Sharp Reviews

Trailer - The Answer Man

2009-05-27T22:50:00.002-05:00

Actually want to see this. Coming July 24.

CD - No Line on the Horizon (B-)

2009-03-09T11:39:00.004-05:00

Artist: U2
Buy it

I am a loyal follower of U2. To say they're my favorite band is like saying oxygen is my favorite element. They've challenged me many times and I've enjoyed the ride for 26 years now.

But this is definitely one of those albums that will take repeated listening. My gut reaction is a B- but that can change over the next week or so. [It did.] Like 1984's Unforgettable Fire, at first it sounds like a Brian Eno album featuring U2. It has soundscapes and ambience rather than melodies in many spots. But it doesn't have as much scale. Definitely not many radio singles on this one, which is okay. It's not a "Let's rock and roll!" album like How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

To me it sounds like a transparent attempt to do something "different" in response to all the potshots the snobs took at their last two efforts, which returned to their stadium-sized anthemic roots. The hooks are definitely missing here. But so is the fun. When it's not somber, it's dry. When it's not mellow, it's thin. Some attempts at fun seem more like parody, with obnoxious choruses sung off-beat (and sometimes off-key). It has its redeeming qualities and a few strong tracks (most notably "Magnificent" - a straight-up U2 song) but it's just not something I'm going to pop in the car stereo very often.

I hated Achtung Baby when it came out. Took me years to come around to most of it. Hopefully No Line will the same. Or it could be like Pop, which I play about twice a year. Time will tell.

Final score: B minus

That Old Pair of Jeans

2008-11-17T13:35:00.001-06:00

THAT OLD PAIR OF JEANS
By Fatboy Slim

All you used to do was put me down
But I found a way to pick myself up off the ground
And all you used to do was criticize me
But now I found the good and I emphasize it, see

You would always get so sensitive
And try to turn your transgressions into my guiltiness
But now I'm certain of the way I live
And what I'm responsible for in this twisted game

And it's such a shame
That you try to make pain
Another word for my name
Whether giving or receiving
It's one and the same
Just one more link
In your long-ass chain
But it's time to break
This drain on my strength and will
Time to jump off this negative cycle we've built
Gave my heart
But my self-respect you won't steal
Now it's time to let you go if you can't hear or feel me

So I asked my mama for her two cents
And then I asked my little sister and I asked my friend
Then I asked my papa once and I asked him again
Came to the consensus from all them opinions
That life is too short to be unhappy
And since I know what I'm worth there'll be no settling for dirt
Not when what I deserve is gold
If I want diamonds then I can't settle for coal and

Maybe I was just too strong to let go
Maybe I was just too weak to let it show
Maybe I was just too stubborn to say "No"
But whatever the case I can't take it no more

Sometimes I think maybe we'll patch it all up
Like a favorite pair of jeans that you won't give up on
And I hope maybe one of these arguments we'll make up
And start again like when we started this up
Back when everything was fresh
And every moment a blessing
I'd laugh at all of your jokes
You'd listen to my suggestions
One mind, one soul,
One common destination
Now we can't help but fight over the direction

You've gotta, you've gotta give me a little, little more line
(Repeat)

Batman: The Dark Knight (A-)

2008-08-15T15:05:00.010-05:00

Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman.
Screenplay by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan from a Story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer.
Directed by Christopher Nolan.

Rated PG-13 for strong violence, intense situations, and disturbing images.
NOT FOR CHILDREN, EVEN THOUGH IT'S MARKETED TO THEM.

You've heard it all. Dark. Brooding. Expansive. Heath Ledger rocks the house. Gary Oldman rules as a good guy for once. Aaron Eckhart is surprisingly competent.

This is an impressive movie. It will have a lasting effect on you, trust me. It's extremely ambitious in both its visual and thematic conception. It hits the target on the former. It has qualified successes in the latter.

But, again, you've heard all the raves. Why am I giving it an A minus?

Three things, and they all involve Batman himself. All are character issues and two figure significantly in the plot.

First of all, Batman seems to exist in the story mainly as a contrived counterpoint to The Joker. He's not developed much and he's not really that important to the movie if you step back and break it down. Eckhart's Harvey Dent is.

**SPOILERS** (For the twenty-three of you who haven't seen it.)

Second, he faces a false dilemma in this movie that drove me nuts as I watched him grapple with it. Essentially, The Joker announces that he will start killing people until Batman reveals himself. Batman/Bruce Wayne agonizes over this. "It's all my fault! People are dying because of me! He won't stop until I turn myself in!" He then shuts down the Batcave and destroys all his Batstuff.

Huh? Dude, the Joker was killing people BEFORE he made this little ultimatum. He will go on killing AFTER you turn yourself in. What's to agonize about? He's the bad guy, not you. Go catch him. Problem solved.

I hated that stupid gimmick and rolled my eyes as it played out. I didn't believe a minute of it. The only possible explanation I can come up with was that he was looking for an excuse to "retire" and The Joker gave him one. He'd calmly ride off into the sunset with Rachel Dawes as the Joker took over the city? Right. That ended up being a moot point, anyway. (And, btw, he sure didn't grieve very much over THAT development).

**END SPOILERS**

Thirdly (and I'm with Robert Downey, Jr. on this one), the epilogue makes no sense. Why does it have to end that way? Can't we just blame The Joker?

Letterman

2008-07-15T15:19:00.008-05:00

CBS is panicking over the state of The Late Show with David Letterman. They should. It has the lowest ratings it's ever had. And its quality is at its nadir as well.

I only see it once or twice a week, usually by accident. If we watch the news on our local CBS affiliate and wander out of the room for ablutions or chores after the weather, often Letterman begins while we're occupied. I'll stop and watch parts of his show as I pass through the living room. It's far from must-see viewing, though.

Dave's always kind of rubbed me the wrong way, I guess because he seems like someone I would not spend two minutes with in a social setting. He seems mean, self-involved, obnoxious - and even disinterested. Whenever he says something like "Of course, we're saddened to hear of it," he always has to add, "Yep, just sick to death I'm telling ya," to make you question his sincerity. Maybe that's a put-on but if it is he's doing a great acting job.

He has some funny gags, a few good regular routines (but some that he runs into the ground for years), and is actually a better interviewer than Jay Leno but his humor has gotten weaker and odder over the years. One especially appalling development has been the recurring skits portraying announcer Allan Kalter as an evil deviant. I'm no prude (by any means) but they are just too twisted and cheaply vulgar and I have no idea how they get past CBS's censors. I could probably deal with them if they were actually funny. But they're not.

What really befuddles me is how Letterman fills the spaces between those moments with things that don't even rise to the level of inane. He'll spend ten minutes out of an hour repeating a word or gesture accompanied by a drum or organ effect. If he tugs at his tie and clears his throat in an extremely exaggerated manner during the opening intro, he'll do that a dozen times over the course of a show as Paul Shaffer laughs his head off. I just don't get it.

That said, I'd probably still take him over Leno for talk or Conan for humor. But not by much.

DVD - The Bucket List (B)

2008-06-30T17:19:00.000-05:00

Starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, and Beverly Todd.
Written by Justin Zackham.
Directed by Rob Reiner.

PG-13 for language and sexual humor

Buy it

Plot description from the cover:

In THE BUCKET LIST cancer doesn't discriminate in its choice of victims. It's equally eager in its attacks on kindly sage of a mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) and mean-spirited millionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson). When the unlikely pair shares a room at a hospital they learn that they both have less than a year to live as a result of the deadly disease. Inspired by the words of a college professor Carter begins to make a "bucket list" of things he wants to accomplish before he dies. With Edward's limitless funds at their disposal the men embark on an adventure that takes them from Egypt to France to Hong Kong crossing items off their list as death grows closer.

There are enough problems with this picture, both in conception and execution, to prevent me from ever giving it an unconditional recommendation. Many real-life cancer patients find its portrayal of the condition either laughable or offensive. But I think it has just enough redeeming qualities - and messages - to it to make it worthwhile. However, if you find sappy, sentimental moments totally irredeemable, then you should just avoid it altogether.

Final score: B

Trailer:

DVD - Thank You for Smoking (B-)

2008-06-30T12:13:00.013-05:00

Starring Aaron Eckhart, William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Katie Holmes (PBA), Sam Elliott, and J. K. Simmons.
Directed by Jason Reitman.

Rated R for pervasive language and for sexual situations

Buy it

Synopsis from the back of the box:

Aaron Eckhart stars as Nick Naylor, a sexy charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who'll fight to protect America's right to smoke -- even if it kills him -- while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator (William H. Macy) bent on snuffing out cigarettes Nick's powers of "filtering the truth" will be put to the test.

I think the problem many people have with this film is that - unlike most moralizing Hollywood movies - it doesn't take a stand for or against smoking. While I think smoking is disgusting and practically crazy and I've lost count of the people I've known who died from it, I actually found this approach refreshing. It's essentially a cynical, amoral, libertarian satire on the American nanny state, corporate shills, and posturing politicians. In essence it boils down to this message: "Everyone's got a selfish reason for doing what they do and all information is skewed to the interests of the person providing it. Make up your own mind based on that. If you can."

Since I'm neither amoral nor very libertarian I was not thrilled with the main character (His motto: "If you argue correctly, then you're never wrong.") or the way he indoctrinated his son into believing "doing what you do best" is one's highest calling - even if it's for a horrible cause. But his blunt honesty appealed to my cynical side and was often quite amusing.

Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley.

Final score: B minus

Trailer:

Cyd Charisse 1922-2008

2008-06-18T16:47:00.007-05:00

Cyd Charisse, technically speaking the greatest female dancer in movie history but easily the most overlooked by posterity, has passed at age 86.

