Josh Tate
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This is the week where everyone mourns the end of The Sopranos, but it was harder for me to let go of Deadwood a few months ago. Sure, there's supposed to be a couple of Deadwood movies coming to tie everything up, but it's just not the same. You can have your Tony Soprano, I'll take the awesome and terrifying Al Swearengen instead. The big release this week is, of course, Ghost Rider. If...
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Ocean's Thirteen continues the series' cynical tradition of putting famous actors in sleek, stylish clothes and having them act cool. That's really all there is to say. If you've seen either Ocean's Eleven or Twelve, then you've basically already seen Ocean's Thirteen, too. It's almost tragic that a filmmaker as talented as Steven Soderbergh is spending years of his career turning out what is essentially disposable entertainment. The plot is basically an elaborate revenge...
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In what was probably the least gross competitive eating event I have ever seen, James Donohue destroyed the rest of the field at this morning's CHiPs DVD Release/Donut-Eating Contest. Donohue inhaled 18 donuts before anyone else could finish as many as a dozen (and I'm talking full-sized glazed donuts, too, not the tiny, little powdered sugar motherscratchers.) CHiPs star, Erik Estrada, was on-hand to referee the whole affair but his services were barely needed...
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When I saw Norbit in the theater, there were about 60 people in the audience. Virtually all of them maintained the appropriate funereal silence as the film was slowly excreted through the projector. One guy, though, was apparently watching the funniest movie he had ever seen. I imagine he's one of the few that will be lining up to buy Norbit today. For the rest of us, it's probably a couple of good docs,...
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Ever had one of those fever dreams where you enter a donut-eating contest, win $2500 and meet one of the original Latino superstars Erik Estrada all at the same time? Well, tomorrow that dream can be made real. In honor of the release of CHiPs: The Complete First Season, Frank "Ponch" Poncarello will be hosting a donut-eating contest at Randy's Donuts in Inglewood. A portable DVD player and a signed copy of the DVD...
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A fairly mundane week of new releases. Hannibal Rising has a definite Queen of the Damned stench to it. Never saw the original Eating Out but folks sure are lining up to buy the sequel. Sharon Stone's beaver in glorious 1080i! Wayne Knight's accompanying flop-sweat in glorious 1080i! Will probably hold off on buying the Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition since I hear the Superman Double Ultimate Collector's Edition is coming this Christmas. Kevin Dillon's...
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Every summer it seems that there's one mega-budget studio movie that just goes bust-o. This summer I'd wager that flop is going to be the new Fantastic Four movie, but in 2003 I was fairly certain that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was going nowhere. After all, it was based on a freaking Disneyland ride, it had no really big stars (Johnny Depp was considered more a fine actor...
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Photo Credit: Leo Buurman By now most Americans understand that something awful is happening to the people of Darfur. Relatively few, though, could clearly explain exactly what that is. With an artful simplicity, The Devil Came on Horseback reveals the true scope and horror of the continuing genocide in Darfur. Widely lauded since its debut at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, this fantastic documentary deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as...
Stories by Josh Tate
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