In the lead up to this week’s world premier of the first half of the last book of the Harry Potter series, a series that has defined my pop culture existence since I first picked up the hard cover in 1998, I’ve been re watching all the movies*. It’s pretty accepted logic that the movies […]

Take an exclusive first look at this photo from the new Muppet movie. Now I dare you not to love Jason Segel (not to mention all the other wonderful cuddly creatures in this photo!)

 

Sometimes I think I see sexism in movies where there isn’t any. I think that I am oversensitive when I whine about the portrayal of women in Hancock, or the dearth of legitimate female friendships, or the double standard represented by the MPAA’s recent decision to categorize “male nudity” as separate from “nudity,” while maintaining […]

 

Earlier this year my father bought Life Magazine’s “100 People Who Changed the World”. I read the thing cover to cover. There were tons of omissions, none quite so confounding to me as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. My dad didn’t understand why I insisted that the 26-year-old billionaire should be on the list, […]

I first saw Jesse Eisenberg* in the 2005 film The Squid and the Whale. In it, he played the mostly unlikeable, snobbish son of a couple going through one of the most nasty divorces ever put to film. The movie showed Eisenberg’s transition from gawky, assholeish teen to sympathetic young man against the back drop […]

 

Full disclosure: Although I’ve never joined a fan club, written a celebrity a letter, or started a blog dedicated to my love for a boy band member, Ben Affleck is the closest thing I have to a life-long celebrity obsession. It’s not even a romantic obsession. I don’t doodle his name on my notebooks, and […]

 

Teen comedies live or die based on their casts. A brilliant script is a plus, kicking direction can be a boon, and an original concept is always appreciated, but they live or die based on their casts. Think of the very best teen movies (Ten Things I Hate About You, Mean Girls, Can’t Hardly Wait, […]

 

The documentary about Joan Rivers is doing really well. It’s gotten a lot of great press, strong ticket sales and a 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also happens to be really good. It’s fascinating, disturbing, funny and tragic. I’ve never been a Rivers fan, and the film not only told me why that’s […]