Posts by Tara Ariano
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VOD Report: Ice-T’s Hip-Hop Doc, Katy Perry’s Katy Perry Doc, and the Final Chapter of the Beverly Hills Chihuahua Trilogy
The Headliner The Cabin in the Woods If you’ve made it this long without getting spoiled on the plot of The Cabin in the Woods, I am so excited for you! If you haven’t seen it, I assume it’s because you figured it was a cookie-cutter thriller about dumb college kids being set upon by […]
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Freak Show & Tell: Pin Heads, Fridge Sludge, and the Long-Suffering Grandma Duggar
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. I Was Impaled (Discovery Fit & Health) Who Is […]
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Video on Demand Report: Butter Sculpters, Baby B-Boys, and Titanic 3D … in 2D
The Headliner Snow White and the Huntsman This spring, moviegoers had the chance to watch not one but two feature films updating the Snow White story for contemporary audiences. (That’s in addition to Once Upon a Time, ABC’s fairy tale drama series, revolving around Snow White, Prince Charming, and the daughter who doesn’t know her […]
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Freak Show & Tell: Shunned Nannies, Impaled Faces, and the Duggar-Cameron Chili Summit
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. 19 Kids and Counting (TLC) Who Is This Now? […]
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Video on Demand Report: Bloodsuckers, Sleepwalkers, and the Return of Jonathan Lipnicki
The Headliner The Five-Year Engagement Like many films that come from the Judd Apatow factory, The Five-Year Engagement stars Jason Segel. Like most Apatow-produced films, it features outrageous physical humor (in this case, a crossbow bolt through the thigh). And like all Apatow-produced films, it is a bit too long. But that might play better […]
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Freak Show & Tell: Hoarding Buybacks, the Most Downloaded Woman of 1999, and Pageant Preppers
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. Hoarding: Buried Alive (TLC) Who Is This Now? Dale. Why […]
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Video on Demand Report: Art Thieves, Beer Heirs, and Jersey Sharks
The Headliner Battleship “The reviews say that Battleship is stupid fun!” I said, as we walked out of Hysteria (the vibrator movie) earlier this summer. “Well, let’s go see it,” he said. So we did. Mistake! I love a stupid action movie — the stupider the better, in fact — but the combination of the […]
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Video on Demand Report: Action Heroines, Tear-jerking Chimps, and Lots and Lots of Murder
The Headliner The Hunger Games Parents of teen and tween girls must have felt somewhat conflicted when Suzanne Collins’s young-adult novel The Hunger Games came out. On one hand, it featured Katniss Everdeen, a young female protagonist who, unlike Bella Swan of Twilight, exhibited agency in her life and choices and wasn’t particularly interested in […]
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Freak Show & Tell: Kitchen Nightmares, Hunger Shames
Every week, television documentaries present us with so many unusual people, with so many strange and/or disturbing problems, you might find it hard to keep up with all of them. That’s where I come in! Here’s an unflinching look back at TV’s Week in Freak Shows. The Week the Women Went (Lifetime) Who Is This […]
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Video on Demand Report: Bachelorettes, Bigfoots, and Catholic Basketball
The Headliner Bachelorette This is both a headliner and an early VOD premiere: Bachelorette will be in theaters next month, but you can watch it at home right now. But should you? Sure! It’s pretty good! Kirsten Dunst fearlessly commits to playing the alpha bitch maid of honor to Rebel Wilson’s bride. Lizzy Caplan is […]