The Simpsons was scooting rapidly past its heyday by the time the 10th season rolled around, but a cursory scan of The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season reveals several episodes that still draw some chuckles when they re-run in syndication. For instance: "The Wizard Of Evergreen Terrace," in which Homer gets obsessed with Thomas Edison and starts inventing crazy gadgets (ah, the make-up gun!); "When You Dish Upon A Star," in which Homer becomes a personal assistant to Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger (and later founds "The Museum Of Hollywood Jerks"); and "Mayored To The Mob," in which Homer becomes Mayor Quimby's bodyguard (and helps Mark Hamill sing "Luke, Be A Jedi Tonight")…
Did Disturbia (DreamWorks) get a boost at the box office from Transformers anticipation? Both films star talented young actor Shia LaBoeuf, but while Disturbia is a credibly tense thriller for a teenage, digital-age-obsessed remake of Rear Window, nothing about it particularly screams "$80 million box-office blockbuster." Pretty impressive for a $20 million production…
TMNT (Warner Bros.) didn't do as well at the box office, but it made a respectable and profitable showing; apparently there are still fans out there hoping that someone will eventually do right by the dark edges of the original '80s indie comic. TMNT comes closer than the live-action movie or the kid-happy cartoon, but while the CGI visuals look great, the plot is still a baffling muddle…
2005's Are We There Yet?, a punishing migraine of a family comedy starring Ice Cube, left all the room in the world for improvement. A loose, genial remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, the sequel, Are We Done Yet? (New Line) is refreshingly, shockingly non-terrible, thanks to the chemistry between Cube (reprising his role as a put-upon, overmatched husband and stepfather) and veteran comic actor John McGinley as a jack-of-all-trades who doubles as the cause and solution to all of Cube's house-fixing woes…
Produced at an unprecedented budget for cable television, HBO's Rome brought the historic double-dealings of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Gaius Octavian, and Cleopatra to expansive life through a remarkably vivid, graphic portrait of Roman society. Rome: Season Two (HBO) features all the bloody intrigue that made the first season so compelling, but the show lacks purpose and perspective. In the end, what does it all mean?