By Doug Strassler

I can finally say that I have completed the teenage experience. This is an odd sentence for someone mere days away from his 32nf birthday to say. What could I possibly mean? What I mean is that I, whose teenage years overlapped perfectly with the ‘90s, have finally attended my first grunge concert. It was Soundgarden’s show at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater, and boy did it let me party like it was 1995.

[Read more →]

 

By Doug Strassler

Beginners, the new indie dramedy from Mike Mills, is a lot of things. It’s an autobiographical look at loss, as the main character, an artist named Oliver (Ewan McGregor), comes to terms with the recent death of his father to cancer. It’s a look at real, complicated love, the kind that doesn’t announce itself with a thunderbolt but in a meet-cute at a party with a woman (Inglourious Basterds’ Mélanie Laurent) suffering from laryngitis.

And perhaps most of all, it’s a reminder of what an understated, versatile performer Mr. McGregor is.

[Read more →]

By Doug Strassler

Believe it or not (and sometimes I still don’t), this column reaches a TON of people. And thanks to Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth, probably way more readers than I will ever realize. Certainly more readers than comment on some of the columns I write. I wanted to share some recent conversations I have had away from The Critical Condition, sprung from what readers have read right here.

[Read more →]

 

By Doug Strassler

There’s a history of great, iconic TV dads – Ward Cleaver, Andy Taylor, Cliff Huxtable, Dan Conner. But recently I’ve been watching a lot of reruns of Family Ties on The Hub, the relatively new family-oriented network co-owned by The Discovery Channel and Hasbro, and I maintain that my all-time fave television father remains that ever-quippy idealist, Steven Keaton (Michael Gross).

[Read more →]

By DOUG STRASSLER

Let’s say you had an old roommate that you were still friends with. Let’s then say that your friend did something pretty stupid, and got caught. And lied about it. And then got called out. Publicly. For alllllllll the world to see.

That’s what happened with Jon Stewart and Anthony Weiner over the course of the last two weeks, since the suggestive tweets of the Democrat Congressman topped Kim Kardashian’s engagement as the top news story of the month. Well, almost exactly: technically, Stewart lived with Weiner’s then-girlfriend, but Weiner was over all the time, and the two have been friends as their careers have skyrocketed over the last quarter-century. (Weiner’s campaign is the only one to have ever received a donation from Stewart).

[Read more →]

By Doug Strassler

He’s got to be one of the most ubiquitous actors working in movies today, but when you see the picture of the actor above, how many of you actually know his name? He’s perhaps one of the definitive character actors working today, and I’m going to help put a name to the face today as I wrote in praise of Kurt Fuller.

[Read more →]

By Doug Strassler

Well, it’s here. The flip-flops and shorts are out, the shore traffic is gridlocked, and half-day Fridays have begun. Forget what the calendar says, summer’s here! And for that reason, I’m writing about one of my all-time favorite summer songs: Madonna’s “Borderline.”

Technically, it’s not exactly a summer song. Released right after Valentine’s Day in 1984, it was really during the summer months that “Borderline” hit the charts, becoming, as Mark has pointed out here, the first Top 10 of Madonna’s blondely ambitious career. And while the next album saw several bigger hits – “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl” – that became far more iconic, it was “Borderline” that helped introduce her early signature sound and persona.

[Read more →]

By DOUG STRASSLER

I have a pretty like-hate relationship with reality TV, but every now and then, a show sneaks and gets me good. Since I’ve already confessed to being a big Toni Braxton fan, it should come as little surprise that I’d be curious to see just what she’s up to these days, more than a decade since “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” her last major hit.

So imagine my surprise, and joy, when a couple of friends told me about the new WE network show, Braxton Family Values. (Whuddup, Deb and Joi!!) Between my curiosity and the fact that I hadn’t seen anything on WE except for Snapped, I figured it was time to tune in.

[Read more →]

By Doug Strassler

Part of me is rather afraid to publish this column, since I feel like I’m attacking the girl next door, America’s current sweetheart. So I’ll brace myself for whatever responses come my way. I’m not trying to take her down, but it’s just that I’ve reached my saturation point with Tina Fey.

[Read more →]

By Doug Strassler

Movies have always been my thing. I usually know about them before most people do, I see them before most people do, and I see a heck of a lot more than most people do. But this year, due to a combination of work, travel, writing obligations and life in general, I’ve found myself in an odd situation: I haven’t been to the movies in months.

[Read more →]