Brilliant ‘Lost’ finale defies lazy criticism

Mere hours after the “Lost” series finale, Los Angeles Times television critic Mary McNamara wrote about the episode as if she had never seen the show before. She criticized the final 10 minutes even though she obviously wasn’t paying attention to what actually happened. In a nutshell, McNamara dismissed the six-year story as a tropical

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‘Iron Man 2’ Review: The banter is better than bullets

Just when it feels like the superhero genre needs a breather, along comes Robert Downey Jr. again as billionaire motor mouth Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man. Like the 2008 original film, “Iron Man 2” flourishes when Downey banters with equally entertaining talents of Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson and franchise newcomers Don Cheadle and Sam

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‘Kick-Ass’ a bloody good superhero epic

With the exception of billionaire Bruce Wayne, superheroes must possess a proven superpower to survive the onslaught of the world’s most gruesome criminals. Masked crusaders don’t exist in real life because they’d probably be shot in the face within 30 minutes of their first patrol. Such is reality in “Kick-Ass,” a funny, ultra-violent riff on

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Review: Conan O’Brien Delivers Big in Spokane

Let Jay Leno have his derivative “Tonight Show.” Conan O’Brien is too big for TV anyway. O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” visited the INB Performing Arts Center in Spokane last weekend, and the comedian delivered two hours of classic “Late Night” bits, off-kilter musical numbers and more than a few jabs

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‘Clash of the Titans’ a cheesy diversion

The new ‘Clash of the Titans’ gleefully recreates the cheesiest and best elements of the 1981 original film  about bickering Gods and giant monsters. And, thank goodness, the goofy mechanical owl only appears in a single, brief scene. Directed by Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk”), “Titans” is one of those rare guilty pleasures: A trashy

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