New York Times

Jay Leno in prime time: death knell for quality network TV?

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how corporate entertainment might change if the economy tanks much more than it already has — and that seems likely to happen — and how we consumers of both corporate and independent entertainment might change the way we consume it. (More on that in another post.) Of all … more…

Lord of War movie review: sympathy for the devil?

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Funny? Sure, *Lord of War* is funny. Funny like how you’re not sure whether that headline is from Reuters or The Onion. Funny like how Jon Stewart has to insist that what he’s about to tell you really happened and is not the invention of his team of political wagsters. Satirical? Sure, *Lord of War* is satirical. Satirical like the front page of *The New York Times* is satirical. Satirical like how, at the end of Andrew Niccol’s black comedy about a relatively small-time freelance arms dealer, he tells us that the biggest arms dealers in the world are the nations that are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Deep Impact (review)

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Deep Impact isn’t about the audience watching the world end — it’s about us empathizing with the people watching the world end. Big diff. But the sold-out, opening-night crowd I saw Deep Impact with wanted none of that.