Linda Holmes

The 25 Movies To Which 'World War Z' Is A Sequel, Probably

Linda Holmes — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:03:00 +0000

World War A (in which Isaac Newton is bonked on the head and still bravely figures out gravity)

World War B (spun off from a VH1 reality show)

World War C (in which two dudes hit each other with cellos for 2.5 hours)

World War D (part of The Great Report Card Skirmish Of 1998)

World War-E (in which a tiny robot rolls around and watches Hello Dolly and then smashes the doubloons out of everything in sight)

World War F (the [bleep]ing best war ever)

World War G (gorilla versus giraffes versus gerbils versus guine

Bait And Twitch: Vice Magazine, Suicide Glamour, And Not Staying Quiet

Linda Holmes — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:47:00 +0000

This week, Vice magazine unveiled a fashion spread featuring images based on famous female writers who killed themselves.

In Slight Defense Of Miss Utah USA, A Little Bit, With Reservations

Linda Holmes — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:36:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7TE7fCkrk

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug'

Linda Holmes — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:51:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnaojlfdUbs

MTV Promises To Be About Music For An Entire Half Of A Day

Linda Holmes — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:27:00 +0000

Well, this is news.

MTV, VH1, and CMT sent out a press release this morning announcing that on July 4^th, which they're calling "Music Independence Day" (!) (!!), they will "dedicate their channels exclusively to music."

ALL DAY LONG. If by "all day long," you mean "from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern and Pacific." (Hey, what's a day, right? 12 hours, 24 hours, these are semantics.)

You might think that MTV, VH1, and CMT would not need a special declaration to devote a 12-hour block to music, but you would be wrong. IT'S MUSIC INDEPENDENCE DAY, WOOOOO!

Theater Of The Absurd: Have Audiences Lost Their Manners?

Linda Holmes — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:04:00 +0000

If you woke up this morning thinking, "I really need to hear NPR's Linda Wertheimer say the words 'noisily unwrapping her Twizzlers,'" have I got good news for you.

Margot Adler had a story on today's Morning Edition about Broadway audiences and whether they're getting ruder, given recent incidents involving the aforementioned Twizzlers, rude texting, talking and other interruptions.

Shoes, Romance, And Art: A Reader Walks With The Books She Loves

Linda Holmes — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

Longtime readers know that one of my favorite pop-culture blogs ever invented is Smart Bitches Trashy Books, which offers a home for romance readers (who are legion) to both love their books and laugh at their books.

The Tony Awards: Is This The Greatest Awards Show Opening Ever?

Linda Holmes — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:23:00 +0000

Unless you've seen every awards show since the dawn of time (which would make you The Unluckiest Person In The World), you can't really answer the question of whether last night's opener of the Tony Awards, hosted for the fourth time by Neil Patrick Harris, was the best opening ever.

But if you're talking about awards shows in recent memory, the answer is that not only was it the best opener, but it utterly embarrassed just about everything except maybe Jimmy Fallon's "Born To Run" at the 2010 Emmys.

When Your Data Is Your Currency, What Does Your Privacy Cost?

Linda Holmes — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:03:00 +0000

There was considerable mouth-dropping from publications such as The New York Times at initial reports this week that NSA programs are gathering both telephone records and information gleaned from large tech companies like Google and Microsoft.

Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado' As Romantic Comedy And Cop Show

Linda Holmes — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:24:00 +0000

If you all think back all the way to when I was in Toronto last fall, you'll recall I was very enamored with Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, the story of the bickering lovers Beatrice and Benedick.

The Vexing Matter Of The Summer Blockbuster

Linda Holmes — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 17:38:00 +0000

On today's Here & Now from WBUR, I talked to host Robin Young about the weird situation of summer blockbusters — which can easily go the way of Iron Man 3 (hit!) or the way of After Earth (non-hit!) and it's not always easy to tell what you're going to get until it happens.

