Chris Hardie's Weblog

For the last several weeks I have been participating in a broad stroke study of law enforcement practices on city streets across America. I have done ride-alongs with police officers from coast to coast - Portland, Oregon to Austin, Texas to Cincinnati, Ohio to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These ride-alongs are usually in the form [...]

The Constant Gardener is surely one of the best films I've seen in a while. It's easy to forget that such a thoroughly high standard of moviemaking is being observed out there somewhere, so it's always refreshing when beautiful and touching exceptions like this one come along. It's even better when you're not [...]

It excites me much more than it should that I've found him after all these years: Ashton Smith. You know, the guy. The guy with the voice. The guy with the voice that narrates over almost every movie trailer, commercial, television show promo, and network news teaser that we see/hear. I [...]

It's been said that a good movie is either about extraordinary people in normal circumstances, or about normal people in extraordinary circumstances. Campbell Scott's Off the Map is an extraordinary film about normal people in normal circumstances, one I was pleasantly surprised by and thoroughly enjoyed when I saw it this weekend on the [...]

I attended my first film festival ever this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. As someone who generally enjoys movies and sees the art as an important cultural phenomenon (not to mention being interested in writing and making them myself), it was a real treat to participate in an event that is shaped entirely around [...]

After seeing Bill Murray on Letterman last week and remembering how much I enjoyed Lost in Translation, I was excited to see his new flick, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which came out this week.

Mark Burnett's checklist for Season Two of "The Apprentice" (yes, I watch that crap, leave me alone):

Elevate Donald Trump to the status of demigod through not-so-subtle use of regal music and flattering camera angles. Check.
Exploit women for profit while using Carolyn's "strong character" to take the moral high ground. Check.
Breaking the stated rules [...]

Okay, I'm not usually one to gripe, or even talk about, the horrors of keeping up with all my favorite TV shows and movies. But last night was just not fair. UPN was showing two episodes of Star Trek Enterprise (one of the two TV shows I watch), one at 8 and one [...]

I saw the movie Phone Booth over the holiday weekend; I commend it to you, though less so for the movie itself than for the central question that it finds such a creative way to ask: