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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The Time Traveler’s Wife – Nice Girl Maybe but a Bad Movie
Reading a synopsis of The Time Traveler's Wife, one would be greatly tempted to believe that it had a little something for everyone in the audience. The film, directed by Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) and based on a book by Audrey… Read More ›
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Letterman, Leno, Oprah, and a Great Super Bowl Spot
One of the commercials from the Super Bowl which has garnered the most attention – and certainly the one which interested me the most – was not as much a commercial as a promo spot. The promo, which was for… Read More ›
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Examining the Fringe
There are a select group of individuals would refer to me as “nitpicky” or a “nitpicker.” I wholly disagree with those people. I prefer to think of my looking at minutiae as the same sort of keen observation that made… Read More ›
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Lost – Questions and Answers as the Final Season Begins
I, as much as anyone, have complained about television series finales. I seem to recall having written about the disappointment I've felt at the closure of television shows on more than one occasion. I wasn’t someone who disliked the last… Read More ›
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Doctor Who: The Complete Specials Completely Wonderful on Blu-Ray
[Editor's note: individual reviews of “Planet of the Dead” and “The Waters of Mars” are available separately, as are opinion pieces on “The Next Doctor” and “The End of Time”.] British television operates on a fundamentally different level than American… Read More ›
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Taking a Trip on the Mystic River
Mystic River does not represent Clint Eastwood's first Academy Award nomination for Best Director and it wasn't his last. It also was not his first or last nomination for Best Picture. Although Mystic River didn't win either of those awards… Read More ›
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Barney Stinson Teaches us how to be a Bro on the Go
As noted in this reviewer's piece on How I Met Your Mother's 100th episode, one of the best elements of the series is Neil Patrick Harris' Barney Stinson. Harris has made a potentially highly unlikable character into the breakout one… Read More ›
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I am The Stig
I get many e-mails on a fairly regular basis. Improbably, some are actually not spam (strange but true). The following is not an e-mail I ever received. Dear Mr. Lasser, Some say that you're addicted to British car shows, love… Read More ›
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Surrogates – Maybe You can Make Someone Else Watch it for You
Taking a film audience into a near future version of our world, a near future with one or two major differences just fine. At least, it's fine provided that the differences are something the audience can understand. If the difference… Read More ›
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There is Pride & Prejudice (2005) Present, But no Colin Firth
In 1995, the BBC put out a miniseries version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice. The story follows Elizabeth Bennet, her sisters, and her parents, as Mrs. Bennet attempts to find suitable husbands for her daughters. Though this… Read More ›
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Laughing With (at) The Inbetweeners
Every so often, the funniest show you watch is the one you least expect to be funny. BBC America’s newest series, The Inbetweeners, is just such a show. The comedy focuses on the new kid in school, and the friends… Read More ›
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Top Gear – Season 12
As people in California have found out this week, it never rains but it pours. And, as with what is currently occurring in California, while there is such a thing as too much rain – sometimes it's actually needed. It… Read More ›
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Final Fantasy VIII – A Fantasy Revisited
Many a year ago, I sat down to play Final Fantasy VII. I didn’t play the game the instant it was released, I was but a poor college student and had to wait for a price drop before plunking down… Read More ›
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Top Gear – Season 11
Sometimes the biggest problem with the release of the single season of a television series to DVD is that there simply isn't enough there. The show, as is the case with Top Gear, is both great fun and well put… Read More ›
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Life Unexpected – Promise Unfulfilled
Babies having babies is never a good idea, and it's worse when the babies having the babies are actually 32 and the babies being had are 16. As a society, it seems, we have extended adolescence until some point in… Read More ›
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Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You and a Technical Glitch, Too!
On a fairly regular basis, Disney releases (or re-releases) to DVD classic episodes, or specials, of various animated television series. Whether the quality of the content is good or not is, of course, variable and depends, to some extent, on one’s… Read More ›
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Does FX’s Archer Hit its Mark?
Film and television spy spoofs are a dime a dozen. From Get Smart to Get Smart, Again! to the film version of Get Smart to Austin Powers to I Spy and oh-so-many others, it is a well-trodden road. Now, FX… Read More ›
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Finding Some Added Leverage
When we last left our friends from Leverage, the group led by mastermind Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) was smarting over the loss of one of their number, Sophie Deveraux (Gina Bellman). Sophie wasn't dead, she was just despondent about her… Read More ›
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How I Met Your Mother Hits the Legendary Episode 100
Five seasons ago, when How I Met Your Mother began its run, there was speculation about whether or not the show could possibly exist for an extended period of time. The basic notion behind the show – a man is… Read More ›
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Last Restaurant Standing Begins Round Three
Did I suffer through two episodes of Scrubs last night? Yes. Did I enjoy myself through two episodes of Better Off Ted? Of course. Did I watch Rena Sofer on NCIS? How could I not? What thrilled me most, though,… Read More ›
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