Classically trained and touring internationally as a ballerina in her teens, Cyd entered the movies during World War II and proceeded to conquer every style from tango to tap. Her elegant brunette appearance (in an era dominated by Marilyn Monroe look-alikes) and her cool onscreen persona kept her from becoming a household name like dancer comediennes Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth. But dance legends Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire recognized her mastery and demanded Cyd co-star in their pictures after her breakthrough work in Kelly's 1952 masterpiece Singin' In the Rain. She made five films with them altogether, including Brigadoon, The Band Wagon, It's Always Fair Weather, and Silk Stockings. Unfortunately, big Hollywood musicals fell out of style soon after she made it to the top.

Words fail when you're talking about a dancer, so I'll let the legend speak for herself:

"Flaming Flamenco" (with Ricardo Montalban) from Fiesta, 1947.

"Broadway Melody" Parts 1 and 2 (with Gene Kelly) from Singin' In the Rain, 1952.

"Frankie and Johnny" (with John Brascia and Liliane Montevecchi) from Meet Me In Las Vegas, 1956.

"Fated to Be Mated" (with Fred Astaire) from Silk Stockings, 1957.

For more clips visit: http://www.mahalo.com/Best_of_Cyd_Charisse

I pray Cyd's dancing in heaven today.

Book - The Missing Ring (B)

2008-05-30T15:46:00.009-05:00

Author: Keith Dunnavant

This book's subtitle is "How Bear Bryant and the 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide Were Denied College Football's Most Elusive Prize." The Tide were the defending back-to-back national champions in 1966. They were ranked first in both polls as the season began. They finished the season undefeated and untied - yet managed to finish third behind Notre Dame and Michigan State, who had played each other to a 10-10 tie in midseason. This book was intended to explore why that took place.

Dunnavant posits two reasons. The first is the most common argument: Notre Dame has been the most popular team in the country since the Jazz Age and routinely places higher in the polls than schools with superior records because they are the darlings of predominantly northern and eastern sportswriters. Irish head coach Ara Parseghian decided to play to preserve the tie against MSU - to sit on the ball with two minutes left to play - rather than fight for the win. His detractors claim this is because he knew they would treated well by the pollsters in spite of the decision. He was right.

The second argument is that the season occured during the height of the civil rights movement and there was a media bias against the still-segregated Crimson Tide team and against the entire state of Alabama, the bastion of Bull Connor and George Wallace. He believes the team fell from first place simply because of politics even before Parseghian's Machiavellian move.

Virtually no one who wears Crimson will argue with the first point. Many who were not alive at the time might not have considered the second but it makes sense given the climate of 1966. All that could have been covered in a book half this size.

But the 'The Missing Ring' also seeks to illustrate why the Alabama team deserved the title, not just why the other two schools didn't. It is filled with wonderful details about the players and coaches who comprised one of the best teams in college football history and the system Paul Bryant used to create it. Each chapter has a theme and spotlights players and games from the 1966 season that exemplify it. Dunnavant does a great job of setting the atmosphere of the times both on campus and in the state of Alabama and paints colorful portraits of many young men who have become mere names in the record books but are still alive to share anecdotes and attitudes.

My only misgivings about this book are Dunnavant's tendency to repeat himself, often verbatim (I lost count of how many times he used the phrase "Bryant used this tactic to great effect in molding a team into champions" - often on facing pages), his often clumsy attempts at foreshadowing, and his unabashed boosterism. I'm aware he's an alum but if he is going to build an effective case that Alabama was robbed of a threepeat he must try to at least feign objectivity. Dunnavant shows no such restraint when he arrives at the conclusion of the book. As he recounts Ara Parseghian's admittedly gutless decision to sit on the ball and trust his team's fortune to the pollsters' sycophantic relationship with Notre Dame, Dunnavant bursts into outright apoplexy, calling Parseghian everything but an Armenian. He sounds more like a blogger than a journalist.

There were plenty of people to quote if he wanted to include the labels gutless, cynical, cowardly, and shameful. Instead, he uses them himself. I kept wanting to reach through the book and grab Keith by the collar: "Don't do it! Hold off! Show some class. Let the facts speak for themselves. It'll just look like sour grapes if you go this route." But alas, the deed was done. It's like he had driven the ball the length of the field and into the edzone and then ruined it all with a penalty in the final seconds that negated the winning touchdown.

This was the only blemish on an otherwise fascinating book on Crimson Tide football history. I still recommend it, however, for the excellent player profiles.

Final score: B

Film - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (B-)

2008-05-19T16:31:00.011-05:00

Starring William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard, Liam Neeson.
Written by Stephen McFeely.
Directed by Andrew Adamson.

PG for epic battle action and violence

Having enjoyed the first Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I had eagerly awaited Prince Caspian. Being a huge fan of author C. S. Lewis, I had the same trepidation I'd had with the first installment over the filmmakers' faithfulness to the original material.

Well, the book had maybe one fight in it and one battle. This movie has about a hundred fights and a half dozen battles. I don't think a single solitary scene went by in which someone didn't either draw a weapon or hit someone or both. It has little or no blood in it but the body count is as great or greater than that in Braveheart. Even the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep, cracks jokes then kills his opponents by cutting their throats. The kids in the audience are busy chuckling during the slashing bit, though, so I suppose it's all good. A decapitation replete with rolling head in another scene, however, offers no such distractions.

I've got no trouble with all this on the face of it. It's a sword and sorcery war movie, essentially. Soldiers die in these things. But this movie is marketed primarily to children and Disney and the MPAA are blatantly gaming the ratings system by not assigning this a PG-13 - blood or no blood.

DVD - 27 Dresses (C+)

2008-05-08T17:23:00.021-05:00

Starring Katherine Heigl (PBA), James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Judy Greer, Melora Hardin (PBA).
Written by Aline Brosh McKenna.
Directed by Anne Fletcher.

PG-13 for language and sexuality

Buy it

Plot description from the cover:

From the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada, 27 DRESSES centers on Jane (Emmy winner Katherine Heigl), an idealistic, romantic and completely selfless woman -- a perennial bridesmaid whose own happy ending is nowhere in sight. But when younger sister Tess captures the heart of Jane's boss - with whom she is secretly in love - Jane begins to reexamine her "always-a-bridesmaid..." lifestyle. Jane has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself. Her entire life has been about making people happy - and she has a closet full of 27 bridesmaid dresses to prove it. One memorable evening, Jane manages to shuttle between wedding receptions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a feat witnessed by Kevin (James Marsden), a newspaper reporter who realizes that a story about this wedding junkie is his ticket off the newspaper's bridal beat. Jane finds Kevin's cynicism counter to everything she holds dear - namely weddings, and the two lock horns. Further complicating Jane's once perfectly-ordered life is the arrival of younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman). Tess immediately captures the heart of Jane's boss, George (Edward Burns). Tess enlists her always-accommodating sister to plan yet another wedding - Tess and George's - but Jane's feelings for him lead to shocking revelations - and maybe the beginning of a new life.

This is a by-the-numbers rom-com confection sprinkled with nothing but charming, good-looking, talented actors. No new ground is broken. In fact, (except for an openly vindictive moment for Heigl's character) the existing ground is paved over with a thick layer of sugary glaze and cordoned off with "Do Not Touch" signs.

But that's okay. There's no pretension of aspiration to high art or even to a cursory correlation with reality here. Just lightweight disposable entertainment. And it does that well. I'm just not sure that's worth an hour and forty-five minutes of my life.

Final score: C plus

Trailer:

DVD - The Savages (B+)

2008-05-07T21:24:00.014-05:00

Starring Laura Linney (PBA), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco
Written and Directed by Tamara Jenkins

R for language, mature themes, and sexuality

Buy it

Billed as a dark comedy, 'The Savages' is certainly not standard movie fare but I think it's a film that we're richer for having around. Many have tackled end-of-life issues before but very few have done it like this. It is an unsentimental, unapologetic, slice-of-life depiction of two middle aged siblings, Linney (in an Oscar-nominated turn) and Hoffman, managing the rapid mental deterioration and death of their estranged, abusive father and the process - physiological and logistical - that entails.

It averts its gaze from none of the practical and emotional issues met by everyone whose family members live so long. From scatological problems to the appalling reality of nursing homes to the pressures of guilt, it covers the bases. It does punctuate it with moments of humor and sprinkles knowingly wry observations of sibling dynamics throughout. But there are no saccharine reconciliations or dramatic changes of heart in the last act to pull the punches. Things just happen and the people react as we all do - with integrity and responsibility in some areas and utter cowardice and flakiness in others. And with many things left unsaid.

My only real nit to pick is a slight sense of self-indulgence in the characters' professions. Everyone but the father is in the theater (or wants to be). It leads to a bit of inside humor that took me out of the movie a few times. (If you know who Bertolt Brecht is, it could open up another level of Hoffman's character to you. He briefly summarizes Brecht's epic philosophy at one point.) But it's not a huge liability.

Linney and Hoffman are, of course, impeccable but I believe Philip Bosco, who plays the largely silent role of the father, deserves praise as well. He speaks volumes with exhausted eyes and resigned yet pained stillness.

Final score: B plus

Trailer:

Film - Blue Like Jazz movie news

2008-04-29T18:39:00.015-05:00

Jazzed About the Big Screen - CT.com

Essayist Donald Miller's best-selling book Blue Like Jazz has been adapted into a screenplay, with The Second Chance director Steve Taylor at the helm - and both men are pretty excited about it. - More >

I love Donald Miller's witty, disarmingly honest writing and Steve Taylor's satirical, iconoclastic music and film direction. This should be a terrific team-up. And a Christian movie I can be excited to tell my friends about.

DVD - Lars and the Real Girl (A-)

2008-04-21T14:14:00.028-05:00

Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson.
Written by Nancy Oliver.
Directed by Craig Gillespie.

PG-13 for some sex-related content and some language

Buy it

This is my other favorite film of 2007. Knowing that, when I tell you this film's premise you will think I've officially gone off the deep end.

