Movie review: The Hobbit falls flat
After the hideous misfire that was The Lovely Bones, its little surprise that Peter Jackson opted to return to the scene of his greatest triumph, Middle-earth. But in ignoring Thomas Wolfes...
View ArticleThe Farr Side: Clarkson, Fun could score big at Grammys
Nominees for the 55th annual Grammy Awards were announced last week during a live telecast concert on CBS. Hosted by LL Cool J and Taylor Swift, nominees in several major categories were announced...
View ArticleMusic review: New releases avoid the Christmas music curse
Even for those people (you know who you are) who enjoy a good Christmas tune now and again, come Dec. 26 even the catchiest holiday albums feel sort of like a bad hangover, removed quickly from iPod...
View ArticleArnold Schwarzenegger is back as a leading man
For about two decades, there wasnt anyone much bigger in Hollywood than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although to be fair, the hits in his resume the Conan films, the Terminator films, Twins, True...
View ArticleMovie review: Weak script cant kill Gangster Squad
A smart screenwriter might have used the stylish but empty-headed shoot-em-up Gangster Squad to draw a relevant correlation between the CIAs hunt for Osama bin Laden and the city of Los Angeles...
View ArticleThe Readers Writers: Educator, author and professor Siegfried Engelmann
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is the current No. 2 bestselling nonfiction book on Amazon.com. The book was published in 1986. No. Thats not a typo. 1986. My immediate question was...
View ArticleThe Readers Writers: NYT and USA Today bestselling author Rosalind Noonan
Rosalind Noonan has a firm foothold on becoming one of the finest authors of family drama and suspense. One of five children raised in an Irish family, she has traveled Europe and worked as a senior...
View ArticleMovie review: Twists keep Broken City intriguing
Maybe its time to put the idea of bad movies being dumped into January release dates to a rest. This crime drama, which explores the nastiness and sleaziness bubbling just below the surface of New...
View ArticleThe Last Stand proves Schwarzenegger is still a star
There are already snappy one-liners a-plenty going around about Arnold Schwarzenegger being baaack. But anyone watching The Last Stand will feel almost immediately that he never went away. The...
View ArticleMovie review: Quartet celebrates creativity
Its an interesting time for an industry that makes most of its money from a viewing audience that hasnt yet reached 30. One of last years biggest art house hits was the veteran actor-filled The...
View ArticleMovie review: Retired musicians get decidedly active in Quartet
It almost seems like film studios would rather make movies for newborns than the so-called mature demographic. Coming to a theater near you Teething 2. Look out as the Mighty Molar goes...
View ArticleThe Readers Writers: NYT bestselling author Jennifer Estep
Jennifer Estep holds a bachelors degree in English and journalism and a masters in professional communications. Southern-born and raised, Jennifer admits to a love of food and a preference for honey...
View ArticleMovie review: Bullet to the Head– fun title, fun movie
The last film to be so perfectly titled, to give viewers exactly what they thought they were going to get plotwise, was Snakes on a Plane, a bad movie that had only a good title going for it. Thats...
View ArticleJude Law talks about Side Effects and other new projects
London native David Jude Law slowly came up through the acting ranks like so many of his contemporaries: a stint at the National Youth Music Theatre, some work in British TV soaps, then lots of time on...
View ArticleMovie review: Youll want these Side Effects
Money, sex, insider trading, prison time, emotional distress, prescription drugs and their (see title), doctor-patient relationships, ethics probes, murder. This new mystery-thriller from director...
View ArticleMovie review: 56 Up an engaging reality series
Every seven years, since 1964, British TV viewers have been treated to a phenomenon: an insightful, humorous, sobering, life-affirming series of shows, the first of which focused on a group of...
View ArticleThe Readers Writers: Paranormal romance author Lexi George
I dont have a list of favorite romance authors. But if I did, Lexi George would join Victoria Alexander in my top five.An appellate attorney by trade, Lexi grew up in an Alabama rural community where...
View ArticleMovie review: Beautiful Creatures kind of like Twilight, but better
A boy meets a girl, and theyre different from each other, but they dont let that get in the way of romance. OK, stop thinking about Twilight or the much more recent Warm Bodies. This new one,...
View ArticleMovie review: John Dies at the End
SPOILER ALERT! John does NOT die at the end. He dies at about the halfway point. Or maybe its a third of the way in. Hold on, he might not be dead at all.Wow, if that doesnt pique your interest, this...
View ArticleMovie review: Dwayne Johnson cant save Snitch
As I was leaving an advance screening of this new action movie starring Dwayne Johnson, a critic friend of mine said to me, I liked The Tooth Fairy better, referring to an earlier, really bad...
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