Brendan Bernhard

Al-Gorezeerah

I was amused to learn about Al Gore’s purchase of the 24-hour Canadian cable news service, Newsworld International (NWI), probably the best source for international news available to American cable subscribers. Gore’s stated intention is to turn it into an “exciting” network “for young men and women who want to......

The Beater meets the Swan

Cars, like wobbly buttocks and pigsty apartments, deserve makeovers too. That’s the message of Pimp My Ride (MTV, Sundays at 9:30 p.m.), a series in which seriously fouled-up autos are treated to lavish renovations by West Coast Customs, a team of homeboy mechanics who look like they might be stealing......

African Idol

©VH1 Hard white rock & rollers are forever trooping off to Africa for inspiration. The Rolling Stones went to Marrakesh, Paul Simon went to Capetown, now Trey Anastasio of Phish and Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band take a crack at Dakar. Trey and Dave Go to Africa, the......

McNuts

First-time filmmaker Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me is a lean, zippy documentary about growing bloated and lethargic. A record of his decision to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald’s for 30 days straight (and to eat nothing else), Spurlock’s film starts out in a light, humorous vein but turns......

From Latvia with Love

Short stories are in danger of becoming the poems of 21st-century literature — the parts of august publications like Harper’s, The Atlantic and The New Yorker that fewer and fewer people read. (The poems themselves they barely see.) After all, it’s hard for the short story to compete for the......

That Fucking Deadwood

Photo by Sam Emerson After a couple of episodes I was ready to write off Deadwood (HBO, Sun., 10 p.m.) as a dead bore, but now, dammit, the series has me hooked — at least for now. Two of my favorite characters are dead, a third’s left town, and a......

Love and Politics Actually

Photo courtesy BBC Worldwide With popular distrust of governments running high, State of Play (BBC America, April 18, 9 p.m.) is unusually well-timed. Bristling with spin doctors, cocky journalists and bought politicians, it captures the widespread feeling that much of what we digest as news could just as easily be......

Lars Attacks!

Trollhättan, Sweden — This is the worst possible time to interview Lars von Trier. His new film, Dogville, in which Nicole Kidman plays a mysterious fugitive who is first welcomed then serially raped and abused by the residents of a small town in the Rocky Mountains, was released in Europe......

Miller's Crossing

Dennis Miller’s new talk show got off to a slightly confusing start when, seated next to a large chimpanzee called Ellie, he delivered an impassioned sermon how 9/11 had turned him into a supporter of George W. Bush, homeland security and the war on terror. As for Ellie, we were......

Being Tom Ripley

Photo courtesy of IFC As a critic, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to television than sitcoms, 13-part PBS documentaries, CSI knockoffs and endlessly replicating reality shows. Easy to forget that TV is also a round-the-clock showcase for films — old ones, new ones, dirty ones, even foreign ones,......