Lars is about a man who buys a "love doll" online and actually believes that she's a real woman. Got your attention? Good. Because even though that's the one-sentence description of the movie, it doesn't even begin to cover all that this movie is really about.

Lars (Oscar nominee Gosling doing a terrific job) is a nice guy and is extremely shy. He also has severe emotional problems. He finds it physically painful to be touched by others and ignores both their repeated hints that he find a girl and the subtle advances of a gangly coworker (Garner). Although he works at his anonymous computer job each day and faithfully attends church, no one is aware of just how serious his condition has become in the past few months. His pregnant sister-in-law, Karin (Mortimer, who actually drives the film), has suspicions, however, and since Lars lives in the converted garage behind their house, keeps unsuccessfully inviting him to have dinner with her and his brother, Gus (Schneider). In desperation, she finally tackles him in the driveway one night and insists he eat the salmon she's made. Later, Gus shrugs his brother's quirks off as "fine."

A shipping crate arrives one day while Lars is at work and Karin casually calls Lars at work notify him. Lars speeds home to open it and that evening announces that he has a lady friend he's met online and that he'd like to bring her to dinner that night. Ecstatic that he's not only reaching out to them but has found romance, Karin and Gus spruce the house up and anxiously await the arrival of Lars' friend. Their hopes are dashed, however, when they meet Bianca - a life-sized, fully-articulated, silicone pleasure doll. Lars explains that Bianca can't walk because she is paraplegic and can't speak English because she's a Brazilian missionary. Since Lars and Bianca are devout Christians and they don't want to give the impression of impropriety, he asks Gus and Karin if Bianca can stay in their house while she's in America.

Terrified that Lars is psychotic, Karin and Gus devise a ruse to get Lars help. They suggest a routine examination for Bianca by their small town's lone physician - who is also a psychologist. After interacting with Lars while she "diagnoses" Bianca, the doctor (Oscar nominee Clarkson in a pitch-perfect performance) suggests to the couple that Lars has not had a complete break. He is delusional, however, and there must be some reason why his mind created the delusion to protect him. She recommends strongly that they humor him until she can find out why. Although Gus has to be strong-armed at first, they eventually play along and soon the entire community follows suit in an effort to help Lars get better.

What follows is a thoughtful, charming, moving, and frequently understated Capraesque comedy that seldom goes for the cheap laugh. It gently reminds us not only of the lengths any of us may go to when we're hurting enough but also of what a family, a church, and a community can do for someone else in pain. There are a few scenes that stretch credulity even for a tale this fanciful but, generally speaking, if you're willing to buy into the premise, it can take you to a pretty nice place.

Final score: A minus

Trailer:

DVD - Juno (A-)

2008-04-17T14:36:00.044-05:00

Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner (PBA), Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons.
Written by Diablo Cody.
Directed by Jason Reitman.

PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, language, and a disturbing image

Buy it

Easily one of the best films of 2007. Possibly the best. It's a very stylized but not entirely fantastic spin on some very uncomfortable and potentially taboo subjects and whips up thought-provoking and ultimately rather positive results.

I have a habit of assuming everyone has heard the basic premise of every movie I review simply because I keep abreast of upcoming releases. Sorry. Here's Juno's plot according to the back of the box:

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a cool, confident teenager who takes a nine-month detour into adulthood when she's faced with an unplanned pregnancy - and sets out to find the perfect parents to adopt her baby. With the help of her charmingly unassuming boyfriend (Michael Cera), supportive dad (J.K Simmons) and no-nonsense stepmom (Allison Janney), Juno sets her sights on an affluent couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) longing to adopt their first child.

There's something to chew on for those in all the generations depicted here. What is maturity? When do you need to grow up? What ways do you hide from it? Why do you want children? How do you do the right thing? And who's the right person to do it with? Everyone will get a jab of self-recognition at all the various stages in life. And apart from all that it's just plain funny, engaging, and touching. I didn't often find it a bust-a-gut, knee-slapping kind of funny but my face started hurting from smiling throughout the first half of the movie.

The performances are solid all around but Page owns the picture, playing Juno's wise-cracking bravado and her fear with equal skill. Her Oscar nomination was a no-brainer. There was a nearly-successful push for a Jennifer Garner supporting actress nom at the Golden Globes and that would also have done her thoughtful, conflicted work justice.

Let me say this: If you are put off by quick, sarcastic, graphic, pop culture-sprinkled dialogue, you may have difficulties enjoying Juno. It comes mostly from the main character and there's enough that some people my age couldn't listen to two lines of it without saying either "What? Huh? What is she talking about?" or "No child of mine will talk like that heathen!" They may want to watch Matlock instead.

Final score: A minus

Trailer:

Book - On Beyond Zebra (A)

2008-04-11T16:41:00.008-05:00

Author: Dr. Seuss

Buy it

This book introduced "paradigm shifting" into my intellectual vocabulary before I even knew what such a thing was.

Many, many, many years ago (Nixon was President, I think) I read this and was changed. I can remember the images, the textures, the smells (Ah! The ditto machine and its purple perfume!) and all my surroundings. I was sitting in the elementary school library, facing northwest toward the door. Lured by the title and the premise, I had taken the volume to my assigned seat ("Library" was a class back then, as it should have been) and quickly devoured it.

The concept - that our 26-letter alphabet was an arbitrary collection and not a universal constant - had never entered my cartoon-addled mind. It sparked an awareness of similar cultural and philosophical constrictions that I have expanded and retained to this day.

Hats off to the Dr.!

Final score: A

Books - CT's 100 Great Books of the 20th Century

2008-01-31T15:32:00.002-06:00

Here is a "required" reading list for Christians, according to the editors, staff, and contributors to Christianity Today magazine. These are books that had the most significant impact on Christian theology, practice, and devotion in the 20th century. Many were, and are, controversial. Some were not written by Christians but still had a dramatic influence on Christian perception of faith and society.

I've read seven of them over the years, started three, and own ten others, so I'd best get crackin'.

I've provided Amazon links for the Top 10. The Other 90 are in the first comment.

THE TOP 10

1. C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
"The best case for the essentials of orthodox Christianity in print." - David S. Dockery

2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
"Leaves you wondering why you ever thought complacency or compromise in the Christian life was an option." - Mark Buchanan

3. Karl Barth - Church Dogmatics
"Opened a new era in theology in which the Bible, Christ, and saving grace were taken seriously once more." - J. I. Packer

4. J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
"A classic for children from 9 to 90. Bears constant re-reading." - J. I. Packer

5. John Howard Yoder - The Politics of Jesus
"Some 30 years after this book was published, the church has found itself culturally in a more marginal position, and this book is making wider and wider sense." - Rodney Clapp

6. G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
"A rhetorically inventive exposition of the coherence of Christian truth." - David Neff

7. Thomas Merton - The Seven Storey Mountain
"A painfully candid story of one Christian soul's walk with grace and struggle, it has become the mark against which all other spiritual autobiographies must be measured." - Phyllis Tickle

8. Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline
"After Foster finishes each spiritual discipline, you not only know what it is, why it's important, and how to do it—you want to do it." - Mark Buchanan

9. Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
"A treasury of daily devotional readings that has fed the souls of millions of Christians in the twentieth century. Future generations of Christians must continue to draw from this treasury." - Richard J. Mouw

10. Reinhold Niebuhr - Moral Man and Immoral Society
"Introduced a breathtakingly insightful, shrewd, and cunning realism about human sin, especially in its social expressions,
rooted in biblical theology and a penetrating appraisal of the dark era into which the Western world had entered." - David P. Gushee

The other 90 are listed in Comments.

DVD - Saving Sarah Cain (B-)

2008-01-29T17:58:00.001-06:00

Starring: Lisa Pepper, Abigail Mason, Soren Fulton, Danielle Chuchran, Tanner Maguire, Bailee Madison, Elliott Gould
Written by: Brian Bird and Cindy Kelley
Directed by: Michael Landon, Jr.

Buy it

This adaptation of Beverly Lewis' novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain is another commendable addition to the oeuvre of family telefilm producer/director Michael Landon, Jr. Taking great liberties with the plot of the novel, the picture turns the usual Witness-esque story of the 'English' trying to adapt to the life of the Amish on its head. It places the devout orphans of the protagonist's recently departed sister in the heart of a major city and explores the effect it has on their hearts and their family dynamic.

The beginning of the film is worrisome due to extremely clunky, high school drama level dialogue that sounds like it was cobbled from a book of newspaper office cliches. All the editor (played with sorely-needed light humor by Elliott Gould of M*A*S*H and Ocean's 11 fame) needed was a cigar to chomp on and he'd be straight out of a comic book.

Fortunately, things improve dramatically once columnist Sarah Cain starts interacting earnestly with her sister's children. Landon's skill at drawing convincing performances from talented kids is highlighted throughout the rest of the film and, by the end, YOU may want to adopt some of them! And leading lady Lisa Pepper (unsung star of Anthony Hopkins' indie film Slipstream) is frequently good and shows great potential for success. She's very easy on the eyes (it's part of the Hollywood equation, folks) and definitely plays well opposite children.

My favorite part may be the flashback sequence at the end. I won't spoil it for you but it's very appropriate to the character and is beautiful, ethereal, evocative, and expertly photographed and edited.

Final score: B minus

Preview - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A)

2007-12-18T17:23:00.002-06:00

This needs no commentary except that it is going to ROCK!

Download hi-def at Narniaweb.

CD - White Christmas (B)

2007-12-10T01:55:00.001-06:00

Artist: Martina McBride
Buy it

I'm usually a very savvy buyer when it comes to stealth reissues but I fell for this one hook, line, and wallet while doing my gift shopping at a big box retailer. The complete repackaging, the handful of new tracks that didn't ring any bells (and probably those mesmerizing blue eyes) convinced me to brush aside the little voice that said, "But wasn't her first Christmas album - that we already own - called White Christmas?"

