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Just outside the Milky Way

Failure
In the year 2311.
By KARL STEVENS  |  August 09, 2011
30 minutes or less backtalk

Jesse Eisenberg and Nick Swardson get to work

Teen dreams
Following his star turn as a ruthless, if socially awkward, billionaire in David Fincher's The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg returns to the screen as a downtrodden pizza delivery boy-man in Ruben Fleischer's 30 Minutes or Less. Nick Swardson plays Eisenberg's tormentor.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON  |  August 12, 2011
bigfatwhale_524_list

Mobility unemployeds

Big Fat Whale
Medicare is reducing benefits for mobility scooters, but there is an alternative ...
By BRIAN MCFADDEN  |  August 09, 2011
30 Minutes or Less short take 2

Review: 30 Minutes or Less

Offensive but unfunny comedy
Nick ( Jesse Eisenberg), a pizza delivery guy, rips off some adolescents — boys from the same demographic the movie is pitched to — promising them something fun and illicit and then just taking their money. You kids about to pay 10 bucks to see this, take that as a warning.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  August 10, 2011
tji_IdiotBox_list

Well, this is embarrassing

Idiot Box
From somewhere in Mexico ...
By MATT BORS  |  August 10, 2011
Hoopleville081211_list

My Facebook vacation

Hoopleville
The grin behind the grimace.
By DAVID KISH  |  August 10, 2011
ALLSWELL_011_list

All's Well on Boston Common

Love sick
I think of Measure for Measure , with its fanatically chaste heroine, and All's Well That Ends Well , with its lovely lass in pursuit of a lout, as Shakespeare's "Smart Women, Foolish Choices" plays.
By CAROLYN CLAY  |  August 08, 2011
bigfatwhale_523_list

Cheap places for rent

Big Fat Whale
What are you willing to put up with?
By BRIAN MCFADDEN  |  August 03, 2011
the change up 3

Review: The Change Up

The old body-switch premise
You know the summer movies are bottoming out when they resort to the old body-switch premise.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  August 02, 2011
MonkeyFancy_list

Monkey Fancy

Do you subscribe to Monkey Fancy magazine?
Take a peek at an upcoming cover for Monkey Fancy .
By BUDDY DUNCAN  |  August 05, 2011
Failure130_list

A monkey, on Chihuly

Failure
This monkey likes the Chihuly exhibit.
By KARL STEVENS  |  August 02, 2011
Failure129_list

Live strong

Failure
Testicular cancer sucks ... but it's treatable.
By KARL STEVENS  |  August 02, 2011
Friends with Benefits review

Review: Friends with Benefits

Chemistry and comic timing
FWB is a well-crafted comedy of the sex-first, romance-later genre that — bonus! — isn't blatantly nonsensical.
By BETSY SHERMAN  |  July 26, 2011
short takes - a little help

Review: A Little Help

Jenna Fischer plays a long-suffering mom
Playing one of the few "normal" people on The Office , Jenna Fischer evinces a quiet sweetness with a tart edge that sustains her amongst the misfits; she's long-suffering, but her rueful irony spares her from victimization.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  July 26, 2011
Crazy, Stupid Love - review

Review: Crazy, Stupid Love

Rehashing the same smarmy stereotypes
Despite a few hopeful moments, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's glib romantic comedy settles into the same smarmy stereotypes: women are mothers or whores, or some variation thereof, and that's all men are interested in.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  August 04, 2011
hoopleville_coaster_list

America's Funniest Roller Coaster Tragedies

Hoopleville
Coming soon to prime time ...
By DAVID KISH  |  July 27, 2011
bigfatwhale_522_list

Minor League Pundits

Big Fat Whale
They're not in the running, but they think they are.
By BRIAN MCFADDEN  |  July 26, 2011
VentureBros_66

Down the Tubes

Because you can only spend so much time reading Dan Brown novels on the beach
Midsummer television has a terrific offering of new and returning shows about aliens, firefighters, crystal meth, and more to turn that beautiful brain of yours to Play-Doh and keep you thoroughly entertained.
By DAVID EISENBERG  |  July 20, 2011
hoopleville_bouncy_list

Bouncy castle technology

Hoopleville
Bouncy castle technology is changing the face of architecture.
By DAVID KISH  |  July 20, 2011
Failure128_list

Dog years

Failure
An aging dog gets existential.
By KARL STEVENS  |  July 19, 2011
Winnie the Pooh review

Review: Winnie the Pooh

Disney dusts off the bear of little brain
If you don't mind paying full price for something so brief, you'll be delighted to find a musically driven film the whole family can enjoy.
By BRETT MICHEL  |  July 19, 2011
review - zookeeper

Review: Zookeeper

Slapdash comedy
Local viewers might be amused by director Frank Coraci's Boston geography in this slapdash comedy; for example, taking a right turn on Queensberry onto Storrow Drive and then over the Zakim Bridge en route to the airport. Makes as much sense as the plot, I suppose.
By PETER KEOUGH  |  July 12, 2011
theater_muchado_list

Review: Much Ado in World War 2

Monmouth shifts centuries, to powerful effect
Men return from war, and attentions turn to love: It's a timeless order, and so it is with the witty Sicilians of Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing .
By MEGAN GRUMBLING  |  July 13, 2011
tji_toontime_prisons_list

The secret's out

Toontime
Need free health care? Why not just go to prison?
By MATT BORS  |  July 13, 2011
Ben and Matt

Fun with Matt & Ben at Central Square

Bosom buddies
A couple of young women, Brenda Withers and Mindy Kaling (the latter born in Cambridge before graduating to the role of Kelly Kapoor in The Office ), decided to have some fun with the idea that two seemingly unformed guys — one kind of loutish — could strike show-biz paydirt so quickly.
By ED SIEGEL  |  July 12, 2011
review - Vincent Wants to Sea

Review: Vincent Wants to Sea

A quirky German road movie
Frustration and isolation are part of daily life for 27-year-old Tourette's sufferer Vincent (Florian David Fitz, who also wrote the screenplay), the sympathetic hero of this German road movie.
By BETSY SHERMAN  |  July 12, 2011
toontime_smokin'smokey_list

A lesson from Smokey the Bear

Toontime
Smokey earns his nickname.
By DAVID KISH  |  July 13, 2011
bigfatwhale_519_list

Ask a Carny III

Big Fat Whale
One carny's solutions to everyday problems.
By BRIAN MCFADDEN  |  July 05, 2011
just like us list

Review: Just Like Us

Leave the directing to someone else
This brainchild of Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed is basically a collection of his home movies as he travels from the US alongside comics like Maz Jobrani and Whitney Cummings to perform stand-up in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Riyadh, and back.
By BRETT MICHEL  |  July 05, 2011
duke_nukem_forever_list

Review: Duke Nukem Forever

Unfrozen caveman video game
The wait is over: Duke Nukem Forever is finally here!
By MITCH KRPATA  |  June 29, 2011

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