// Category Archive for: Staff Picks

Top Ten Romantic Comedies: A Valentine’s Day List

By Lisa Anderson

I Love You Phillip Morris

The romantic comedy: it’s the most reviled of genres, and yet also the most resilient. There’s an assumption that men only go see them out of obligation . . . although men are likely to enjoy the good ones, and women are likely to dislike the bad ones. Too many rom-coms rely on mutually insulting stereotypes (the commitment-phobic man, the miserable career woman), predictable plots (boy meets girl, boy does something stupid), and problematic supporting characters (Sassy Black Friend, Sassy Gay Friend).

Nevertheless, they keep getting made, and they keep making money. This is because among the scores of bad rom-coms, there are gems. Almost everyone can think of a few that have actually made them laugh, and managed to resonate with their feelings and experiences. Here are a few of mine, in no particular order.
(more…)

My Top Ten (or is it 11?) For 2011: Movies To Look For

By Lisa Anderson

The beginning of the New Year brings new movies to look forward to. Not all of them are Oscar contenders, and not all of them will be as good as they look. I’ll probably be skipping the overrated and (hopefully) played-out gimmick of 3D whenever possible. Here are the ten movies that I’m most excited about, and in most cases, I’m not alone.
(more…)

Top Ten Of 2010: Christian Lipski

1. Fear Agent, by Rick Remender, Tony Moore, Jerome Opena

A science fiction comic series that echoes “Mars Attacks!” and other two-fisted adventures, but with a serious emotional core. Drunken space cowboy Heath Huston finds himself pitted against robots with human brains and amoeba creatures. Swashbuckling adventure in space! The art, by Tony Moore and Jerome Opena, is first-class, and Remender’s writing is both fast-paced and deliberately plotted.
(more…)

Bottom Ten: 2010 Deaths

By Matt Keeley

Man, the Grim Reaper sucks. I know, I know, he provides a valuable service and when he gets stuck up a tree, all sorts of bad stuff happens, but sometimes his aim sucks. Like seriously, Mister Rogers? Talk about all-time candidates for immortality. Anyway, here’s a list of the Ten Least-worthy Folks to have kicked the bucket this year.

Leslie Nielsen

Leslie Nielsen was awesome. Sure, he made a lot of crappy movies, but he also made ones so awesome that no one minded! Yeah, Mr. Magoo exists, but so does The Naked Gun. And, really, Spy Hard wasn’t that bad. But the cool thing is that Nielsen was also a renowned dramatic actor and even—in his youth—a heartthrob, which kinda messes with folks of the younger generation, just because we think of Lt. Frank Drebin. But, honestly, Frank Drebin was pretty hot.
(more…)

Five Horror Movies For People Who Don’t Like Horror Movies

By Chelsea Spear

The autumnal season is upon us, and with it, the onslaught of Halloween in all its grease-painted, fun-sized glory. This is great news for the gorehounds and horror-movie fanatics . . . but what of us petite flowers who faint at the sight of blood? You, my friends, are in luck! Herewith are five feature films that eschew the viscera in favor of suspense and chills.
(more…)

The Rotary Phone of Doom: My Top Five Scariest Things

By Emily Carney

5. Recurring dreams about high school

I have had the same dream continually over the last few years. It’s about high school. Mind you, it’s not a bittersweet, Breakfast Club-style reminiscence; the dream involves me having to go BACK to high school after being informed not-so-politely BY MAIL that I had somehow “forgotten” to attain my high school diploma. The same thing happens in every damn dream: for some reason, I start skipping classes, I fail most of them, and thus I become trapped in high school, never being able to get out. Suddenly, the halcyon greenish-blue corridors of good old East Lake High school become a horror show on par with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. By the way, I generally had a good high school experience in real life, so I have no idea where this dream is coming from.
(more…)

Killer Instinct: Ten Psychotics With Style

Idea by Matt Keeley
With Contributions By . . .

Everyone knows that psychos in movies are good at one thing: killing. But honestly, that’s unfair. So many of these “homicidal maniacs” as some might call them have other interests. After all, are YOU just one thing? It’s time we set the record straight and give credit where it’s due, so here’s Popshifter‘s list of top multi-faceted murderers in alphabetical order because we don’t want to play favorites and take chances incurring their wrath!

(more…)

Top Five Nerd References In Hip Hop

By Matt Demers
(more…)

Top Five Hilarious American Commercials (As Of RIGHT NOW!)

By Ann Clarke

I hate most commercials. Probably 99 percent of them! I especially hate commercials with those goddamned whining wuss-bags playing an acoustic guitar, or a whispery girl with a ukulele. Fuck that bullshit!

In the midst of having to suffer through that torture, I noticed a few diamonds in the roughage. . . and let me just say these are brilliant, and whoever came up with these advertising concepts has my unyielding respect for going against the current shitty trends in commercialism.
(more…)

Five Faves: Female Movie Characters

By Less Lee Moore

Not the Ultimate Top Five perhaps, but the five I return to over and over.
(more…)