Yes it was. And this is it. Somewhat.

The 1998 tracks have the same liabilities/benefits as they did then. There are no original arrangements and they are virtually straightforward covers of classic versions. But this is good when it comes to singing along with them - no curves are thrown at you. And MM's voice is, of course, insanely beautiful.

The four new tracks produced by Martina herself make some gutsy calls and I like that about them. Her Danny Elfman-esque take on 'Jingle Bells' is funny and just a little creepy and I loved it in spite of myself. She's definitely overheard her kids watching Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory one too many times!

Her time-traveling duet with Dean Martin on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' is captivating. She has an extremely broad stylistic range and is a terrific mimic. If no one told you the lady's voice was a 21st century superstar you would think it was a Rat Pack-era songstress holding her own with Dino. Brilliant!

It almost makes up for the covert ops. One could blame all that on Martina's label but she is extremely hands-on in the production, design, and marketing of her albums. I've found out she has reissued this album with two extra songs tacked on before but it was with the original artwork. Since she's added 6 songs altogether over the years, why hasn't she just created a new Christmas CD? It would save confusion and animosity (which this reissue is certainly causing, judging by the online comments) and make more money. I understand that RCA wanted a vehicle to put the Dean Martin duet into (and it's working, this is currently just behind Josh Groban's Christmas album on the charts) but I still think this was a misstep.

Final score:
Music - A minus
Marketing - C plus

Book - Carry A Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt (B-)

2007-12-04T13:53:00.001-06:00

Author: George Grant
Buy it

An insatiable reader of books on TR, I was immediately drawn to Carry a Big Stick by its small size and by its wealth of quotes from the President (something many authors neglect). Grant is unabashedly hero-worshipping here: no negatives are to be found. If one begins "Stick" with this in mind it can be accepted and tolerated.

Though it is clearly colored by Grant's conservative ideology (he tags turn of the 20th century politicians with turn of the 21st century labels - and greatly underrepresents TR's progressive leanings), it does reveal some facts about Roosevelt's religious convictions and church activities - something that is absolutely ignored in most modern biographies of historic figures.

The book is less a chronological account than a quick look by turns at each facet of the multi-talented and constantly moving President. It is adequate as an introduction but is highly selective.

Reprinted in paperback as The Courage and Character of Theodore Roosevelt. Oddly, it's not any cheaper!

Final score: B minus

CD/DVD - Greatest Hits Special Edition (A-)

2007-11-28T12:30:00.002-06:00

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

This compilation was not exactly necessary. Grant's last greatest hits album came out only three years ago. It's primary purpose is as a sampler of the brighter sound of her recently recently reissued, newly remastered back catalog. There are two different versions of this set running around: A straightforward CD version and a CD/DVD Special Edition. This review is of the latter.

I am an Amy completist, so I already own every song and music video on this special edition set. It's difficult for me to judge the strength of the track selection because even though I love them all, there are dozens of favorite songs that aren't on it. That's just going to happen when trying to boil 30 years and 20-odd albums down into 19 songs.

I will say to the new or casual fan who is looking for a greatest hits CD to start their AG collection that this is a pretty good place to start. Her first compilation, The Collection was a good, relatively deep summation of Amy's purely Contemporary Christian period and is a great choice for those who want to focus solely on that era. Greatest Hits 1986-2004 covers her crossover and pop hit periods fairly well.

This CD is an extremely broad sampling of both eras but skews to the lite pop - with better remastered sound quality for current systems. The mix of cheery 70s-style acoustics and string sections with 80s synthesizers and 90s adult pop can be a bit jarring but it's all part of Amy's growth over the decades. My only real gripe is the underrepresentation of her introspective and gut-wrenchingly honest work from Lead Me On and Behind the Eyes, which may be regarded by posterity as her two best albums.

The greatest benefit (for new Amy fans and old) of this 2-disc Special Edition - in my humble opinion - is the nearly half hour of interview footage she provides (Preview). Just sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee, reminiscing and vividly describing the hows and whys of the peaks and valleys of her recording career and her life, Amy demonstrates exactly why she has touched audiences and made devoted fans for three decades. It's nearly impossible not to like such an earthy, gentle person who is openly alloyed with the wonderment and messiness of real life. She's like an ideal next door neighbor that you'd love to sit around and discuss life, love, and faith with. And in some ways we already have because it's all there in her songs.

Golden Compass furor

2007-11-05T12:40:00.001-06:00

From Christianity Today:

Golden Compasss Under Fire

Just a little over a year ago, a major motion picture hit theaters worldwide carrying a message full of hooey, heresy and borderline blasphemy. But rather than stage boycotts and cry foul, many Christians embraced the film as a "tool" for evangelism and for "engaging" popular culture; one even called it Dan Brown's "gift to the church."

So it was with The Da Vinci Code. Now here comes The Golden Compass, slated to hit theaters in December, and Christians are reacting quite differently. Instead of seeing the film as a tool, opportunity, or gift, some are already calling for a boycott because of the movie's anti-religious elements.

More>>

I feel part of the difference in reaction is that Golden Compasss is targeted primarily at children and parents may see it as an attack on their children's burgeoning spiritual development. And on their parenting efforts. Not being a parent, I suppose I'm not as alarmed. Parental and religious authority is continually questioned and maligned in our current popular entertainment. I can't really see how this is any more egregious. And peddling fear about it is potentially more harmful, in my book, than the movie/books themselves. Fear bred in ignorance will eventually bring about resentment and either cruelty or curiosity. Confronting it, respectfully acknowledging its artistic merit (if there is any), debunking its myths and misconceptions, and - most importantly - admitting where it may have a point is much more productive in the long run. Pull the teeth of the Bumble, to paraphrase Yukon Cornelius.

I would think that a wise and knowledgeable parent would explain the subtle symbolism to children of a certain age. It could be a great opportunity to teach lessons in witnessing to skeptics - and addressing the child's own honest questions about authority and control, actually. Kids will hear all of author Pullman's arguments and stereotypes eventually. Why not take this chance to explain the fallacies in them? Just as with The Da Vinci Code, I'm sure there will be balancing books and guides published to coincide with the movie's release. Parents without much knowledge of philosophy and apologetics could utilize them in preparation.

Also, if we go after this thing with torches and pitchforks, won't we just be proving Pullman's point that we don't trust people to think for themselves?

I had made plans to see The Golden Compass before I knew about any of Pullman's books. It just looked really cool. I may see it yet. I've read Bertrand Russell, so this guy holds no terror for me.

Film - The Day of the Killer Tornadoes (B)

2007-10-23T13:02:00.001-05:00

Here, in its entirety, is a short documentary film from the Civil Defense Agency that figured very prominently in my childhood. That's primarily because I lived through the Huntsville, Alabama portion of it. The quality of the film is not great (it wasn't even by 1970s standards!) and some of the re-enactments using the acutal participants are unintentionally humorous but the event it records - the 1974 Super Outbreak - was dreadfully serious. 148 tornadoes (the most ever in a single weather event) struck the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys in a single day, killing 330 people.

This next section includes the town of Xenia, Ohio, which was virtuallly erased by an F-5 tornado that day. It concludes with extensive actual footage from the Huntsville area.

The Huntsville material - and the film - concludes here:

More detailed information on the Super Outbreak is available at http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/

TV - Bionic Woman premiere (B-)

2007-09-27T12:52:00.001-05:00

Starring Michelle Ryan (Okay, I give in. She's a PBA), Miguel Ferrer, Katee Sackhoff

Now that the pilot has come and gone, how good was it?

First of all, it's manic. It essentially crams a two-hour movie into 43 minutes. The main character, Jamie Sommers, is introduced three minutes into the show, cajoles her sister, goes to work, gets proposed to, survives a devastating crash, is fitted with bionic parts, goes berserk, gets sedated, gets loose and is out on the street - all before the episode is half finished! It never stays in one place or on one emotion more than fifteen seconds.

Jamie spends about ten seconds (I timed it) dealing with the emotional impact of being turned into a cyborg without her consent - then goes back to tending bar. There's also a very serious, life-changing conversation between Jamie and her fiance during a car ride in the opening act that is obviously edited down to the bare bones. All reaction shots and pauses are cut out. It gives you the information you need and moves on. The editor is like Joe Friday with ADD. At any rate, it gives extremely short shrift to the characters.

Apart from that, I thought it still had great potential. Seriously! It has very high production values, good special effects (some very good), and passable acting by most parties. Michelle Ryan (Sommers) holds her own and does some good stunt work, all while keeping her American accent consistent. Keep in mind she's only 23. A pretty scary villain (the prototype bionic woman, who's gone mad) and a good fight sequence with her didn't hurt either. In fact, if they can spread the tension in that scene over more of the show, it could be very interesting indeed.

One thing that bothered me about that battle was a glaring violation of the "Show, don't tell" rule of drama. You should show actions that illustrate the characters' motives, not have them announcing their motives to each other outright. Give the audience credit. In this case the villain, Sara Corvus (played impeccably by scene-stealer Katee Sackhoff), comes right out and says she's gradually replacing her humanity with bionics because "I'm cutting away all the parts of me that are weak." Well, there goes a year's worth of symbolism down the tubes. I'm surprised Jamie didn't respond, "I have abandonment issues. So there!"

I realize it's an action show and they don't want it to get bogged down like Heroes did for a few months last year but I hope that once the audience is hooked the writers will slow down long enough to let these characters breathe. Give them some real back-story beyond having the bullet-point version read by someone in a suit (which is how we find out about most of Jamie's life!)

Watch it yourself at NBC.com.

Final score: B minus

Preview - The War (A+)

2007-09-11T16:08:00.001-05:00

If you know much about me, you know I take documentary film fairly seriously. I plan to take this one very seriously.

