What are Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, and Craig T. Nelson doing in this movie? They didn't make it into the trailer, a testament to just how superfluous these actors are in director Sean McNamara's family-friendly vehicle. One can't help draw comparisons to 2002's Blue Crush, though that surf flick had sex, violence, and coming-of-age drama to keep things salty. But the PG-rated Soul Surfer robs the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a 13-year-old who lost her arm to a shark, of any such delights. Scenic vistas and hard-bodied surfers serve for adequate surf porn, and AnnaSophia Robb as Hamilton is a fresh talent who outshines her veteran co-stars. But this movie relies on cheese when it could have striven for heart. Carrie Underwood as an earnest Christian youth leader is especially painful to watch. And though there are flashes of inspiration and depth, this "against-all-odds" redemption tale flounders mainly in the shallows.
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Cry me an Old Man River, Review: Pandorum, The outsiders, More 
- Cry me an Old Man River
Readers of this column over the past two years (my mom and my Aunt Theresa, mostly) know that I rabidly support my alma mater's basketball team, the University of Memphis Tigers. This past April, our head coach John Calipari relinquished the Tiger reins to take over at Kentucky.
- Review: Pandorum
I miss the days when you could cross the galaxy in comfort on the bridge of the Enterprise .
- The outsiders
Ocean's album Pantheon of the Lesser — a two-track, hour-long, deconstructionist monster — is the linchpin of what's become an exciting moment for the Portland doom metal four-piece.
- Music Seen: Ocean and Pontiak
The day after Ocean's predictably under-attended (30-40 people) Cinco de Mayo performance at SPACE, a friend who also attended asked what I thought. "So loud," I said. "So slow," he responded. It wasn't hard to catch the reverence in both reactions.
- Short-form Portland
I can hear the snarky comments already: "What?!? Rustic Overtones put out an album this year and Pfeifle hasn't fallen all over himself naming it #1? The sky is green!" But this isn't 1999. It's 2009. And it isn't all that strange for a phenomenal album to hit Portland's city streets anymore.
- Through a glass darkly
Predicting a Super Bowl winner doesn't make you a genius: after all, given a pool of 32 teams, one of them is bound to capture the trophy. But predicting the future for an industry that's been buffeted by new technologies and economic vicissitudes, and sometimes seems to have all the substance and staying power of sea foam? That's an accomplishment.
- Ten years of great sports
Moments after Adam Vinatieri's field goal split the uprights as the clock expired in the Louisiana Superdome on February 3, 2002, the streets of Boston were in bedlam. Drunk people dangled from trees and hung off lampposts. Motorists leaned on their horns. I saw a guy hug a cop
- Review: Legion
What are angel wings made of? Why, bulletproof titanium with razor-sharp tips to slice open the entrails of sinners.
- Slam Dunk Season
Back in the fall of 2008, WJAB sports guy Chris Sedenka hosted Red Claws bigwigs Jon Jennings and Bill Ryan Jr. on his afternoon radio show. They were solidifying their plan to bring an NBA development league basketball team to Portland, Maine, a scheme that — in other circumstances, under others' supervision — had been previously unsuccessful.
- NBA shoot-around
Sometimes, even superstar athletes just wear out their welcome. When Gilbert Arenas came into the league back in 2001, and especially after he moved to the Wizards in '03, "Agent Zero" was poised to be the next big thing in basketball.
- Slap shot
Bogdan "Rudy" Rudenko, a minor-league hockey player who was most recently with the now-defunct Colorado Springs Gold Kings, has been arrested in connection with the Stallings, North Carolina, shooting of a friend and former teammate of his (some reports describe him as an "associate") named Yuri Kharitonov.
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, Sports, Dennis Quaid, AnnaSophia Robb, More
, Sports, Dennis Quaid, AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Extreme Sports, Surfing, Carrie Underwood, Sean McNamara, Ocean, WATER, Less
