Author Archives
Josh Lasser is a freelance entertainment reporter/critic. His work has appeared in print, online, and perhaps one day in book form.
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"Into the Woods" Review: Sondheim musical gets middling adaptation
Once upon a time, I saw the Broadway revival of “Into the Woods” featuring Vanessa Williams as the Witch. While the James Lapine-Stephen Sondheim musical has never been my favorite bit of theater—nor my favorite Sondheim work—I felt an affection… Read More ›
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Good Media Manners – Using speakerphone in public
Dear Good Media Manners, I am hoping that you can settle a debate for me. I believe that a phone call is a phone call is a phone call. My boyfriend sees things differently. He doesn’t understand why, when I’m… Read More ›
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Good Media Manners – Using a tablet in a restaurant
Dear GMM, Recently we were away, and at one of the restaurants at the hotel—upscale but not five-star—was a family of four including two pre-teen boys. The boys were sitting there watching a football game on a tablet, with the… Read More ›
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Good Media Manners – Buying the seat next to you at the movies
Recently, The New York Times published an Ethicist article wherein someone asked if it was okay at a movie theater that sells reserved seats to buy the spot next to you so that no one sits in it. While the… Read More ›
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Welcome to Good Media Manners
The world keeps changing, growing, altering. Things that were appropriate yesterday may not be appropriate today, and many are left with big questions about how they should act. Well, today I start a new column that aims to sort all… Read More ›
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We’re Back
The time has come to start updating The TV and Film Guy’s Reviews on a more regular basis. Look for this space to contain my thoughts on all things media related — no holds barred, no punches pulled, no something… Read More ›
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Virtua Tennis 4 – Bomb Tennis, Anyone?
Although I don’t play tennis, it has always appeared to be one of those games which is easy games to play horribly and horrendously difficult to play well. If you can’t manage to hit the ball in tennis, it’s not… Read More ›
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Hector: Badge of Carnage and the Case of the Horrific Bug
It may be an old cliché, but the truth of the matter is that first impressions do count. The way something or someone catches your eye that first time around does make a difference. This is unquestionably true for videogames… Read More ›
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Back to the Future – The Game: Episode Four — Time to go Back to the Drawing Board
As I stated in my review of the last episode of Back to the Future: The Game, by this point in time, if you haven’t already purchased the game you’re either not going to or waiting until you see whether… Read More ›
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We Could be Siege Heroes if Just for one day
Angry Birds, didn’t exactly create a genre of games, but it certainly did popularize one. In fact, in a press release for their newest title, Siege Hero, Armor Games is quick to point out that the game’s predecessor, Crush the… Read More ›
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Upstairs, Downstairs, or Maybe a Little of Each – The Complete Series 40th Anniversary Edition
Sometimes I am faced with a review so monumental I don’t quite know how to begin. Normally this occurs with some sort of overwhelmingly massive release, a classic television or film series which is so monolithic that it becomes somewhat… Read More ›
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ZombieSmash! – Another way to Prepare for the Coming Zombie Apocalypse
I’ve told you this before, but I remain ever more convinced of this fact, the zombie apocalypse (or zombiepocalypse if you will) is coming. I don’t know when it’s going to start, but I do know that television shows and… Read More ›
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Legitimizing Videogames: All Your Base are Belong to us by Harold Goldberg
Videogames have, slowly but surely, crept into our daily lives. Even excluding the recent woeful news about Sony’s issues with the PlayStation Network, television shows, movies, and other forms of media have made fairly regular mention of videogames. Games have… Read More ›
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Exploring Kidlandia and Loving it
I have a nearly five-year-old daughter, and she is of the inquisitive type. A day with her is a nonstop barrage of questions followed by her own personal extrapolations based on the answers to the questions. I wouldn’t call her… Read More ›
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(Said in a Yell) Mortal Kombat!
Back when I was in high school, more years ago than I care to remember, I had an English teacher who liked students to write short papers. He would tell us this on a fairly regular basis and would always… Read More ›
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GLaDOS Lives: Portal 2
People like to make things complicated that don’t have to be. It happens in life and it happens in the world of videogames. Look at some of the progress trees games like those in the Final Fantasy series sport. They… Read More ›
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Semi-Delightful, Sort of Delicious, Almost De-Lovely
The biopic has been done before… repeatedly. We have all seen dozens of biopics – if there’s a famous person whose life may be remotely interesting, why not making a movie out of it? The only real question then becomes,… Read More ›
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The Secret of NIMH – The Story Goes Blu (but not with a Particularly Good Release)
Don Bluth, a legendary figure in the world of animation, may have, at least in part, come out of the Disney tradition, but looking at his first full length animated feature, The Secret of NIMH, one wouldn’t think Disney. Based… Read More ›
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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars – Long Name, Mediocre Game
I am a fan of turn-based games, be they Civilization-style or more action oriented. The idea of being able to plan three, four, five, and more (if you’re good) moves ahead and outfox your opponent appeals to me. It was… Read More ›
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Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution: Could he be for Real?
I want to believe. Famously, Fox Mulder had a poster in his office which had that line written and depicted a UFO. I don’t know how I feel about UFOs and whether or not I have any desire to believe… Read More ›
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