Director and producer Ken Burns is the gold standard for documentary filmmaking for innumerable reasons. But the greatest, I believe, is his ability to blend the overtly empathetic and endlessly analytical halves of his nature and his approach to history into a balanced whole. It's the reason I admire him (and "admire" is a word I rarely use).

Burns has taken a departure in making this 14-hour film, one that has created much anticipation. The War uses only firsthand participants as interview subjects. There are no professional talking heads, no historians providing Monday morning quarterbacking, and no celebrity generals on-screen. Burns says, "You either had to be fighting in the war or waiting for someone you loved to come home from the war to make it into this film."

Much as he followed the lives of several "regular" people in his The Civil War and sprinkled the film with quotes from their memoirs, Burns here picked four cities from four corners of the U.S. in which to find common folk and highlights the telling of the war with their perspectives. It should be fascinating to see how a handful of American GIs and their loved ones - from Mobile, AL; Luverne, MN; Westbury, CT; and Sacramento, CA - touched every aspect and theater of the war, both at home and afar.

The team behind this film distilled thousands of hours of footage into this product. Most of it has never been seen before. Some of it was kept hidden because it was considered too frightening and graphic in those times and because it didn't portray flawless American prosecution of the fighting. But it conveys a reality that does more to honor the memories of the combatants than any sanitized movie from the 1940s ever did. Virtually all the veterans in this project say that, finally, someone's "got it right."

Here is a half-hour preview/behind-the-scenes featurette from PBS.

Just the concept of the project strikes a chord in me and I've gotten a bit emotional at the thought of it.

Please make every effort to watch The War beginning Sunday, September 23 and ending Tuesday, October 2 on all PBS stations. If you can't make it that week, most markets will be running it again beginning October 3.

Here is the Alabama Public Television schedule for The War.

DVD - Friday Night Lights: Season 1 (A-)

2007-09-04T10:16:00.003-05:00

Starring Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton (PBA), Gaius Charles, Zach Gilford, Minka Kelly, Taylor Kitsch, Adrianne Palicki, Scott Porter, Aimee Teegarden

Arguably the best drama on network television. Why are you not watching it? It was - thankfully - renewed for a second season and will actually air on Friday nights this year beginning October 5.

That wasn't an automatic decision: Friday Night Lights has languished in its timeslot. To its credit, NBC really believes in this show. So much so that it has released this complete season DVD set at the unheard of price of $19.99 - with a money-back guarantee if you don't like it. They really want the word to spread and keep it afloat. I do, too.

Many fans of the show admit that they initially avoided it because they thought it was only about football. But it's not about football. It's about life. It's about high school anxieties, high-pressure jobs, modern-day parenting, the fragility of trust, preserving a marriage, conflicting priorities, sexual morality, physical disabilities, dysfunctional families, reaching out to the children of dysfunctional families and a million other things that pull us all in multiple directions at once. As in life, each time a character recovers from one blow another comes right behind it. Fortunately, things are balanced - as in life - with a healthy dash of perspective and humor.

Some parents will object to the fact that most of the older players are sexually active and drink frequently. Realistically, most junior and senior jocks ARE sexually active and drinking frequently. One kid is depicted as an alcoholic but the rest seem to suffer no consequences from their drinking. Sexually, there is no depiction of the act but there is some before and after imagery. There are plenty of emotional and relational consequences to their "hook-ups." And there are some frank, impassioned, positively-portrayed parental stands made on the subject. Of course, that doesn't mean the kids always listen. Here, mother Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) confronts her daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) after spotting her boyfriend buying "protection" at the drugstore.

Britton was robbed of an Emmy nomination this year. Just so you know.

On quality points alone, I'd give this series a full-fledged A. But there is one element that bothers me. Two junior students (one guy and one gal, both the troubled black sheep of the show) have dalliances with adults. Neither story has a happy ending but they are not treated as particularly worse than any other liaison, either. It is not addressed on the show but technically it could all be legal since 17 is the age of consent in Texas. The actors playing the teens are 26 and 24, FYI. But it is still rather creepy.

Final score: A minus

Advertising - The Trunk Monkey (A-)

2007-08-15T16:03:00.001-05:00

Ad campaign for a car dealership chain in Oregon. Cold, a bit violent, but funny as all get out.

Compilation video:

Final score: A minus

News - 'Bionic Woman' sister recast, healed

2007-08-10T14:59:00.002-05:00

Just read an article on the change of actresses and abilities for the role of Becca Sommers on Bionic Woman. She's no longer played by Mae Whitman and she's no longer deaf.

I am not happy about this, for two reasons.

First, could it be any more obvious that they are trying to up the hottie factor? They dropped a short, average-sized, cute-but-punk actress and replaced her with petite, pretty, former tween pop singer Lucy Hale.

And how many beautiful women do they need? Can't anyone on TV be simply average? Michelle Ryan (Jamie Sommers) is very pretty. She's also, in Hollywood parlance, "voluptuous." This means she actually looks like she eats three squares a day and fills out a C naturally. Is that their problem? A little insurance against people who find the bionic woman "fat"?

Secondly (and most egregiously), they took away Becca's deafness. They say it doesn't serve the plot anymore. Since when does deafness have to be a plot device?!?! Is Jamie Sommers' skin color a plot device? Can't she just have a deaf sister and know sign language without it being a special thing? Could they not just communicate that way and nothing be made of it? And if they felt compelled to have it be utilitarian, fine. Make Jamie insist that her bosses give her sister bionic hearing. Have her sister argue with her about the identity aspects of it. Just Google cochlear implants' divisive effect on the deaf community and you've got material for a month. It was not rocket science to think of that. Took me three seconds.

I am SO disappointed about this move. I was looking forward to seeing a disabled character with depth, who wasn't played as a saint and had a giant chip on her shoulder that wasn't related to her disability. Not gonna happen now.

I'll watch Bionic Woman for all the other reasons I said I wanted to earlier: Female empowerment; promising lead actress; great fight scene potential. But I'll be more skeptical about it. They'll have to impress me to keep me coming back. And Lucy Hale had be better be good.

Preview - Back to You (B-)

2007-08-03T18:12:00.001-05:00

Starring Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton (PBA)

Back to You features two of the best actors in TV history in a show produced by the creators of the most award-winning comedy of all time. How can it go wrong? It's hard to tell from the available clips (laid end to end here with a few gaps) but I have some notes to share after you watch them:

Heaton comes off fairly well here because she's not automatically likeable and she's in an office setting in a suit. This puts some healthy perceptual distance between her and Debra Barone. But Grammer may be cursed with Frasier Crane till the day he dies. Everything is lose/lose. Put him in a suit and he looks like Frasier. Put him in anything else and he looks like Frasier trying to be a regular guy. The hard edge he's shooting for here is often reminiscent of the voice and posture Frasier would assume when he was trying to impress Marty's pals. Still, Grammer has the skill to make us buy Chuck in time, so I'll give him a chance to pull it off.

The supporting cast is looking shaky at best. The nerd has a cliched appeal but the invisible guy is truly invisible. He has all the presence of an empty cereal box. Hopefully this is impression comes merely from the brief time he has in these clips.

The writing is average in spots, above average in others. I like the falcon line!

All in all, it has some potential and a great pedigree. We'll see if it's allowed to find its footing.

Final preview score: B minus

CD - Time Again ... Live (B+)

2007-08-02T12:55:00.001-05:00

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

And the kids wonder why she's still a dominant force in Christian music, even though she hasn't had a number one pop hit in years. Well, Grant has a back catalog of 200-plus quality, honest, lived-in songs and a charming and lovably unadorned "Ideal Friend" public persona that no other CCM artist can touch. And she's always been a formidable vocal stylist. That's why.

As others have noted, her singing and songwriting abilities were frequently overlooked because of her unmatched popularity and her looks. But time has proven her impressively capable in both arenas. In fact, some of her lyrics are revealed as prescient and are even more powerful as she (actually, we) go through midlife. Her voice? Possibly the easiest to listen to for extended periods that I've ever heard. Historically gentle and flawed but packed with emotional precision. Sandi Patti may have been the premiere Christian vocalist in the 1980s but Amy Grant was the impassioned voice of everyone's hopes and doubts.

Appearing in the same city (but not the same venue!) where she gave her first professional concert 29 years ago, Grant is light years removed from that gawky, whispery teenaged girl hiding behind a guitar on a Fort Worth stage in 1978. Still sweet and self-effacing, she's an accomplished musician and a confident entertainer joyfully leading a band instead of being instructed by one. [Side note: Yes. We're that old.]

A word of caution: If you're fixated on being able to sing along note-for-note with these classic songs, you may be in for a disappointment with this 17-song live set. Not only have the arrangements and instrumentation of her older synth-pop tunes been altered for a casual stripped-down feel but Amy is more experimental in her phrasing these days. If you appreciate the Frank Sinatra/Willie Nelson school of reinterpretation with each performance, you'll love this set. If you're interested in a perfectly recreated nostalgia session, not so much.

The constraints of the single-CD format cause some of Amy's trademark just-folks banter and pindrop-quiet stories of the superior DVD presentation to be lost. The cheerful stage presence that masks some of her vocal missteps isn't there to help her, either. A few very good songs are left out. I'd recommend getting the DVD, too, if you can afford both. But this is a good audio version for the car and iPod.

Final score: B plus

Preview - Bionic Woman 2007 (A-)

2007-08-01T14:08:00.002-05:00

Starring Michelle Ryan, Miguel Ferrer, Katee Sackhoff

I plan to preview a few shows from the upcoming TV season that I find interesting. So here's the first one. Be forewarned: This is a really extensive trailer that's essentially a 5-minute distillation of the pilot movie. So if you don't want the episode spoiled, skip past the clip!

