Tuesday Night Fights

…not to be confused with Friday Night Lights, which is on Wednesday and is a fantastic show. Start watching.

In the age of Tivo, Netflix, BitTorrent, iTunes, free streaming episodes online, and the still-reliable VCR, it’s almost inappropriate to complain about the unavailability of time to watch television. But for several weeks now, I’ve been dealing with an incredible internal struggle on Tuesday nights: whether to dedicate my hour between 9 and 10 p.m. to watch Veronica Mars or House. That debate intensifies on nights like tonight, when I will not be in my house during that hour and must tape both, but only watch one before I collapse after an evening of not knowing my lines for Beauty and the Beast.

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Ace in the Hole

I understand that I haven’t written a film review in a while, and you have to understand that I haven’t seen anything in a while, and what I’ve seen hasn’t been review-worthy. Take, for instance, Smokin’ Aces, a twisting tale of cops, mobsters, and hit men. It feels like a hodgepodge of second-tier genre movies, too loaded wit adrenaline to stand back and figure out where to go next.

At its best moment, Aces seems like an audition tape for Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Piven‘s inclusion in the cast of Ocean’s 14. Their characters – Reynolds as an FBI agent, Piven as the titular mobster who has inspired a bevy of contract killers to zero in on him – are slick enough to sit alongside the Ocean’s crew and banter their way through organized crime. Throw in Ben Affleck, seen here as a hit man, into the mix for good measure.

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Barenaked Ladies Are Everyone

I gave the Barenaked Ladies a lot of flak for their most recent release, Barenaked Ladies are Me, but as I have listened more and more to the CD, I’ve found it more and more tolerable. What I’m really impressed with, though, is the Ladies’ embracing of digital technology, releasing the album on thumb drives, encouraging fans to dub their voices over the studio instrumental tracks, and now rounding up a boatload of YouTube non-celebrities to perform the music video for what appears to be their new single, “Sound of Your Voice.” It’s one of the better songs on the album, and it’s made all the better by an innovative video idea. Check it out after the jump. Click the play button on the screen, not the “watch” link.
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…And Counting

Sure, last night’s Super Bowl was notable for its racial implications and for the fact that Bill Simmons’ mentions of the “Manning Face” will probably be cut in half, but the news of more concern to Movie Hawk was yesterday’s victory by Saint Joseph’s over Dayton, an historic victory in that it earned Hawk head coach Phil Martelli his 235th win, enough to make him the second winningest coach in school history. He’s now only 74 wins away from the all-time record – at his pace, it will only take 4 years.

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Hope Springs Eternal

Punxsutawney Phil rose from his wintertime slumber this morning long enough to tell the world to expect spring to arrive early this year, not that Al Gore couldn’t have told you that years ago. And while I’m inclined to listen more to Bill Murray than an oversized rat – or the groundhog, for that matter (ba dam bum) – spring couldn’t come sooner. It’s not a matter of weather, really. With the Eagles out of the playoffs and the Flyers and Sixers looking more realistically to ping pong balls than championship rings, it’s summertime sport that promises to raise Philadelphia from its funk. Now, I know a thing or two about baseball, but ask me to figure out who to play based on VORP and I’ll claim to have a headache. Look to the sidebar to get some of the best, most comprehensive Phillies coverage you can gather. Here’s what I do know, though: these Phils need to break into the postseason, or the city might collapse on itself in grief. But hey, at least that means we care again.