I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. It was started here by AV Club writer Nathan Rabin as a description of Kirsten Dunst’s character in Elizabethtown, and, by extension, as a deconstruction of the type of female character that seems to exist solely to propel a male protagonist’s […]
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Recent films rely on one convention. It’s sad but almost every Hollywood film is about character redemption. We love seeing someone with a problem they must overcome. We love going from liking them to loving them and we get catharsis from the sunset that brings everything together in the end. What makes Young Adult such […]
Ever since I had the pleasure of seeing their impressive production of Next Fall last September, I’ve been consistently surprised and excited by SpeakEasy Stage Company’s 2011-2012 season. Their most recent production of the Tony-winning Red delivers even stronger performances by the small, but intensely talented cast. Not only is the direction and acting strikingly poignant, but […]
2011 was a dynamite year for music. We had some of the strongest efforts from a ton of big name artists, reaffirming their place at the top; and we also had a massive surge of breakthrough releases bringing us a whole new spectrum of talent to bask in. Every genre expanded and gained depth that […]
This week, the CW’s first hit not born on the WB or UPN hit the 100 episode milestone. That all-important right of passage not only proves a show’s lasting appeal and lends it a bit more gravitas, it’s the point at which the syndication money becomes a major factor (most shows sell their rights at […]
Sometimes you see those shows where everything clicks from the script to the acting to the production elements. Everything works as an integrated whole to create a visceral experience. My night at the Huntington’s God of Carnage was one of these experiences. I wasn’t familiar with Yasmina Reza, the playwright, or her work, but I’ll […]
It would be very easy to hate Carnage, Roman Polanski’s simple but searing adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s Tony-winning play The God of Carnage (or, Le Dieu du Carnage, really). The characters are so dreadful, so maddening, so obnoxiously self righteous that I wanted to hurl things at the screen. But about halfway through, I finally […]
Let’s start with the man himself. Ben was far from my favourite on Ashley’s season of The Bachelorette. He wasn’t my least favourite by a longshot but, in the shadow of JP, his slightly awkward long-haired dopey guy thing seemed awkward and dopey instead of sweet. So you take a guy I like okay and […]