John’s top 5 albums of 2010 (Music commentary)
1. Jenny and Johnny, “I’m Having Fun Now” — When two musicians in a relationship make an album together, it rarely results in good music; at least that’s the stereotype. We think of John and Yoko or […]
‘Family Guy’ writers run out of inspiration as they wrap up ‘Star Wars’ trilogy (DVD review)
Seth MacFarlane probably had the idea for “Blue Harvest” kicking around in his head for a while, and when it became an actual episode of “Family Guy” in 2007, he probably thought, “Wow, we really did a […]
John’s top 10 TV shows of 2010
This was the year when TV changed from low-definition to high-definition and from squares to rectangles (I still have a square, and I know I’m missing some things off to the sides, but at least […]
All 24 episodes of ‘The X-Files’ Season 4 (1996-97), ranked
TV review: “The X-Files’ ” fourth season treads water with the grand mythology story yet still delivers some of the show’s best episodes.
Folds/Hornby collaboration Lonely Avenue a compelling but mediocre experiment (Music review)
Author Nick Hornby writes the words and musician Ben Folds puts the music to them. The September album “Lonely Avenue” is, on the surface, hard to resist. It features one of my favorite authors and the man […]
Should the ‘Walking Dead’ survivors have reason for hope? (TV commentary)
The first season (only six episodes) of “The Walking Dead” (9 p.m. Central Sundays on AMC) has wrapped up, and a theme has emerged: Should the survivors be hopeful for the future of the human race, or […]
Latest Belle & Sebastian disc ‘Write About Love’ a step down, but still good (Music review)
Chance, a commenter on these threads, feels that Belle and Sebastian’s October release, “Write About Love,” is weak; I think it’s decent. Actually, we’re both right. It may be weak by B&S standards, but it’s decent by […]
All 24 episodes of ‘The X-Files’ Season 3 (1995-96), ranked
TV review: In its third season, “The X-Files” hits its stride. There are fewer clunky episodes; it’s now a well-oiled machine.
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1’ does its artistic best with the Horcrux quest (Movie review)
After the heart-racing wonder of last year’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” it’s time to take a deep breath and slow down for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.” And — yawn — find some Horcruxes. […]
‘Paranormal Activity 2’ even better than the original (Movie review)
Shaune, a commenter on these threads, wrote about a year ago that he liked “Paranormal Activity,” but if they made a sequel he would hate it. Well, the sequel is here, but I think he and many […]