NBC’s Smash: Original, Convincing, and, Well, Smashing
This entry is part 22 of 22 in the series Reviews.Last night I attended an early screening of NBC’s musical drama Smash (episode one). The rest of you can check out the show February 6, after you’ve cleaned up the beer and queso from your Superbowl party. Aside from the Broadway community, those of us who showed up last night (maybe 200 total) were the first “real people,” as two of the producers put it, to see the show. So, yay, Chicago! Here’s a quick rundown of how this all worked… Free tickets to the event (along with free popcorn/soda) were promoted...
Read MoreGood Hair, But with a Price
This entry is part 21 of 22 in the series Reviews.As one would expect with Chris Rock at the helm, much of Good Hair (2009), the comedian’s documentary on the ins and outs of African American hair, is funny, lighthearted, and entertaining. However, several sequences of the film are troubling and, dare I say, heartbreaking. Case in point: one scene reveals three soda cans submerged in a diluted form of sodium hydroxide, the product that African American women and some men (e.g., Al Sharpton) use to straighten their hair. The first can, which has been floating in the solution for an hour,...
Read MoreEverybody Still Loves Raymond
This entry is part 20 of 22 in the series Reviews.Thursday night, I saw Ray Romano’s and Brad Garrett’s stand-up acts. After a funny 10-minute bit by Jon Manfrellotti (the guy who plays Ray’s friend Gianni on Everybody Loves Raymond), Ray walked onstage. Cracking jokes about his children, family, and lack of sex, he sounded exactly like his sitcom character. And why shouldn’t he? The show is based on his life. Then, Brad Garrett appeared onstage–yep, all 6’8″ of him. Speaking into the microphone with that sad, Eeyore-sounding voice, I assumed we would be getting...
Read MoreLive Free or Die Hard
This entry is part 19 of 22 in the series Reviews.With its crashing cars, rattling machine guns, and trash-talking lead character, the trailer for Live Free or Die Hard (Len Wiseman, 2007) positions the movie as just another loud, action-driven summer blockbuster that was created strictly for male-viewing pleasure. As such, I figured that the movie would probably be just as ridiculous and unappealing as this summer’s other fare (see Transformers, Spiderman 3, and Ocean’s Thirteen, for example). On the contrary, Live Free or Die Hard is much more fun than is expected–mainly because of...
Read MoreNational Theatre’s Live Lear: My Notes
This entry is part 18 of 22 in the series Reviews.What follows are my notes from Sunday, February 20, 2011, when I drove from Toledo, OH, to Ann Arbor, MI through a freakin’ blizzard to watch Derek Jacobi et al tackle Shakespeare’s most depressing and arguably most misogynistic play, King Lear. Ultimately, this account will be fused with Gaby Malcolm’s experience of the same performance, which I’ll then present at an upcoming popular culture conference in San Antonio, TX. Before we get to the notes, a couple of reminders for those who haven’t read our abstract...
Read MoreOn Jesus Camp (and Who Do You Think You Are?)
This entry is part 17 of 22 in the series Reviews.Lately, I’ve been looking forward to Friday nights — not because I have no lectures to write or papers to grade, but because I get to see a new episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Produced by Lisa Kudrow (yep, Friends‘ Phoebe Buffay), the documentary TV show features several celebrities as they go on quests into their family history. For instance, this season we’ve seen Lionel Richie locate his ancestors, one of whom was the result of a union between a slave and her master. We’ve also watched Kim Cattrall learn...
Read MoreKing Lear Live! Well, Sorta
This entry is part 16 of 22 in the series Reviews.What follows is my and Gabrielle Malcolm‘s presentation proposal for this year’s joint conference of the National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) and the Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (SWTX PCA/ACA). Here’s the original call for papers for the “Shakespeare on Film, Television, and Video” area. The National Theatre’s “Live” Lear: Performance, Reception, Exhibition On February 3, 2011, London’s Donmar Warehouse will present King...
Read MoreTrue Grit: Give Me A Different Ending and Some Freakin’ Contractions
This entry is part 15 of 22 in the series Reviews.On Christmas Day, the husband and I took in three movies: True Grit, The Fighter, and Black Swan. Here’s my analysis of the first one… The Good First, like many Hollywood westerns, True Grit boasts grand cinematography. Although barren deserts, leafless forests, and muddy streams don’t sound particularly majestic, they can be — especially when framed by someone who understands the significance of land/landscape to the American western. After all, in this genre the scenery often surfaces as a character itself as well as...
Read MoreLOST’s Finale: Noooooooo, Not the Dog!
This entry is part 14 of 22 in the series Reviews.I’m not going to lie. I’m having trouble with Lost‘s final image. You know the one: Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) is dying in the jungle (in presumably the same spot where he awoke in Season 1) with Vincent, the dutiful yellow lab, lying alongside him. As the Doc looks over with enthusiasm at the pup and then closes his eyes one last time, he (as well as the long-suffering viewer/fan) realizes he’s not alone. None of us dies alone, the show suggests; we have memories, friendships, shared circumstances, and sometimes even...
Read MoreSomething’s Rotten in the State of Heterosexual Love? A Timely Message from a Sassy Gay Friend
This entry is part 13 of 22 in the series Reviews.In March 2010, The Second City, the renowned Chicago- and Toronto-based comedy improv company, released on its YouTube network “Sassy Gay Friend: Hamlet.” The short video, which has received over 1 million hits to date, mocks Shakespeare’s most well-known play, specifically the character Ophelia who grows mad and ultimately drowns herself because her lover, Hamlet, has forsaken her. The video claims that Shakespeare’s tragedy would have ended much differently “if Ophelia had a Sassy Gay Friend.” Read the rest at Antenna:...
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,