DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
On this day in 1987, NBC recognized Johnny Carson's Tonight Show predecessor with the one-hour special, Jack Paar is Alive and Well!...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
With Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty movie, her account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, about to hit theaters nationwide, this is the perfect time to revisit her 2008 war movie about a bomb-defusing military team in Baghdad, for which she won the Oscar for Outstanding Director. Written by Mark Boal, who reteamed with Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty. Jeremy Renner stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
Billy Wilder is remembered more for directing lighter fare, but this 1944 classic is about as dark as film noir gets. Fred MacMurray stars as an insurance agent who gets intrigued, and played, by a femme fatale, portrayed by a tougher-than-nails Barbra Stanwyck.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
Bel and Freddie (Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw) pitch another journalistic expose – and this time, quite intentionally, the target hits close to home.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
It would take a lot to get me to recommend this daily summary of pop culture bottom-feeding – but tonight’s edition isn’t a daily wrap-up. It condenses the whole eight-year run of Joel McHale’s The Soup, presenting the worst of the worst, so to speak, in an eye-opening special that, no kidding, is tied to the impending Mayan Apocalypse. Tonight’s installment even has a title: End of the World – We Told You So. Promised to make the cut: Spaghetti Cat.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
19
 
 
Sofia Coppola wrote and directed this 2003 character study, which gave plum roles to two actors who benefited from the exposure: veteran comic actor Bill Murray, who shines in a very serious role of an American celebrity enduring a work trip to Tokyo, and young actress Scarlett Johansson, who shines just as much in one of several roles that quickly enhanced her reputation as a serious actress.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
18
 
 
The shock and grief is ongoing this week following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut last Friday. President Obama went to Newtown on Monday and delivered heartfelt remarks at an interfaith prayer vigil for the victims...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
18
 
 
On this day in 1966, CBS introduced the animated version of Dr. Seuss' children's story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
18
 
 
The best Christmas TV special ever made – for that matter, the best holiday special, period – gets one more unedited airing in 2012, thanks to ABC. Why CBS, the original network to present this Charles Schulz animated delight, ever let it go to a rival network is an amazing example of a stupid, stupid move. A Charlie Brown Christmas may age, but it will never get old.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
Dec
18
 
 
SEASON FINALE: A winner is crowned, and two of the four judges, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera, say their goodbyes to the swiveling red chairs. They’ll be replaced, next year, by Usher and Shakira, as Green and Aguilera step down to spend more time with their families. (Just kidding about that last part – but they will be leaving, if only temporarily.) Guess what will get more screen time tonight: the winning voice or the departing judges?