This re-imagination of one of my favorite childhood shows, The Bionic Woman, looks pretty cool. It certainly has greatness potential. With what little I can see, Michelle Ryan seems to be doing a commendable job so far with a role that has tons of 1970s-pop-culture-icon baggage. The "realness" upgrades could easily trip her up in writing that makes her merely another angsty superchick but I truly hope this doesn't happen. And her American accent is darn good. Most Brits play it safe with a flat, generic accent but she's doing a regional one! I can't quite figure out which, though.

Sadly, solo female action heroes almost never bring in huge numbers on the big or small screen, regardless of the quality of the material. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, though it was popular for a WB show and a huge critical success, routinely came in the bottom 50 in the Nielsens. Alias (which struggled for all of its five years on a major network) opened with two of the best seasons of any show ever then fell into a funk of ratings-desperate plotting and schedule changes and limped to a closure that would not have been afforded most other shows. I'm afraid the same gender bias may hurt this show's chances as well. And that' what it is. Bias. If I took the same show with the same writing and production and reversed the genders, it'd be an instant hit. Please send our young women a better message than this. It's shameful.

NBC is either extremely confident about Bionic Woman or is taking a huge gamble, hoping it and the superhero-related Heroes will boost their ailing flagship network. It may perform better on a niche channel, though. We'll see.

Final trailer score: A minus

DVD - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (A+)

2007-07-17T17:12:00.001-05:00

Starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, and Thomas Mitchell
Screenplay by Sidney Buchman based on a story by Lewis Foster
Directed by Frank Capra

This is my favorite film of all time. I watch it every election eve.

It paints a surprisingly frank picture of the ugly nature of politics and begs for just one honest man to make a difference. James Stewart is flawless and absolutely irreplacable as that man - Jeff Smith. The stellar Capra stable of players from Jean Arthur to Edward Arnold to H. B. Warner are pitch perfect. But my special favorite may in fact be Claude Rains, who plays an honest man gone bad with such conflict and realism that he makes a potentially cartoon "villain" feel all the more palpably plausible. This is why "Mr. Smith" may be the ne plus ultra of idealistic films but it is not unrealistic. And I have yet to see any film sustain a half hour that matches this film's third act - the filibuster - in intensity and exaltation.

It's interesting to see how many amateur reviews reveal the film as a Rorschach test for viewers' political leanings. One sees it as taking a stand against the liberal Democrats in power at the time, another as raising an alarm against Republican business interests controlling corrupt politicians. That's funny, because I always thought the film was FOR something, that it was a monument to the American ideals of truth, justice, equality, and the common good - regardless of party.

One more thing: It disheartens me to hear comments about how "cheesy" this film is and how all the manners and idioms of 1939 make it unwatchable. I think these folks are incapable of appreciating any culture but their own. They would probably go to Spain and make fun of people that speak Spanish. Even though it's set in the US, this movie takes place in a different culture: Depression-era America. Back then, people knew when you were "full of hooey" and called you a "crackpot" to let you know it. That may sound funny to some today but our current slang will probably sound even worse in 70 years.

Final score: A+

Book - Robert E. Lee: A Biography (A-)

2007-07-17T17:08:00.001-05:00

Author: Emory M. Thomas

Thomas is ambitious but ultimately correct in proclaiming his compelling Lee biography a post-revisionist portrait. He attempts (with admirable success) to balance his respect for Lee's character and ability (without Douglas Freeman's blatant worship and apocryphal stories) with honest accounts of his faults and contradictions (minus the carping of Connelly's 'The Marble Man' and Nolan's 'Lee Considered'). In the process, Thomas has captured as much as any writer is able the humanness of Lee.

I was struck throughout the book by events and words that mirror my own aspirations and failures. I think the highest praise I can offer Thomas's book is that this avid Lee fan and Civil War buff felt like he had met Robert E. Lee for the first time.

Final score: A-

Book - Blue Like Jazz (B+)

2007-07-17T17:01:00.001-05:00

Author: Donald Miller

Though I don't see eye-to-eye with Don Miller on everything, I can't help but like the guy. He is so candid about his thought life, his doubts, his shortcomings, his vices, and his all-around goofiness that he's like a favorite cousin you find both cool and amusingly befuddling.

Miller's self-deprecating wit, his conversational style, and his arms-length relationship with his evangelical background are his trademarks. Most of the chapters in "Jazz" are about mini-epiphanies he's had along his spiritual journey. You feel like he's hanging out with you at dusk, sitting on the hood of a car, swapping life stories and wondering about why crap works the way it does. It's like he circles around things in life until it dawns on him that - even though its representatives are often lame and its concepts seem outdated - Christian spirirtuality actually had the answers he was looking for.

Even though he tries to maintain a fairly liberal and liberated life, deep down he's fairly orthodox in his beliefs. He just doesn't dress them up in 19th century traditions, rules and regulations, and both fear- and comfort-based judgmentalism.

Take it out for a spin.

Final score: B+

DVD - Little Miss Sunshine (B+)

2007-07-08T07:18:00.002-05:00

Starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin
Written by Michael Arndt
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
R for pervasive profanity, drug use, adult subject matter
Buy it

Up front: If you don't like quirky indie films, or if you believe the perfect family is even remotely attainable in this lifetime, you'll hate this.

The biggest strike against this movie is its hype. Nothing can live up to the expectations Fox Searchlight has set Little Miss Sunshine up with. It is not a crazy, non-stop laugh riot but rather a whimsical, persistent little movie that often charms its way into your heart and drops a huge lesson in your lap - before falling apart at the end.

The finale was a unusual idea (and turned the inappropriateness of the Jon Benet circuit on its head) but flirted with pervish-ness in itself. And it sort of devolved into an overlong, indulgent mess when everyone pitched in.

Still, it's a thinker. And I like thinkers.

Final score: B plus

DVD - The Best of Janet Paschal (A-)

2007-07-06T13:39:00.004-05:00

I'm not a huge fan of the genre but I have a genuine appreciation for Southern Gospel, not least because of my childhood exposure to it. Well, in my limited experience, one of the greatest vocalists ever across any style is Janet Paschal. She has been a favorite of mine since the early 1980s when she toured with tenor John Starnes in Jimmy Swaggart's band. Within a few years she went entirely solo and soon became (and remains) a fixture in uberproducer Bill Gaither's series of video specials. This DVD is a collection of Paschal's most popular moments from those shows over the past two decades.

Paschal has always been a much better performer live than she is in the studio. The audience and the opportunity to physically embody the song for them energize her in ways that a sound-proofed room could never do. And at the half-century mark, she still has the broadest smile and her eyes still have the brightest sparkle I've ever seen onstage.

Between songs, Gaither and Pashcal discuss her feelings for each song and they share memories of the Homecoming tours. Gaither reiterates her reputation as a perpetually positive and thoughtful person and she giggles in response. In an understated moment, Janet also recounts her recent battle with breast cancer and her tortuous rounds of intensive chemotherapy. She has been cancer-free for a year or so and is now touring again.

Here, in a low-quality version of a highlight from the early '90s, Janet floors George Younce, Jessy Dixon, Vestal Goodman and a host of other Gospel legends with a gotta-shout, gotta-dance rendition of "Born Again". If this don't light your fire, your wood's wet!

In this clip, she acts as worship leader to the Homecoming team and ends in a moving duet with gospel pioneer Vestal Goodman.

If I have any complaint, it's that the second half of the disc contains virtually no uptempo numbers and this breaks up the rhythm of the package.

Final score: A minus

TV - Drumming Fun

2007-06-09T10:35:00.002-05:00

Three of my favorite things: Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos, a cute brunette (aka, Torry Castellano of The Donnas, who's usually blonde), and good drumming.

Hey, I was told honesty was the best policy!

Movie - Spider-Man 3 (C+)

2007-05-29T11:48:00.002-05:00

Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard
Directed by Sam Raimi
PG-13 for intense action violence, adult themes, profanity

I had such low expectations going into this movie that it had nowhere to go but up in my book. I am a firm believer in comic book movies having only one villain - two at the most if it's handled exceptionally well. Beyond that the story always becomes a muddled mess with no character development and therefore no emotional stakes in the outcomes of the battles. The multiple villain approach helped kill the Batman franchise in the 1990s and it comes perilously close to killing this one. It has four: The Sandman, Venom, the New Goblin, and a symbiotic goo from space that makes Spidey evil.

But what really killed the Batman series was campiness - and it rears its ugly head in full force right smack in the middle of Spider-Man 3. Director Sam Raimi flirted with silliness in Spider-Man 2, when he built a Peter Parker montage around B.J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", replete with a goofy freeze-frame finish that reeked of 70s TV shows. But the rest of the film shook that bit of misjudgment off as though it were just a momentary in-joke. This time around, Raimi indulges in a protracted sequence of events over several scenes that becomes more and more incredible and painful to watch as it goes on.

In this story, Parker is gradually transformed into a mean-spirited jerk by an alien life-form that has attached itself to him and feeds off his negative emotions. As this progresses, Parker becomes more selfish, narcissistic, and sadistic. It starts off with a believably uncomfortable callousness towards his girlfriend Mary Jane and a vengeful, murderous battle with Sandman.

But it immediately veers off into the ridiculous, starting with an extreme makeover of expensive European suits and an Adolf Hitler haircut (no lie), proceeding to Parker jive-walking down the street winking at women who are openly disgusted with him - all set to funky music rejected from a blaxploitation film. This goes on for some time. Then he blows off a one-ended phone conversation with exaggerated, cliche-riddled preening (and more winking) for a gawky girl. Then he goes to a nightclub and commandeers the piano, dances on the bar with super-powered computer-generated swings and flips right out of The Mask, and the crowd goes wild. Well, the crowd in the nightclub did. The crowd in the theater said, and I quote, "Boy, that was lame," and "This is getting stupid," and "That sucked." My wife had covered her eyes. She couldn't watch it anymore.

