Burton should do more adaptations. Most fans probably prefer his quirkier, original movies like Edward Scissorhands or Ed Wood, but I am fond of his fantasy adaptations such as Sleepy Hollow and now Alice in Wonderland. Director Burton has really expanded the Wonderland universe into an even more spectacular place than it had been…

Oscar, Schmoscar 2010

I’m pretty excited about this year’s Oscars. That’s not because I finally care who wins (there are probably so many factors besides merit which determine that), but more because I’m enjoying watching a lot of the nominated films. Here are some capsule reviews of movies that I’ve discovered as part of cramming for the Oscars….