Pop Culture Round Up: June 12 - 18

Ozzy Osbourne writes health column

The Dictionary of American Regional English to Be Finished—Maybe Next Year

Strike a Pose - The Function and Fiction of Punk

Movie futures trading wins regulatory approval

Writing categories perplex Emmys

'Treme': A Shouting Match
Hilarious.

With Sequels and Reboots Failing, Hollywood (Finally) Puts Out a Desperate Call for Original Material

Hitchcock's Psycho at 50, the Sounds of Violence

Antiheroes play by their own rules

Contested Will Looks at the Nuts Who Think Shakespeare Didn't Write Shakespeare

The B-movie prophet

Twilight' screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg talks Kristen Stewart, Bill Condon and Breaking Dawn

All the Dead Are Vampires

Damien Hirst in line to open his first gallery in Hyde Park

Pick up just about any novel and you'll find the phrase "somewhere a dog barked."
You'll never not notice this again.

Love Songs Linked to Receptiveness to Romance

Halifax fire bosses sue online critics

How Jaws taught Hollywood to make a killing

Battle Raging Over Age Listings on IMDb

"Saneman" - In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Michael Cera is the ultimate Canadian superhero

"The Long Decline" - Canada used to have a vibrant critical culture. What happened?

Snoop Dogg Professes His Love for Sookie Stackhouse
Snoop is just . . . it's hard not to love Snoop. He's going to buy Sookie a gin and juice down at Merlotte's.

Zach Gilford on Returning to Friday Night Lights and Making Us All Cry

How has the culture of TV (and TV-watching) changed? | Crosstalk

Pop Culture Round Up: June 5 - 11

Kind of slow news week:

Capitalism: Hollywood's Miscast Villain

Fictional Stars, Real Problems

Do you speak foreign?

Why "Glee" is this century's "Twin Peaks"

Zach Gilford Ends His Role on 'Friday Night Lights'

Movie Trailers Give More and More Plot Away

Soundcheck: Slow Down, Robert Johnson!

It's Official: 'Breaking Dawn' split into two film

It's Complicated, Sherlock Holmes, Before Sunset, The Book of Eli: Movies on a Plane

On one hand, selecting your own movie from a fairly well stocked list makes plane travel that much more enjoyable. On the other hand, that teeny screen six inches from your face changes your perspective, doesn't it?

It's Complicated (2009)

I don't ever think I've seen Meryl Streep this sexy before. She's certainly having the time of her life (to be honest, she seems to be having the time of her life all the time lately. It's great to be Meryl Streep these days), and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are right there with her for the most part. Too bad the movie is endlessly distracting with it's "oh, look at the problems of these affluent white people" attitude. I mean, that's all Nancy Meyers movies, but I am telling you it stands out more starkly this time around. You've "earned" a reno to make your massive, gorgeous house even more massive and gorgeous? Seriously, every one's like, "I'm so happy you're getting the reno you've always wanted," and, while I get that a perfect kitchen is the great white whale for a chef or baker, could we cool it with the cooing for a minute? Wouldn't it be hilarious if Meyers were to one day find out that people who work at say, NGOs, never make all that much money? She should write a romantic comedy about them. They need love, too. B-

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

A RE-view! We haven't had one of those in forever. It mostly held up the way I remembered it, but I did find it even more slow moving this time around. How long does it take to get to the plot? Also, I'm not sure how I feel about using the same tricks twice in the one movie (both Holmes planning out an attack in slow-mo, then we see it in real time, and when he pulls off some feat, and we go back to see how he got there). Still, the slow pace gave me more time to appreciate Hans Zimmer's score and the dinner at the Royale. I love that Law is styled after Tsar Nicholas II in that scene. B

Before Sunset (2004)

I can hardly believe that the movie keeps affecting me the same way, but it does: such exquisite agony. By now I know the rhythms and what conversations to expect, and it works for the film. I find myself nearly breathless in anticipation for Jesse to tell Celine he was there or for her to reveal that she thinks all her relationships since have paled in comparison to their one night. And then, there they are in her apartment, one waltz later and Nina Simone on the soundtrack. He is going to miss his plane. It's been six years. Is that enough time to start work on a sequel? A+

The Book of Eli (2010)

It's tough to say because I didn't finish this one, but I'm going to say it anyway: there is a zero percent chance that God wants to you to cross the country killing people when they threaten you but stand by while others are attacked, Eli. Thanks for coming out.

And since we're here, check out my Canadian Cinema Canon on The Trotsky.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Jake Gyllenhaal cuts a strange action figure. No one can argue with that physique, and the chest hair is a nice touch. Even the hair, though not exactly the most flattering, is period acceptable. But, man, when the camera closes in on those puppy eyes, you're in another movie.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a near perfect Disney summer blockbuster: lots of action, lots of good-looking people, lots of fun. It's also overstuffed and overlong, but, hey, that worked for Pirates, right? DP John Seale was obviously inspired by video games for much of his composition, particularly shots of Dastan (Gyllenhaal) diving from various heights and running across Persia's rooftops (parkour before it had a name).

The story itself feels like a mash up of Moses, Aladdin, and The Fugitive: an orphaned street kid is adopted by the king and raised as a prince. Later, framed for murder, he goes on the run with a beautiful princess (Gemma Arterton), who seeks to steal and return the dagger the prince claimed in battle to its sacred temple before it falls into the wrong hands. The dagger, you see, is a one-minute time machine. So they run all over Asia at incredible speed (seriously), and Alfred Molina shows up just for the love of ostriches.

It's all very silly, but it's summer. As long as the guys are hot and the story doesn't make us beat our heads against our seats at the incoherence of it all, why complain? Putting a ringer like Gyllenhaal in the lead role is just icing: the emotional moments ring true even when they shouldn't, so holding hands is enough to make hearts flutter. Aw. If only they have cast someone worthy as his romantic interest. Arterton really needs to learn to lighten up. B-

Pop Culture Round Up: May 22 - June 4

Trivial Pursuit co-creator dies

Del Toro leaves The Hobbit
I think it's time they let this one go. It's just not happening.

Further Thoughts of a Novice E-Reader

Cable still rules summer; broadcasters trying

As CD Sales Wane, Music Retailers Diversify Their Wares

Online Buzz Doesn’t Equate to Ratings

Cognitive Surplus: The Great Spare-Time Revolution

Brando, Hepburn Made Stinkers Along With Classics

20 things you never knew about Shakespeare

Star Trek actor Stewart knighted

My sticker shock: Sixteen bucks for a movie, and it wasn't even in 3-D

Nothing minimal about this composer's eventful life

Rue McClanahan Dead at 76

'The Shallows': This Is Your Brain Online

Coffee consumption unrelated to alertness: Stimulating effects may be illusion, study finds