The rest of the movie was a B flirting with a B minus. But that sequence yanked it down to a

Final score: C+

TV - Goodbye, Girls

2007-05-03T16:10:00.001-05:00

After several months of coquettish avoidance, the CW network and the creative team behind the show have finally announced what has been obvious to the entire world for a painfully long time: Gilmore Girls will be no more after this season's finale.

Easily one of the ten best series of this century, the show has been in decline for the better part of 18 months due (in no small part) to the abrupt departure of its original creator, Amy Sherman Palladino. I don't mind them stopping before it gets too ugly. But it will be sorely, sorely missed.

The rapid-fire dialogue - fortified with seemingly limitless literary and pop culture references and rare, razor-sharp wit and sarcasm modeled after 1930s screwball comedies - gets all the glory and it IS what hooked us. But the loving yet hard-fought relationships between the slightly off-center characters also kept us coming back.

Gilmore Girls had something for everyone. There was just enough teen angst for the high school girls who hung on every twist and turn in young Rory's love life. The literate (e.g., namechecking Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley) and nostalgic (70s and 80s references in every episode) quips and the confrontations between single mom Lorelai and her judgmental, controlling mother kept adults in stitches week after week.

Special kudos to actress Lauren Graham (PBA), who anchored the show both in humor and in drama and set the pace for all the other actors in delivering an hour's worth of dialogue in 43 minutes week after week. NO ONE else could ever be Lorelai Gilmore.

Here's a first season sampler. In less than two minutes they reference Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Noah, Shaft, Charlie Brown specials, Richard Simmons, Barbara Hutton, the Menendez murders, The Waltons, Wonder Woman's invisible plane, gauchos, Flashdance, Annie Oakley, Elsa Klensch, Bob Barker, Oscar Levant, Howard Cosell, Mary Poppins tunes, Emily Post, the Iran-Contra scandal, Fawn Hall, Judy Blume, 50s monster movie titles, Nietzsche, Dawson's Creek, and The Odd Couple:

The Gilmore girls - Lorelai, Rory, and Emily - were a breath of fresh air for seven years. May their Friday night dinners go on forever!

Series Final Score:
Season 1 - A
Seasons 2 & 3 - A plus
Seasons 4 & 5 - A
Season 6 - B
Season 7 - B minus

DVD - Christy: The Complete Series (A)

2007-03-29T02:11:00.001-05:00

Starring Kellie Martin, Tyne Daly, Randall Batinkoff, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Tess Harper
Buy it

Synopsis: Based on the bestseller by Catherine Marshall, Christy tells the story of an idealistic nineteen year old who leaves the comforts of her city home to teach school in an impoverished Appalachian community in 1912.

Upon viewing this series again for the first time in more than a decade, I was reminded anew of how much I deeply loved and respected it and how bitterly disappointed I was that it was cancelled after one season. I had forgotten just how much I missed it.

On its surface, 'Christy' looked like a simple attempt by CBS to recreate the alchemy of its hugely successful hit 'Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman,' with frontier family drama, a benevolent-fish-out-of-water heroine, and a dash of romance. But it ended up being a great deal more than that. It took those elements and added two other critical ingredients. One is well-worn in television storytelling, the other treated like the third rail of commercial TV.

The series was extremely conscientious about treating the denizens of the fictional mountain community of Cutter Gap with respect and dignity even as it showed the negative side of their almost feral life. Christy Huddleston was constantly learning not to condescend to them, even though many of their ways were not only backward but patently self-destructive, even deadly. She consistently learned as much from them as they did from her.

Most surprisingly, the series addressed religion in an adult manner, making it an organic part of the story rather than a theme to visit every so often. Christy teaches school to the mountain children as part of her service as a Christian missionary. She and the other missionaries speak of God as a matter of course and discuss their faith in honest, practical terms. They have faults and address them inconsistently but determinedly. The agnostic local doctor frequently confronts them with questions (some honest, some not) about their beliefs and motives and they respond honestly, sometimes learning more about themselves and their faith in the process, and frequently give the doctor something to chew on as well. And unlike most television Christians, they discover the error of preachiness without recanting the truth they were preaching. This balanced, faith-with-boots-on approach was bracingly refreshing and downright exciting in 1994. Recent attempts to 'humanize' religious characters by essentially making them act like agnostics (Aaron Sorkin, take note) get it all wrong. 'Christy' got it as close to right as I've seen yet.

Enough praise cannot be heaped on the then-19-year-old Kellie Martin, who carried the series with the aplomb of someone twice her age. She makes Christy not only adorable but admirable. And Tyne Daly, who won another Emmy for this role, is a constant treat.

My only qualms with this release echo everyone else's. Double-sided discs are a huge no-no. Handling them with care is always problematic. The low resolution necessary to fit them on so few discs is not too evident on a conventional 25" TV but is downright depressing on a larger set or a computer screen. There are no extras. The discs deserve a C+ at best

Still, take this prize of a series any way you can get it. It's a fantastic find. Just be warned it ended on a cliffhanger that was, sadly, never resolved (except in an inferior TV movie with a different cast).

Final score: A

DVD - Celtic Woman: A New Journey, Live at Slane Castle (A-)

2007-03-11T00:49:00.001-06:00

Featuring Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon, Lisa Kelly (PBA), Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Mairead Nesbitt, Hayley Westenra
Buy it

Ever since they began conquering the world a couple years back (or at least the part of it that watches PBS) the Irish vocal troupe Celtic Woman has owned the top spot of the Billboard World chart, with each disc knocked off only by their own projects. This concert will only further entrench them in that position.

Even with those breakout CD sales, the core of their success has lain in their concert presentation. The CDs have been like talismans that invoke the concert experience and keep it fresh until you have time to sit and watch it again. But the stage is where they truly rule.

The first video, recorded at Dublin's Helix Theatre, was beautiful, ethereal, and occasionally almost spiritual. But "A New Journey" adds one more element: Fun! Only fiddler Mairead Nesbitt did any real moving and shaking in the original. The vocalists were - apart from gracefully walking up and down ramps - fairly static. This actually lent itself to the otherworldly quality of the show but also subtracted color from the ladies' personalities.

Well, they are alive and in living color in this show filmed outdoors at famed Slane Castle. The greatest benefit goes, hands down, to singer Lisa Kelly. More than the other vocalists, who hearken primarily from classical and traditional roots, Kelly's background is predominantly in musical theater. Her skills in dramatic presentation, audience connection, and dance are unleashed here and she absolutely relishes it. And Nesbitt? Her already energetic presentation takes off into the utterly dynamic.

This shift is apparent in all the performances. Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, only months removed from maternity leave, seems to find a whole new level of characterization and assurance and it suits her. And the addition of the nearly operatic Hayley Westenra gooses everyone's vocal game up another notch.

If I have a nit to pick on the concert, it would be that the setlist frontloads much of the new material and leaves you with repeats from the first video toward the end.

Something else I'm mulling: The crowd reaction shots that punctuated the PBS version are largely gone in this home video edition. That gives more uninterrupted screen time for the attractive ladies but it takes away some of the emotional energy generated by the visibly captivated and moved audience. As an example, here's the charming Lisa Kelly's performance of "Caledonia" from the PBS edition:

On the DVD. I sort of miss the people.

Overall, however, the concert video scores a solid A.

The extras are thin. There's a well-done "Making Of" featurette that explores the logistics of pulling off this massive production outdoors. But it contains little on the show's stars. And that's it, folks! Unlike the Helix DVD, there are no individual interviews with the ladies here. I'd give the extras a B at best.

Total DVD score: A minus

Web - Yahoo! Avatars

2007-03-08T13:35:00.001-06:00

Yahoo! has a new feature that allows you to create a cartoon avatar of yourself for your online identity as a Yahoo! user. It can be as wild or as close to real life as you want, using all types of clothing and hairstyles and myriad backgrounds. Here's an approximation of the real me:

It's limited in some ways but it's pretty fun to play with. Beats a photo in my case.

CD - Postcards (A-)

2007-02-01T22:13:00.001-06:00

Artist: Cindy Morgan
Producer: Wayne Kirkpatrick
Buy it

Perhaps the most underrated singer/songwriter in CCM's postmodern era, Cindy Morgan is still as strong an artist as ever. Although she's a fifteen-year, nine-album veteran in an industry with an average life-expectancy of fifteen months and one album, Morgan is not merely a survivor. She has matured and improved, experimented and learned, and never stopped taking risks.

Her clear, strong voice and cover girl looks had the label stuffing her into the Dance/Pop Diva mold on her debut CD - but her true colors shone through even then. The haunting, worshipful, self-penned piano ballad at its close ("How Could I Ask for More") marked her as a sonic and lyrical force to be reckoned with. That talented young woman has become a truly unique voice in the world of Christian music and Postcards shows how.

After a five year break between albums (Morgan became a mom again after her last), Postcards is a breath of fresh air. In addition to her piano-driven center, Morgan here tries her hand at roots music and semi-industrial pop to largely successful effect.

And she continues to grow lyrically. On 'Enough' she really takes on a confrontational edge worthy of classic troublemaker Steve Taylor. And then there's the jaw-dropping honesty of "Mother," which is a cry to Morgan's own mother over the recent breakdown of their relationship. It is a heartstopper. The urgency of approaching middle age really strips off the nonsense in one's life - and it sure show on this album.

This is certainly among her best albums and improves with successive listens.

Final score: A minus

DVD - The Devil Wears Prada (B–)

2007-01-30T19:50:00.002-06:00

Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway (PBA), Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier
Directed by David Frankel
PG-13 for some sensuality, adult themes, profanity
Buy it

To begin with, this film is billed as a "wicked" comedy but I found no laughs in it. Maybe two or three mild chuckles. All the telegraphed moments that were intended to be comedy were glaringly unoriginal. Virtually every demeaning thing Meryl Streep's character does to Anne Hathaway's has been done in at least two dozen movies in the past 25 years. Only the specifics have been updated. This one simply has the world's greatest actress doing them.

