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Articles tagged with: It’s Log

Life of Pi: Let’s hope this kitchen sink floats
January 17, 2013 – 10:43 AM | 25 Comments
<I>Life of Pi</I>: Let’s hope this kitchen sink floats

A teenage boy named Pi, shipwrecked on his way from India to Quebec with his family and their zoo animals, spends more than half a year at sea, “sharing” a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger …

Arbitrage: No money down
December 23, 2012 – 5:22 PM | 5 Comments
<I>Arbitrage</I>: No money down

Apparently, Arbitrage is getting some Oscars notice. True, said “notice” may consist primarily of its own PR team, but Couch Baron and I decided to check it out, mostly to see if yet another “high-finance …

The Age of Innocence (1934): Subtraction by addition
December 21, 2012 – 1:22 AM | 4 Comments
<I>The Age of Innocence</I> (1934): Subtraction by addition

The Age of Innocence‘s 1934 iteration is an interesting prospect. The stymied romance between old-money lawyer Newland Archer (John Boles) and his bland but correct fiancĂ©e’s bohemian cousin Ellen Olenska (Irene Dunne), recently escaped from …

A Tale of Two Menendezes
November 12, 2012 – 10:45 PM | 12 Comments
A Tale of Two Menendezes

Two TV movies about the Menendez case came out within five weeks of each other in 1994: Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders, and Menendez: A Killing in Beverly …

Narc and the art of stillness
April 10, 2012 – 12:40 PM | 4 Comments
<I>Narc</I> and the art of stillness

I kind of liked Smokin’ Aces, the Joe Carnahan feature that followed Narc with a real more-than-ten-days’-worth budget and some actual names. A number of critics blew off the effort as Tarantinoid, derivative, shallow — …

TV Question Qorner: Midseason Report Card A-B
October 24, 2011 – 1:40 PM | 9 Comments
TV Question Qorner: Midseason Report Card A-B

ANTM: All-Stars. I had tagged out of the show a few cycles ago because I couldn’t take Tyra’s unleavened self-aggrandizement. It’s still egregious, but because the girls have gone through the process before, she can’t …

Dog Days of Summer Movies: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
August 2, 2011 – 11:49 AM | 10 Comments
Dog Days of Summer Movies: <I>I Still Know What You Did Last Summer</I>

Please welcome Mark Blankenship of The Critical Condition to the curator’s chair!
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Before I get to the plot of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, I need to address the title. You see, on …

Cultural Blind Spots: Footloose and Lost in Translation
July 19, 2011 – 1:36 PM | 26 Comments
Cultural Blind Spots: <I>Footloose</I> and <I>Lost in Translation</I>

Owned the soundtrack on LP as a kid; still love the soundtrack, despite the sticky synth and the portentous Kenny Loggins; never saw Footloose before. It’s a pleasant surprise. The premise is utterly contrived, and …

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I
January 30, 2011 – 6:37 PM | 15 Comments
<I>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I</I>

See my comments on last year’s nominated iteration of the franchise. It has a few nice moments, but feels a little slower than the last one, and the acting is quite poor in spots. It’s …

The Squared Up Podcast, Episode 1: Pith Fail
November 23, 2010 – 9:23 AM | 4 Comments
The Squared Up Podcast, Episode 1: Pith Fail

It didn’t feel like an hour, but that’s how long inaugural guest Couch Baron and I blathered on about baseball in the first episode of The Squared Up Podcast. I’ll have a better handle on …