In Theaters: John Carter **

Let me get something out of the way.  I wanted to like this movie.  When the trailers started coming out and people were expressing skepticism, I assured them that John Carter was going to be awesome.  And, when the stories about the film's enormous budget started leaking out of the studio, I kept saying "Don't worry...they said the same thing about Titanic."  No matter how weird or unfamiliar it all seemed, John Carter was a sure thing in my mind.

I can explain my previous naivete in two words:  Andrew Stanton.

This guy is one of the most successful and brilliant minds in the movie business.  He's one of the main writers and directors at Pixar, meaning that, at least at one point, he had a pact with Satan that ensured every thing he touched was creative and commercial gold.  He was a writer on the Toy Story movies and the last two movies he directed were Finding Nemo and Wall-E,  two immortal classics.  Yet, when Disney gave him the reins on a live action would-be blockbuster, he choked.

In Theaters: Jeff Who Lives at Home ***1/2

There are a lot of movies about goofballs, weirdos, and sad-sacks that are content to simply make fun of their characters for two hours.  Those movies [ahem...Napoleon Dynamite...ahem] are the product of lazy filmmakers and, after the initial look-at-these-idiots humor wears off, most of these movies die ignominious deaths.


Jeff Who Lives at Home is not one of these movies.

On HBO: Game Change ***

Let's get this out of the way...I love HBO.  I know it's trendy to say so, but, in terms of original television programming, no one holds a candle to them.  So, a year or so ago, when I read that they were going to be adapting Game Change, the widely heralded account of the 2008 Presidential Election, I was, to say the least, very intrigued.

Then came the news that they were skipping the vast majority of the book, which focused almost entirely on the race between then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.  The section on internal squabbles in the McCain-Palin campaign is, as I understand it (I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read the book), more or less an afterthought.  I was a little surprised that they would go this route, not because HBO is known for being politically balanced, but because the McCain-Palin issues seemed far less interesting.

In Theaters: The Hunger Games ***

So, yeah...I'm writing this review well after virtually everyone on the planet has seen, talked about, and dissected The Hunger Games, when it will serve no useful purpose other than to satisfy my ego-driven desire to put all my opinions into print.

My bad.