YOU CAN'T GET THE YELLOW MAN DOWN

100-or-so Word Reviews: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE and TALK TO ME

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (My grade: B-): It says something that after 18 years the TV show The Simpsons doesn't completely suck and still elicits an occasional guffaw. Maybe it isn't surprising then that the movie is much the same way. I walked in not sure what to expect and walked out not feeling like I wasted my money--but I did make sure I made the matinee. I won't bore you with details of the plot (there is one, but its largely irrelevant) or ruin the best jokes (mostly of the throwaway variety), but I can recommend THE SIMPSONS MOVIE as the 2nd best animated feature this summer.

TALK TO ME (B+): Stars Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ojifor, Taraji P. Henson and Martin Sheen. Written by Michael Genet. Directed by Kasi Lemmons. Based on the true story of the meteoric rise of Washington D.C. radio/TV personality Waldo "Petey" Greene (Cheadle), TALK TO ME is a raucously entertaining, bawdy biopic that manages to avoid preachiness and schmaltz (except for a bit at the end) and chooses to celebrate a truly pioneering media personality who rose to the occasion during a dark period in Washington (and American) history. Cheadle is electric as usual, but the movie's secret weapon is Ojiofor, a great actor who gets to play several grace notes above and beyond his character's initial uptight "Sidney Poitier" persona. This is one of the summer's best.

A Call Out to the Z-Man

Hey Z-man, last I heard you were picking up the torch from last year and attending all four days of this year's annual Comic-Con. If it's okay with you, do you want to send me your eyewitness account for me to post on this blog? At least give me a shout so we can talk about it in person...I'm sure you had a blast!

Coming soon: Don't hate Hillary Clinton because she's a woman. Hate her because she doesn't stand for anything. Also--a recap of the best summer TV...it's not a graveyard anymore.

Peace.