film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
We haven’t heard much from Conan O’Brien since NBC unceremoniously booted him from The Tonight Show after Jay Leno’s experiment with primetime chat flopped. But now, with the networks in the final throes of lining up next fall’s programming schedules, he’s back in the spotlight, if only a small one. The USA Today blog Technology … more…
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But … more…
Conan O’Brien has suggested that Tilda Swinton portray him in a proposed, mostly imaginary potential HBO movie about the Tonight Show debacle… and she’s onboard with the idea. She told Movieline: I would just be only too happy. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Of course, she’s bent genders before, in Orlando and Constantine. But I’d venture … more…
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But … more…
Item: NBC will pay Conan O’Brien a severance of $40 million— no, wait, maybe it’s $45 million. Well, some of the dough will go to O’Brien’s laid-off staffers, but still: that’s a ton of money to not work. Item: NBC is going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars broadcasting the Winter Olympics next month. … more…
Kitsch is cool in this sad, sweet, funny ode to being oneself, no matter how dorky oneself is.
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…
Oh my god and wonder of wonders, here we have a studio movie — a drama! — starring not one but two actors-of-color. God, what a terrible phrase. Don’t we all have a color? Okay: two actors who aren’t the usual medium peachy-beige of those who typically get to star in studio movies unless their name is Denzel Washington.
