Identity Crisis


The Bourne Identity, which introduced Matt Damon as human weapon Jason Bourne in 2002, was very good. Its 2004 sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, was great, as was 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum. Last year’s The Bourne Legacy, a spinoff focused on another agent played by Jeremy Renner, was not as good as any of them but had its moments nonetheless. I’ll expound a bit, without spoilers, after the poster.

Jeremy Renner in 'The Bourne Legacy' poster

Why Is This Joke Different
From All Other Jokes?


Fake book cover for 'Pesadick Tracy and the Case of the Missing Manischewitz — by Chester Gould - A Kosher-for-Passover Caper' with signature profile of Dick Tracy in yellow trenchcoat and yarmulke

More years ago than feels possible I drew up a cartoon like this for a Hillel seder in college. I’ve yet to come across it in my files but with today’s technology I was able to rebuild the thing better, faster, and stronger.

Not that I’m about to do a whole strip, but I kind-of want to read this.



Related: Bits o’ Matzah They’re Magically
Suspicious
Nice Day for a Sprite Wedding

Five to Stream Up


Promo image of Spock, Kirk, Bones, and Scotty with the Enterprise above them

Hulu began streaming all five live-action incarnations of Star Trek today. You can watch The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise free through March 31st.

A ’Ship at Sea


I’m not sure what I can say about Celeste and Jesse Forever without giving too much away.

Celeste and Jesse, played by Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, are best friends since college who married and then amicably separated while remaining buds. The entire plot revolves around whether they reunite and/or how they cope with drifting apart.

If I tell you Forever is a comfort film — not that I’m doing so — you’d probably guess that there’s a happy ending. If I tell you Forever should only be viewed if you can handle relationships going south — not that I’m doing so — you’d probably guess that there isn’t. If I tell you that Forever is good enough to withstand either the cliché of the happy ending or the bummer of the alternative, well, I’d be speaking untruth, albeit not of great magnitude; Celeste and Jesse Forever is good, just not quite good enough for me to honestly say I enjoyed [whatever happened].

Continued with spoilers after the poster, then...

Flow Rider


Promo image of Hushpuppy, running on grass holding sparklers, with movie title and blurb 'A blast of sheer improbable joy'

Beasts of the Southern Wild, a mystifyingly beautiful work of life and loss,
was one of my favorite movies of last year.

Never Mind the Bollocks


As great as the political satire on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report is, sometimes the shows’ finest comedy is wrung out of human-interest stories on a very modest scale.

large white bucket labeled 'formaldehyde' with skull and crossbones

On Monday Colbert led off with an installment of its occasional series The Enemy Within about misplaced scallop gonads in Maine. It’s a great mix of making fun of these kinds of field pieces on the one hand and on the other simply letting the ridiculous nature of the incident speak for itself. You’re guaranteed to laugh or the next post on this blog is free. [Warning: Scallop gonads, in case you missed that, but they’re really just the MacGuffin. And... Update: The link is dead now that the show’s over.]


Related: Deft Wonk Brittality Not Necessarily Not the News

Hide and Sneak


Is Argo worth a watch? No doubt.

Was it worth an Oscar? Not given its competition, in my eyes, as I wrote at the end of my post-Oscars post last week. But the fact that Argo is merely one of my top five or so movies of 2012 rather than the number-one pick ain’t bad. Some thoughts on it that include mild spoilers follow.

'Argo' poster with title and images from the movie

7 for 007


Dr. No UK movie poster

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