This 2001 Cameron Crowe film is based on a 1997 Spanish film called Open Your Eyes (well, Abre los Ojos, anyway). Both of them – the original Spanish film and the Hollywood remake – feature Penelope Cruz, but the other primary stars are replaced for the English-language adaptation. For Vanilla Sky, Cruz’s co-stars are Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. But in both versions, it’s a very unsettling and unpredictable story.

2013

Dec

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN By David Bianculli

A week ago, I was complaining about the appearance of Christmas TV specials in prime time, showing up the day after Thanksgiving. A week later, though, I may as well give up. So here’s a very vintage repeat, of a 1969 animated adventure narrated by Jimmy Durante, and featuring some of the voices very familiar to those of us who wallowed in everything Bullwinkle.

2013

Dec

BLONDE VENUS By David Bianculli

This 1932 Josef von Sternberg movie, starring Marlene Dietrich as a risqué German entertainer, is a wild, wild movie even 80 years later. Even Cary Grant, as the young, wide-eyed target of her flirtations and machinations, seems a bit stunned as to how to react to her. And wouldn’t you, if the singer you were attracted to made a stage entrance doing a strip tease as a gorilla – stripping off her gorilla costume to become a white Afro-wigged warrior princess?

2013

Dec

DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS By David Bianculli

Another Christmas offering – this time the 2000 live-action movie, staring Jim Carrey as the green-faced Grinch.

2013

Dec

WEST SIDE STORY By David Bianculli

Last night, NBC mounted a live production of The Sound of Music. Monday, HBO is presenting a new biographical and music-filled tribute to Stephen Sondheim. And tonight, to keep that musical theater ball rolling, MGM HD – one of the best places to watch this kind of ultra-widescreen presentation – is televising the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Sondheim. Natalie Wood stars.

2013

Dec

THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! By David Bianculli

Last week’s prime-time special, introducing viewers to the casting and rehearsal process in bringing this Rodgers and Hammerstein classic to television, did a great job of promotion, stressing the point of just how high-risk, and exciting, a live TV premiere is bound to be. And here it comes. At one point in TV’s history, everything was presented this way – but tonight, a live musical, starring Carrie Underwood and featuring Audra McDonald and Laura Benanti, is an absolute rari

2013

Dec

THE BIG BANG THEORY By David Bianculli

The latest ongoing story line for this show has provided some delightfully unexpected depth: Sheldon (Jim Parsons) made an accidental discovery of seemingly great import, and gloated about it, only to have it subsequently questioned and eventually disproven. How could things get any worse? Well, tonight, while simmering in his post-failure funk, Sheldon is visited by his nemesis: Wil Wheaton.

2013

Dec

COMEDY WARRIORS: HEALING THROUGH HUMOR By David Bianculli

A quintet of severely wounded soldiers, veterans from wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, is instructed stateside in a new post-military activity: trying standup comedy. It may sound like quite a jarring transition, but remember: standup comics talk about killing the audience, dying on stage, slaying them, and so many other battlefield metaphors. Besides, they have help, in the form of comedians who are there to teach them and guide them in preparing and presenting their material. And since the guides

2013

Dec

GLEE By David Bianculli

I have no idea why the folks at Fox thought it would be a good idea to counter-program NBC’s telecast of a live musical with its Glee special Christmas episode, which makes room for lots of carols and costumes. But perhaps that’s just Scrooge-like thinking, and no one cares about time slots any more, when shows can be seen, and music heard and purchased, after the fact on websites and/or iTunes.

Posts 151-160 of 2272

15 16 17 18 19

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption