Recent content by Allen Hirsch

I'm stunned this is getting such strong ratings at Rotten Tomatoes. Apparently no one has a problem that the whole relationship between Pat & Tiffany is founded on a lie (the letters between Pat and Nikki, and telling Pat that Nikki would attend the dance competition, to make him stick to his...

The other obvious reason an animated film won't win: it doesn't "showcase" acting at all, just voice-acting, so the whole acting wing of the Academy would NEVER admit an animated film was better. (Avatar had a little of this problem too - it is too close to having CGI replacing acting.)

My picks for the 8 major awards: Best Picture.......THE HURT LOCKER Best Director.....KATHRYN BIGELOW Best Actress....SANDRA BULLOCK Best Actor.......JEFF BRIDGES Best Supporting Actor....CHRISTOPH WALTZ Best Supporting Actress.....MO'NIQUE Best Original Screenplay......INGLORIOUS BASTERDS...

"Precious" is the kind of movie I normally would have no interest in seeing, based on just the story synopsis. But it's gotten such rave reviews and I'd seen an interview with the lead actress, Gabourey Sidibe, that made me change my mind. There are truly terrific acting jobs by both Gabourney...

No love for the limo scene between Costner & Sean Young in No Way Out? Agree with Body Heat; Kathleen Turner was incredibly hot back then. Agree with Out of Sight between Clooney & Lopez (before Lopez was such a big deal, too) - there's the trunk scene and a bathtub scene later - both are...

I liked it better than either Patrick or Ryan, but it has flaws, for sure. I think it tries a bit too hard to be "smart", which I liked in general, but the plot twists and time jumps are hard to follow at first. Later, I looked forward to more "jumps" to "fill in" what gaps there still were -...

I've got 4 of 'em, so that's an automatic part of the recommendation for hassle-free operation.

A friend of ours is doing a family room/HT. They're not serious audio or HT folks, so they just want a reasonable setup, as hassle-free as possible - so I'm recommending what we did in our "everyday" rooms, not our dedicated HT (which has more serious/expensive gear). My surround speakers we...

Well, that's the best explanation I've heard for her 30 crack-whore-ish look appealing to 20s and 30s guys - it also explains why I like her best in her 50s.

She looks best as a 50 year-old - which also works for me, since I'm in my 50s. ;) That 30 year-old look is just awful, IMO - crack-whore-ish at its worst - do guys in their 20s and 30s really find that appealing?

If you think the yellow is ugly, you should have seen the gold they used in prior years - that was really fugly, IMO. We had warm & sunny the latter part of the week, thank goodness, but these riders suffered mightily earlier in the week - cold, windy, rain for 4-5 hours on the bike is no fun...

Thanks, Jay - can't figure out what's up with the link, though, b/c it works for me.

Here's a few images I got of the top guys in the Tour of California, all in the Solvang time trial: Levi: Lance: David Zabriskie (US national time trial champion, 2nd overall in ToC, using his tongue on the climb of Ballard Canyon): Michael Rogers (Aussie national time...

My wife and I saw this yesterday. It's a bit simplistic at times, and some points are made in a little heavy-handed fashion, but it was one of those films that I think will grow on me. It made me think about issues like forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. It's also a very interesting...

I may be biased, b/c this film depicts my exact "coming of age" timeframe, so I was fascinated by this confrontation (I told my 19-year-old son after we watched this, the Watergate/Nixon situation prompted my very first published letter to the editor of my hometown newspaper, when I was only a...