One of the things that complicates the situation is international box office and the effort to adjust films for a lot of different markets.

The Critic, The Viewer And The Episode Dump

Linda Holmes — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:16:00 +0000

I have substantial affection for both Hollywood Reporter TV critic Tim Goodman and the Fox executive who tweets as "Masked Scheduler." They're both amusing, resolute grumps at times, but great fun to follow on Twitter. So you can imagine how uncomfortable it was to see them have a testy exchange about the new episodes of Arrested Development (which, remember, was on Fox and is now not).

Once Again, Elizabeth Taylor And Richard Burton Get A TV Movie

Linda Holmes — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:16:00 +0000

On the heels of Liz & Dick, Lifetime's campy take on the love story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton that starred none other than Lindsay Lohan, BBC America will be delivering another made-for-TV version this fall. Because they couldn't call it Liz & Dick, this one is called ... Burton And Taylor.

Why Yes, I Did Watch A Movie Called 'Deadly Spa'

Linda Holmes — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:31:00 +0000

[Caution: Contains Deadly Spoilers.]

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Lifetime had a movie coming up that was about a spa where things get deadly. It was called Deadly Spa.

There's something about the name Deadly Spa that just feels like they came up with it while drunk by cutting out the descriptions of all the other programs on Lifetime and throwing them in a hat, then pulling them out in bunches.

Pyrrhic Victories: Mass Casualties And Rah-Rah Endings

Linda Holmes — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 14:38:00 +0000

[Attention: Vague spoilers on Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into Darkness, Iron Man 3, The Avengers. More specific spoilers on Die Hard, Die Hard 2.]

I get all my best ideas about Star Trek from NPR's White House correspondent Ari Shapiro, so naturally, when he came by my desk this morning with an observation, I was all (non-pointy) ears.

He noted that in Star Trek Into Darkness, as in a variety of other recent action/thrillers, there are an awful lot of casualties before the heroes are eventually victorious.

Rita Wilson On Life After 50: 'Get Ready, It's A Blast'

Linda Holmes — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:39:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOYa4h98M4

Truth In Advertising: Pregnant Ladies Date On 'Pregnant And Dating'

Linda Holmes — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:12:00 +0000

There's a part of basic cable that you might call "soft reality" — the unscripted shows where everybody is nice, almost all the stories are happy, the comedy is mostly gentle, and the main characters are meant to be very sympathetic. Soft reality loves pregnancy and childbirth, as seen on shows like A Baby Story and some of the shows about giving birth to multiples. (Jon & Kate Plus 8 started as soft reality and wound up as something else entirely.)

Soft reality also loves romance, which is most emphatically demonstrated in wedding shows like Say Yes To The Dress.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Binge Viewing And A Summer TV Quiz

Linda Holmes — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:23:00 +0000
It's not every week you get to hear me go full-on fan-crazy.

Yes, Your Cat Can Get A Movie Deal

Linda Holmes — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:52:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J---aiyznGQ

As Trailers Eat Up Movie Time, Theaters And Studios Squabble Over Shortening Them

Linda Holmes — Thu, 30 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000
Here's a question: If you go to the movies and the scheduled showtime is, say, 7:30, when do you actually expect the movie to start? If you said 7:30, you go to very unusual screenings. If you said 7:45, you're closer to what many experience. If you said 7:50, you're still in range: There's often some advertising other than trailers, the limit for trailer length is 2 1/2 minutes, and theaters sometimes run seven or eight trailers.

Kerfuffle Politics: The Statement Adam Levine Shouldn't Need To Make

Linda Holmes — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:23:00 +0000
Tuesday night on The Voice, Adam Levine — who's the lead singer of Maroon 5 when he's not judging reality television — had two of the singers on his team eliminated. To understand this, just know that each of the four judge-coaches (Levine, Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton) starts out with a team of singers they're mentoring, and as they go through the competition, the coaches get pretty attached to the folks on their team and try to help them win.

