Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer – Capsule Review

As the summer of sequels continues, it take more and more blockbuster magic to impress. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer already had a knock against it, being the sequel to an incredibly mediocre super-hero first installment. While all the same actors are reprising their roles for the sequel (even the terribly miscast Jessica…

2007 Season Finales

Another television season has ended, and on some cliffs we’ve been left hanging–but nothing to make me crave next season. Alias, Battlestar, Lost, X-Files, and even Friends was always good for some major game-changing in the last episode, but this year’s shows aren’t quite stringing me along for next fall. Heroes – “How To Stop…

3 x 3 – Capsule reviews of Pirates 3, Shrek 3 and Spidey 3

You know it’s summer when the blockbuster sequels come out to play. Already the news stories have trumpeted which movie had the biggest opening, and which one came along to knock it off the top. In a three-in-a-row trifecta, this summer sees the return of the third installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek,…

Waitress – Movie Review

When you see what looks like a romantic comedy, with lead actors possessing a lot of charm and good comic timing and what looks like a pretty good script, what’s not to like? Keri Russell (TV’s Felicity herself) takes the lead again as a cute Southern waitress with a genius for making pies (one of the…

Hot Fuzz – Movie Review

After making a successful rom-zom-com (that’s a “romantic zombie comedy” for the unenlightened) in Shaun of the Dead, where do collaborators Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and (director) Edgar Wright head next? Hot Fuzz is a buddy cop movie. However, this isn’t just any ordinary Bruckheimer/Bay-type movie. In fact, it pays homage to those movies (including…

Planet Earth – TV review

Though I’m not much of a tree-hugger, I wanted to celebrate Earth Day by mentioning an amazing television series that I’ve started watching. It’s called Planet Earth and it was produced by the BBC. It’s a nature show, but it’s far beyond any of the nature shows I’ve ever seen. The cinematography is incredible,…

Midseason 2007 (2) – Drive & Thank God You’re Here

Though I guess it can hardly be called “mid-season” at this point, new shows are still trickling onto the TV schedule (as others are being quickly cancelled: “So long, Andy Barker, P.I.”). One new show poised to take over the mantle of Lost, with its continuing plot, mysterious back-story, and ensemble of varied characters is…

Life in Cartoon Motion by Mika – Music Review

When it comes to music, I’m no sophisticate. Don’t give me jazz, classic rock, or even R&B inspired pop or Hip-Hop hipness. Whatever. Give me the pure pop music, and lots of it. To fill my request, along comes London singer Mika, whose debut album, Life in Cartoon Motion, is already a pretty big hit…

Grindhouse – Movie Review

Despite being born in that decade, I am not a fan of the 70s. I’ve never really understood the Hollywood fascination with the movies of that period, either. Ever since director Quentin Tarantino came on the scene, there’s been an association between the low-budget exploitation films of that era and a certain cinematic cool. Now…