Archive | November, 2007

Escape Claus

9 Nov

Ho ho holy crap, is this a bad movie. Fred Claus makes me feel like the Grinch and it’s only November 9. I’m not even sure what to mention here to illustrate why this movie isn’t enjoyable — Vince Vaughn’s tired schtick? bad writing? awful special effects? — so I’ll stick with my initial thought, which is that the biggest waste of all is a jolly soundtrack that includes such gems as the Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping” and the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” You know a holiday movie is bad when even tunes like that can’t lift your spirits. I’m giving Fred a D, for don’t bother.

All Talk, No Action

7 Nov

If you’re going to go see Lions for Lambs, you’d better bring a shovel, or a first aid kit, because when it’s over you’re either going to need to do a lot of digging to get out of the heavy handed speechifying and verbosity, or you’ll be on the mend from being hit over the head with so much righteousness.

No, Lions isn’t a subtle film, and I guess when you’ve got Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, and Meryl Streep headlining, how can it be?

Continue reading →

For a Few Extra Schillings …

6 Nov

If you ask me, it’s good news that Curt Schilling will be back on the Sox next year, finishing out his career right here in Boston. But the details of his new contract are a little suspect:

<< According to Schilling, who first posted the confirmation on his web site, the deal includes a possible $6 million in incentives in addition to his $8 million base salary: $2 million in weight incentives (based on six weigh-ins), $3 million based on innings pitched, and $1 million if he receives even a single Cy Young vote. >>

He gets $2 million in “weight incentives?” Are you kidding me?? Well, allow me to make this announcement: if the Sox (or, for that matter, any other company out there) wants to pay me $2 million to lose weight and keep it off, I’d gladly switch jobs. That’s crazy. But it’s certainly worth $2 million to me.

Monster Man

5 Nov

The new Continental magazine is now on planes, and in it is my profile of Roger Bart, who you may recognize from his roles as Carmen Ghia in The Producers, George the psychotic pharmacist on Desperate Housewives, or the federal prosecutor who gets into it with Russell Crowe in American Gangster.

Bart was a really fun interview, and I’d like to think the story at least partly captures that. Continue reading →

Real Nice Movie

1 Nov

On the movie spectrum, there are the awesome, award-caliber films on one end, the truly awful ones on the other end, and then, somewhere in the middle, there are the merely pleasant ones — movies with no great agenda other than to provide a diversion for a couple hours.

Dan in Real Life is one of those middle-of-the-road pictures, and it’s meant as no slight to call it pleasant.

Actually, the movie could have been much worse with less talented creative folks involved. Continue reading →

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