Category Archives: criticism

In preparation for So You Think You Can Dance Live this weekend (followed in three weeks by America’s Best Dance Crew Live — I’m not messing around), I’ve been watching dance movies. From this point forward, all dance movies will be judged against Strictly Ballroom. Why is Strictly Ballroom the greatest dance movie ever? HardContinue reading “Flashy, crowd-pleasing steps”

With Nothing But Bonfires coming clean about her trashy reality show addiction, I thought I’d throw out some thoughts about my own. Today’s topic: The Biggest Loser. Note: It is not possible to enjoy this show without TiVo, because there is so much damn recap after every commercial break. And then they give you allContinue reading “Who’s the biggest loser now?”

I saw two movies yesterday. At two different theatres. 27 DressesI went by myself and sat in a solo seat at the very back of the theatre. It was so crowded I overheard an old lady say, in response to the observation that there were no two seats together, “Let’s just take single seats.” AndContinue reading “Just like when I was in film school”

There’s nothing you can do to make yourself look unattractive to me on screen.

The patient has stabilized. I went to Seattle last night to see Tori again, and order was restored to the universe. I was even able to remember a few highlights from Monday evening: The dude sitting next to me (not Rob) sobbing uncontrollably during “Winter,” which she performed beautifully. I mean, sure I cried whenContinue reading “A bliss of another kind”

Hmm. Well. Where to begin. Took Rob to a Tori Amos concert across the border yesterday. Was sort of disappointed in my dinner at the Indian restaurant, sort of disappointed in the concert (I know, I know), and was downright vitriolic about having my car towed. (We were at a meter that turned into aContinue reading “So I let crazy take a spin”

Critics who pan “The Brave One” are simply wrong. Contrived? No. Boring? Absolutely not. Morally ambiguous? Sure, but who says that’s a bad thing? One review calls it a “revenge fantasy,” and I think that’s an appropriate description of the genre. (Spoiler ahead, but not of the ending.) Let me say first that I findContinue reading “Wrong, wrong, wrong”