Hathaway was cast because she's not only talented but also gorgeous and not emaciated. She is instantly likeable. Adrian Grenier is bland window-dressing as Hathaway's love interest. Chronic upstager Stanley Tucci is an actor I often can't appreciate but his under-the-top, small doses here keep him from being a liability. Streep is ... Streep! Her deft touch and perfect subtlety keep her absurd character in the realm of possibility. My biggest complaint is that her character's unsubtle hair is distractingly reminiscent of Glenn Close's Cruella Deville in Disney's "101 Dalmatians."

The entertaining and engaging parts primarily involve life lessons from the moral ambiguity that rears it head for Hathaway's character. However its lessons are contradictory and all over the map. Much of it is trite and all of it could have been done in a decent LifeTime movie but Streep and Hathaway bring it a level difficult to find on TV. And Hathaway's Andy ends up in a pretty questionable "happy ending" that belies her independence.

The film tries it hand at subtle apologetics for the high fashion industry. Even though I didn't buy it, a few of them were food for thought. And it's neat to hear Streep wrap attitude around the word "cerulean."

Final score: B minus

DVD - Click (D and B–)

2007-01-30T19:40:00.002-06:00

Starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale (PBA), Christopher Walken, Henry Winkler
Directed by Frank Coraci
PG-13 for crude, scatalogical, and arrested sexual humor, profanity, child profanity, and drug references
Buy it

Full disclosure: I cannot stand Adam Sandler. He is the black hole of humor. Any idea remotely resembling funny that approaches his vicinity is sucked down into neverending annhilation at the hands of fart gags, monotonous rhyming, and nicknames for male parts.

Moving on ...

A harried workaholic Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) doesn't have time for his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and children not if he's to impress his ungrateful boss and earn a well-deserved promotion. So when he meets Morty (Christopher Walken) a loopy sales clerk he gets the answer to his prayers: a magical remote that allows him to bypass life's little distractions. But as Michael gleefully mutes skips and scans past his family and his friends the remote gradually takes over his life and begins to program him.

You'll notice I've given it two grades. That's because it's like two different movies spliced together.

The first movie is like a live-action Disney flick written by the Farrelly Brothers. The acting, plot, dialogue, music, and direction - even the photography - mimic stuff pitched to a 8-year-old's level. But it's packed with a fratboy's sense of humor. Farts, bimbos, and humping dogs rejoice.

The second movie is like a protracted 'Twilight Zone' episode ... written by the Farrelly Brothers. The upside of this segment is that it actually begins to explore the metaphor that Sandler's universal remote represents. As Sandler rockets through the second half of his life, it takes an emotional and visual dark downward spiral into regret and pathos that may actually read your mail and jerk a tear or two. The downside is that there isn't enough character development in the first movie to earn the tears this second movie wants to jerk out of you. It has to rely solely on the viewer projecting him/herself onto the screen, which means only part of the audience will get it.

Though Oscar-nominated, the aging and fatsuit make-up work created by the legendary Rick Baker is excellent but not quite up to his past work. And Kate Beckinsale seems to age at half the rate of everyone else. But those are quibbles.

There is a moment that I particularly appreciate, even though it takes you out of the film. Christopher Walken's character states the first comment most people have upon seeing the trailer: How in the heck did a schlub like Sandler end up married to a raving beauty like Beckinsale?

Final score: First part, D. Second, B minus

DVD - The Second Chance (B)

2007-01-30T19:39:00.001-06:00

Starring jeff obafemi carr, Michael W. Smith
Directed by Steve Taylor
PG-13 for language and violence
Buy it

Let me get this out of the way: I do not automatically give all Christian movies an A merely to "give them support." As the leader of my church's drama ministry I believe we are responsible to pursue and promote excellence in the arts. Poor craftsmanship implies poor effort and lacks credibility. Trust me, the makers of this film feel the same way.

When I saw this was a film by Steve Taylor, I knew I had to see this movie.

When I heard singer Michael W. Smith was in the lead role, I wasn't so sure I wanted to see this movie.

Well, I was pleased with much of it, challenged as a Christian by parts of it, and disappointed with lots of it. As with his cutting edge music, Taylor pushed some buttons that definitely needed to be pushed (punched and smashed, too) about the marketing mentality within the church, the social laziness we ignore, the racial ignorance we tolerate (on both sides), and the flawless facade we try to project. As for the occasional swearing the pastor does, that's just real life. Preachers are fallible. Alert the media!

As for Smitty, all I can say is, "He obviously worked very hard on this and there were times when he was very effective." That's nicer than saying, "Don't quit your day job." And more honest, really. He didn't stink at it. But I doubt he'll ever be on Martin Scorsese's speed dial.

jeff obafemi carr (the lowercase thing is his idea) is pretty darn good, though. Hope to see him again.

The great, glaring weakness of 'Second Chance' is in the retreaded plots: Plot A: A small, faithful inner city church is financially strapped and the administrative board plans to shut it down if its fortunes don't turn around, so the congregation rallies to save it. Plot B: A rebellious, successful son is resistant about taking over the reins of a church from his kindly old father, the senior pastor who is beloved by everyone. Heard either of those plots before? Sure, in just about every story about a church that you've ever seen from 'The Preacher's Wife', 'Sister Act,' and 'The Gospel' to dozens of episodes of 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by An Angel.' Is there no other story out there?

I really feel Taylor missed an opportunity by not trying for a more original story to tell, one that the average person could identify with. And hadn't seen before. But this is still a good first effort by Steve.

Final score: B

DVD - Junebug (B+)

2007-01-30T18:34:00.002-06:00

Starring Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivolo, Amy Adams (PBA), Celia Weston, Ben McKenzie
Written and Directed by Phil Morrison
R for sexual content, explicit paintings, and language
Buy it

While this film is sometimes uneven in its pacing and priorities and often quirky and crude simply for its own sake, on the whole it was well worth the investment of time and effort to watch it. It was certainly one of the better films of 2005 and, as has been stated many times here, Amy Adams' Best Supporting Actress nomination was richly deserved. In fact, she was flat-out robbed in not winning.

If you've ever spent an unexpectedly protracted time in a family member's home (where every routine is backward to yours, personal tensions are kept just out of your sight with varying degrees of success, politeness has different definitions and contexts, and even the sounds and smells are foreign) the stylistic approach of 'Junebug' will give you a nearly claustrophobic sense of deja vu.

Some of the themes presented here are well-worn: "All regional cultures have good and bad in them," "Do you really know the people closest to you?" "Dysfunction is a distorted mask worn by thwarted attempts at showing love," and "Why doesn't anyone say what they're really feeling?" But the realism with which it is occasionally portrayed in 'Junebug' hits awfully close to home.

Amy Adams walked an extremely fine line with amazing ability here. The relentlessly dogged positivity and adorability of her character was designed to be comic, admirable, tragic, and unwittingly profound but could easily have veered into an unbelievably cartoony pathos. Judging from the clips of Adams' audition, she had just the right touch mapped out from day one. I can't imagine anyone else playing her this perfectly. My test for her performance was, "Is this realistic? Have I actually met people like her?" I have.

I am an 8th generation Southerner. Some Southerners see Adams' character as a stereotype. Is she? She could be interpreted as one. If you see her as just a dumb, sweet hick, then she is a stereotype to you. But I saw a voraciously curious, idealistic, restless, compassionate young woman who felt absolutely trapped in a home that didn't reward such things and who adapted the only way she knew how - gathering obscure knowledge like manna and always holding out hope, no matter the evidence to the contrary. She was inundated with negativity from every angle, every day and you could see her mentally trying to ignore the gunk thrown on her rose-colored glasses at the beginning of each sentence she spoke. I thought it was terribly true to life.

Final score: B plus

Book - Bono In Conversation (A–)

2007-01-25T23:56:00.001-06:00

Bono In Conversation
Author: Mischka Assayas
Buy it

A pleasant surprise. I was afraid this book-length interview would turn into a self-congratulatory rambling session with a sycophantic journalist. However, Assayas keeps after Bono with tough and interesting questions and Bono responds in kind. The singer seems - by and large - candid and frequently insightful about his life and art. He holds back on some things, which is his prerogative, and can get on tangents about his great passion of the moment (Africa) but ultimately I found him an honest, fascinating, intelligent, and admirable fellow. I couldn't put it down.

Especially refreshing (and amusing) is the chapter devoted to Bono's theology ("Add Eternity to That"). As an Irishman, he has a penchant for dropping a few swear words into the discussion and that may be off-putting to some Christians. But he clearly points to Christ's sacrifice on the cross and God's grace as his only hope of salvation. He argues aut Deus aut homo malus with Assayas. You don't hear that from too many rock stars.

Final score: A minus

PBAs

2007-01-25T18:49:00.004-06:00

I've been told this is necessary, so...

PBA is an acronym I've created to assist you in interpreting my reviews. A PBA is a "Phone Book Actress." This is an actress whom I would happily watch read the phone book, let alone perform in a real film or show. This can be either about looks or talent. Usually (but not always) both.

I will place the acronym in parentheses after the performer's name in the cast list. I try to be objective but please feel free to take reviews featuring PBAs with however much salt you deem appropriate.

Current list in alphabetical order (Subject to change):

Connie Britton
Kristin Davis
Dana Delany
Erica Durance
Jennifer Garner
Lauren Graham
Melora Hardin
Anne Hathaway
Patricia Heaton
Katherine Heigl
Katie Holmes
Ashley Judd
Diane Lane
Laura Linney
Rachel McAdams
Natalie Portman
Michelle Ryan
Gabrielle Union
Sela Ward
Kate Winslet