An Eternal Tee Time Option For Die-Hard Golfers

The most involved sports fans cannot let a little thing like death get in their way for their devotion to a team. For several years now it’s been possible to buy caskets that feature the logo of your favorite, so that you can lie forever with, say, the emblem of the Chicago Cubs resting right [...]

Gingrich’s Illegal Immigration Tolerance Marks GOP Security Debate

The big theme out of Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Washington was Newt Gingrich’s compassionate stance towards illegal immigrants who have put down deep roots in the U.S. That position by Gingrich, who has recently surged to join Mitt Romney at the head of the Republican field according to recent polls, conflicted with the [...]

A Prince And A Showgirl, On Location And At Odds

There’s an old story about Marilyn Monroe window-shopping with a friend on 5th Avenue, at the height of her fame. The friend was suddenly struck by the fact that they’d walked several blocks together on a busy New York sidewalk without anyone appearing to notice the best known and most glamorous star in all of [...]

In Glorious Black And White, An ‘Artist’ Falls Silent

The first few seconds of The Artist contain pretty much everything you’re afraid of in a black-and-white silent movie: melodrama, overacting, nothing seeming remotely real. The first thing you see is a huge mouth, moving silently, and the titles “I won’t talk. I won’t say a word.” Kind of on-the-nose, right? But then the camera [...]

‘Dangerous Method’: Shocking Therapy For A Hysteric

In a clash of dueling methodologies, A Dangerous Method depicts the struggle between the coolly intellectual and the messily instinctual. There’s also some stuff in there about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Based on the correspondence of the two psychoanalytic pioneers, the movie began as a book, then became a play by Christopher Hampton, who’s [...]

‘Hugo’: From A Master, A Love Letter To His Medium

He peers out from behind windows and clock faces, frames through which his sad eyes light on every detail of the train station that’s his home: dogs and humans in courtship rituals, flurries of snow and ash, giant whirling contraptions and their individual parts. Hugo (the boy) is an observer of the world’s wonders. There [...]

‘The Muppets’: Felt Favorites, Still Merrily Pretending

It’s hard not to be both heartened and a little wistful about the fact that The Muppets is probably as good a Muppet project as it’s possible to make without Jim Henson. To understand how audacious it was for actor Jason Segel to take responsibility for Kermit and friends — he drove this project, starred [...]

‘Arthur Christmas,’ Doing Well By A Swell Season

The Santa-industrial complex gets taken affectionately down in Arthur Christmas, a witty, big-hearted romp that’ll put holiday audiences in mind of unpretentious animated crowd-pleasers like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Or in mind of Chicken Run, maybe: Hailing from the U.K., and more specifically from Aardman Animations — the studio behind that cheerfully unhinged [...]

Looking Forward To Thanksgiving Leftovers

For many Americans, the best part of Thanksgiving dinner happens on the Friday after the holiday, when the leftovers begin. The November celebration that began at a single table nearly 400 years ago has grown into a holiday feast eaten in nearly 90 percent of American households. According to the National Turkey Federation, Americans gobble [...]

Early Primary Date Upheld By S.C. Supreme Court

The South Carolina Supreme Court by a 3-2 vote refused to block the first-in-the-South presidential primary, turning back challenges by counties that the state lacked the authority to hold it. The court heard arguments last week in a lawsuit initially filed by four counties against the state Election Commission and the state’s Republican and Democratic [...]