Sam Duboff
Sam Duboff
Recent Stories
Not so ‘Kick-ass’
“Kick-Ass” is a film that makes no attempt to hide the fact that, at every turn, it thinks it’s fucking awesome. Whether it’s self-indulgent stunts or conceited allusions comparing itself to cult classics, the movie has a smug arrogance that pervades every frame. This isn’t to say that “Kick-Ass” is not entertaining — it is, at times — but “Kick-Ass” is entertaining in the sadistic tradition of grindhouse films, not of the nuanced intellect of “Watchmen” and “Pulp Fiction.” The film is entirely style over substance and you just wish they would admit it.
Sex, lies and melodrama
“Chloe” is filled with the overused cinematic rhetoric of adultery and loneliness: the wife remains stoic when her husband doesn’t return home for his surprise birthday party; the husband’s phone reveals vague yet flirty e-mails from female students; when she walks into the room, he minimizes his IM windows.
Dakota Fanning – “Runaway” cokehead
Watching Dakota Fanning snort coke off a dirty bathroom floor is kind of like seeing a dog in a dinosaur costume or Snooki on the red carpet: it’s adorable, but extraordinarily unconvincing. Dakota’s edgy role as rocker Cherie Currie in “The Runaways” was supposed to be her coming-of-age role — in fact, in the very first scene, Currie gets her first period: it’s Dakota’s way of telling us she’s no longer the little girl from “Uptown Girls” and “War of the Worlds.”
The Winter Olympics 2010: Speed Skating
There is but one sport, for me, that transcends these limitations — the holy grail of winter sports, entertaining and exhilarating as anything but also easy to understand: short-track speed skating.
It’s “Valentine’s Day,” have a drink
After the box office success of last year’s “He’s Just Not that Into You,” the $63 million opening weekend for “Valentine’s Day” cements a new formula: the Valentine’s weekend celebrity ensemble rom-com.
Social Media Sunday: Google Buzz
Given that pretty much all Yalies are on Gmail (anecdotally speaking), the big news this week was the introduction of Google Buzz into the Gmail experience. Buzz is Google's first big social media play — it leverages Gmail's huge built-in audience, allowing users to share status updates, videos, links and pictures. In many ways, it takes the best from Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed and puts it into the most social application there is — e-mail. The mobile component borrows from Foursquare and Twitter, adding a location element to sharing. Buzz is an excellent idea conceptually. The problem is that it's terribly executed. Google has been working quickly to respond to privacy concerns, but that's only the first hurdle. They need to make Buzz usable. The mobile experience is excellent — the Gmail experience is terrible. Continue reading after the jump.
'Sparks' will fly in your heart
Savannah is the kind of girl who doesn’t swear, doesn’t drink and doesn’t lie. During her spring break, she helps build houses for charity and her dream is to open a summer camp where special needs children can play with horses. Her ideal first date is eating at a local diner (“I don’t want to go somewhere nice, I want to go somewhere good”) and then connecting with her date’s autistic father for an hour.
Social Media Sunday: Foursquare
As more smartphones become equipped with GPS, geolocating social networks have become all the rage. Whereas early attempts, like Loopt, were based on GPS tracking, the hottest applications now are all based on a "check-in" model. Early adopters are flocking to two rivals -- Gowalla and Foursquare, although the number of competitors keeps growing. Last week, popular review site Yelp added check-ins to its iPhone app. Foursquare, which recently won the Crunchie for Best Mobile Application, has taken the lead, now receiving over a million check-ins per week. Read more after the jump.
Do it like the Romans
When in Rome, they say, do as the Romans do. Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel and company take this advice to heart. Their movie might as well be called “When in a Romantic Comedy,” as it couldn’t be more formulaic.
NBC Thursday: Trust the new guys
If you’re ever asked what you think of an unfamiliar comedian or TV comedy, there’s a simple answer that will always make you sound smart: “I think the earlier stuff was better.” Cliched or not, the sentiment is true too often and perhaps best exemplified by television’s premiere comedy lineup: NBC Thursday nights.