Movies: Return to “Narnia” | Newsweek Movies

Fall TV Preview: EHarmony Edition
Joshua Alston 9/21/2009 12:00:00 AM
It would seem that these tough, uncertain times would be the perfect environment in which to debut escapist shows, but in fact it's been just the opposite. The new fall television slate—the most robust since the Hollywood writers' strike derailed the industry—is deeply rooted in what's going on right now, our anxiety, our fear, our toil. Last fall, the CW debuted the short-lived (and underrated) Privileged, a comedy about a young woman whisked, almost magically, from her life as a lower Manhattan plebe to a luxurious mansion in Palm Beach, where she serves as a live-in tutor for a rich family. Did I mention it was short-lived? The 2007 and 2008 shows that rooted themselves in trashy opulence (Dirty Sexy Money, Cane) or quirky otherworldliness (Pushing Daisies) are off the air, quality be damned.
Stop Hating Julie Powell, Please
Jennie Yabroff 8/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
Last night I made fried zucchini squash blossoms. I stuffed them with cheese, dipped them in a batter of Guinness, half and half, flour, and salt, and fried them in oil. If you were reading about my squash blossoms on a food blog (just as I read about several other amateur cooks' squash blossoms on their food blogs to figure out how to make them), it would have taken you several paragraphs to get to the denouement: they were delicious. First, you would probably have to read about my past relationship with squash blossoms. Then you'd hear how I came across them in the picturesque farmer's market or my own sweet little backyard vegetable patch, and you'd see a picture of them, all pretty yellow and orange petals. Next would be the paragraph where my husband/boyfriend made an adorably skeptical remark about eating flowers, followed by a swift (and adorable) attitude reversal once he learned they'd be dipped in beer. Eight hundred words or so in, and you still wouldn't know how to fry a squash blossom, but you'd know a whole lot about me.
In Defense of Adam Sandler
Ramin Setoodeh 7/30/2009 12:00:00 AM
Is Adam Sandler, the star of the new comedy Funny People, a funny person? It depends on whom you ask. Ever since The Waterboy came out in 1998, Sandler has had one of the best box-office track records in Hollywood. His movies have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the United States, and that says a lot about someone who has made a career out of dialogue like this from Billy Madison: "Of course I peed my pants! ... It's the coolest!"
Alternative Medicine
Allison Samuels 6/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
On a set in Inglewood, Calif., will Smith busts out of his trailer door and yells at the top of his lungs, "Woman, come rub my feet!" He's speaking, loudly and in jest, to his dynamo of a wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who proceeds to dismiss him by saying, "Don't pay that fool any attention—he has no sense." She should know. She is his boss. In a bit of role reversal, Smith is working on the set of his wife's new project, Hawthorne, a TNT drama about a nurse in your typically (make that stereotypically) chaotic urban hospital. Pinkett Smith, 37, is both the show's star and co–executive producer (along with Will). If the show succeeds, she will arguably become the most powerful black woman in prime-time TV. Before Hawthorne and HBO's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency debuted a few months ago (starring Jill Scott), it had been 35 years since an African-American woman was the lead in a TV drama (Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love!).
ENTERTAINMENT
Spring Movie Guide
4/4/2008 12:00:00 AM
Indiana Jones, Speed Racer, the Incredible Hulk and Carrie Bradshaw? Talk about a power-packed spring. Admit it, that John Williams' "Raiders" theme is already stuck in your head. Not only are the characters big, but the directors—Spielberg and the Wachowski brothers among them—bring heft to this spring's blockbusters. So grab your popcorn (don't forget to check to see if the film is playing at an IMAX theater) and get ready to have your mind blown.
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