CBS Debuts A Baking Competition As Broadcast Continues Borrowing From Cable

Linda Holmes — Wed, 29 May 2013 16:19:00 +0000
Broadcast TV has seen the writing on the walls at Food Network, Bravo and TLC: competitive food shows can build solid followings (Chopped, Top Chef) and so can shows about baking (Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars). Throw in a format popular in Britain called The Great British Bake-Off, and add the appeal of television that leads with how unpretentious and down-home it is.

Ahem: Asking Someone To The Prom Is Not A 'Proposal'

Linda Holmes — Wed, 29 May 2013 14:56:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2kg4PWzF_U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLtQkt2XcV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OFsHMGZpmU

Entirely Real Photos: Wax Will Smith Gets Jiggy With Wax George Clooney

Linda Holmes — Wed, 29 May 2013 12:39:00 +0000
As you know, we at Monkey See enjoy creepy wax figurines maybe more than anything in the world, and now, Wax George Clooney (whose adventures we have chronicled in the past) has been joined at a photo shoot in London by Wax Will Smith, as well as Wax Emma Watson. You know, just to hang out. To talk about movies. To talk about being made of wax.
Just a regular, ordinary Hollywood scene.

Comikaze: Not Just The Other Comic Convention

Linda Holmes — Tue, 28 May 2013 21:15:00 +0000
You may be familiar with the San Diego Comic-Con, a constantly expanding convention for fans that started as a niche event for comic-book nerds and is now a sprawling pop-culture event.
You may not be familiar with Comikaze. The brainchild of Regina Carpinelli, a fan who was unhappy with the cost, ticket scarcity, and changing focus of Comic-Con, Comikaze is a smaller festival that costs $30 for the weekend, rather than Comic-Con's $150 four-day passes.

A Parade Of Goobers: 17 Actual People Presented To 'The Bachelorette'

Linda Holmes — Tue, 28 May 2013 16:50:00 +0000
Last night brought the premiere of the new season of The Bachelorette, in which Desiree, who was rejected by Sean on the last season of The Bachelor, was presented with 25 men from whom to choose. The theory is that if television producers choose 25 guys for you to pick from, surely one of them is your soul mate.

Bad News, Men: You're Not Very Charming

Linda Holmes — Tue, 28 May 2013 15:09:00 +0000
I hate to break this to you, Men Of The Entire United States (Especially Actors), but The Atlantic has just run a lengthy piece pronouncing you un-charming.
At first, Benjamin Schwarz seems to mean "good conversationalist" when he says "charming." He says:
Women commonly complain about the difficulty in gaining any conversational purchase when, say, trying to engage the fathers of their children's classmates or the husbands of their te

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Don Jon'

Linda Holmes — Tue, 28 May 2013 13:52:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9-JCXBkUiE

Are Women Really Missing From Film Criticism?

Linda Holmes — Fri, 24 May 2013 18:37:00 +0000
A new study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film has led to headlines claiming that women are missing from film criticism. "Female Movie Critics' Influence Shrinking, Says Study," reads the headline in the Chicago Tribune.

Breakin' The Rules: 20 General Principles Suspended In 'Fast And Furious 6'

Linda Holmes — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:49:00 +0000
1. Newton's Laws Of Motion
2. The Reluctance Of Brilliant Criminal Masterminds To Freely Confess
3. The Inability Of Two Things To Coexist In The Same Physical Space
4. The Integrity Of Vending Machines
5. Gravity
6. Gina Carano's Ability To Snap Most Of These People Like Twigs Pretty Quickly, If We're Being Honest
7. The Hardness Of Cars, Which Are Actually Kind Of Uncomfortable To Land On From Great Heights
8. The Assumption That Even Innocent Bystanders Who Do Not Have Speaking Parts Have To Not Die In Order For The Good Guys To Be Considered Entirely Successful
9.