Feasting on movies and TV for the holidays
elcome to my lost pop culture holiday weekend. I feel I as a main contributor to the biggest Christmas box office take ever, but it was much more than that.
It started Christmas Eve with "Up In The Air." Rarely has a subtle, "small" film, with no action or effects, lived up to its four-star reviews as this one does. This is the anti-"Avatar," which is to say, it's much more about what it has to say than what you're looking at -- not that there's anything wrong with looking at George Clooney.
Christmas Day has long been a day for a date with movie and Chinese food for my family, so it was take out and action and bromance in "Sherlock Holmes." But that was just the evening. I had screeners of upcoming TV shows to watch, to get ready for January season openers and Tuned In podcasts with PG TV editor Rob Owen, so I now have four hours of "24" and two hours of "Chuck" under my belt. (Anyone who liked Zachary Levi in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," which was No. 3 at the box office this weekend, should watch him in "Chuck" when the spy-comedy comes back Sunday, Jan. 10, at 9 p.m. Come to think of it, watch "Chuck" no matter what you thought of the "Squeakquel.")
Saturday was a day for shopping and the Meineke Car Bowl, in which Pitt provided way too much drama against UNC, but not nearly as much drama as in "Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part I" that night on BBC America. BBC America gave Philip Glenister a new TV show, "Demons," which makes it's debut next week, and I hope they do the same for his "Life on Mars" co-star, John Simm, who as the Master is such a great adversary for David Tennant's Doctor. I wasn't sold on Tennant when he took over for Chris Eccleston, but he's been a most committed and engaging Doctor, and he will be missed when he regenerates after next week's finale. I'm looking forward to seeing him in U.S. prime time, though, in the NBC pilot "Rex."
When all of the sports and geek TV were out of the way, my husband and I met at the TV again to check out what was new On Demand. We wound up choosing "500 Days of Summer," with the adorable Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. A sweet way to end the evening and time to rest eyes.
And now it's Sunday, and I'm just back from seeing "It's Complicated." OK, I admit it. I missed some of the Steelers game -- but I'm all caught up now. There was nothing complicated about what to like in "It's Complicated" -- Architectural Digest would have loved every second of it. Meryl Streep's wardrobe was great, too, and she seemed to be having fun. Who wouldn't in that house, with that garden, with three perfect children, with Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin competing for her affections? And John Kraskinski left a pleasant impression in a small role as Streep's son-in-law-to-be.
Now I think I'm iinally movie'd and TV'ed out for a day, at least.
"Dreamgirls" opens at Heinz Hall Tuesday and I'm reading the Kenneth Turan biography of Joe Papp, "Free for All."
A little theater in the mix will make me feel like I'm leading a more balanced life, at least for a day or two.