Archive | May, 2010

Guilt Makes Her Give Back

30 May

In the movie Please Give, Catherine Keener stars as Kate, the owner of an antique furniture store in New York. Like a lawyer who hangs around a hospital hoping to score new clients, Kate and her husband, Alex (Oliver Platt), pounce when there’s a death, buying up the deceased’s furniture for cheap and selling it in the store for a significant profit.

It’s not that easy, though. Kate is wracked with guilt about what she does, and she tries to balance out her lifestyle by giving money to homeless people and volunteering — a fruitless pursuit because it’s motivated more by pity than by compassion.

And that’s not lost on Kate’s daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele), who is dealing with body image issues and could use some compassion from her mother. Continue reading →

Faith Rewarded

21 May

At the start of every new TV season, viewers like me have important questions to answer.

For example, which new shows will be good enough to invest our time, energy, emotion, and precious DVR space in?

Which will be worth watching after a good (or bad) pilot, and sticking with for the (hopefully many) years to come?

In some cases, it’s a difficult choice between two shows on at the same time.

In other cases, there’s not really a choice to make.

The latter was the case with Lost in the fall of 2004. Continue reading →

Summer Is Back

6 May

Iron Man 2 begins with a bang.

Or, perhaps more appropriately, with a zip, zoom, swish, and a bang — not to mention a rockin’ song by AC/DC playing over the action.

Those are the sounds we hear as our hero flies through the air amidst fireworks and then lands to wild applause. “Oh, it’s good to be back,” exclaims Tony Stark, after shedding his Iron Man costume.

The expression could go many ways.

In my world, it applies not just to Stark, but also to Robert Downey Jr., the Iron Man series, and summer movies in general. Yes, IM2 kicks off the summer season in high style; this movie is a great big ball of fun. Continue reading →

Two Cute

4 May

Two years ago today I became an uncle, and it still qualifies as one of the happiest days of my life.

I say one of and not the happiest because since that day, as I have watched her grow up, Abby has brought me many other days of happiness.

There was the day I first saw her smile, the day she fell asleep on my chest, the days she came to visit me for the first time in Boston, the day I first saw her walking, the day I heard her say my name for the first time, and many others.

I’m sure being a parent has similar, if not greater, joys, but until then, I can’t think of anything in my life that I enjoy more than being than Abby’s uncle. Continue reading →

Everybody Loves Kristin

3 May

Kristin Chenoweth — the original Glinda in Wicked, the boozy April Rhodes on Glee, the Tony-winning star of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and an Emmy winner for her role on Pushing Daisies — is one of those actresses who everybody knows and everybody loves.

So when I got the chance to interview her recently for Continental magazine, it was definitely a thrill.

Chenoweth was just as sweet and nice and fun and bubbly as I’d expected her to be, and she gave me “good quote,” which I used in the article I wrote about her, which is now live. Continue reading →