A likable enough movie that really stands out with its focus on characters and real human emotions. I’m already a bit Marveled-out this Summer, so to watch a huge Summer success that actually deals with a believable human situation is really refreshing. What Works: Nobody is just a simple stock character, and the movie keeps…
Author: Alabama Liberal
TV Reviews: “Mixology,” “Modern Family,” and “The Americans” Season Finales
Last night brought some of the final season finales for broadcast TV, as three shows that had rather disappointing seasons finally drew to a close… “Modern Family”…As has become the formula for Modern Family—-which borrows a lot more from 90’s sitcoms than we might realize—-last night’s episode mostly featured one character saying something and then…
Underrated Books of 2013: “Good Nurse,” “Tampa,” “The Son,” and Many More
Have you heard the expression “better late than never?” No, that doesn’t cut it for you? Well how about this rationale: “There’s no way to know what books are truly underrated until we’re already five months into the next year.” Anything? No? Well, I tried..but here it is “I should have written this months ago,…
Movie Review: Go See “Fed Up,” the Can’t-Miss Documentary of the Summer
I’ll write a longer review for this film on Monday (the proper day with other reviews for indies like “Only Lovers Left Alive” and blockbusters like “Godzillas”), but for now I’ll just implore you to go see the best food documentary since Food Inc. and the one even more likely than that film to change…
TV Reviews: How FX’s “The Americans” Squandered Its Second Season
Last year, there were few shows I enjoyed more than the first season of FX’s The Americans. Each episode felt tense, exciting, layered, and complicated in a good way. It was the rare show that could have tight plotting without sacrificing character depth. So what’s gone so wrong this season? In a nutshell, the show…
5 New TV Shows to Watch This Summer
Summer doesn’t have to be a dead-zone for television (although, let’s face it, it still pretty much is…no matter how many shows you watch normally, that number is probably cut in half during the summer). Cable has made their TV seasons year round, and there’s signs that many broadcast nets want to do the same….
The 5 Best Shows You’re Not Watching [And 5 Worst Ones You Are]
The ratings for most current TV shows are almost exactly inverse to how good they truly are. It’s a crazy upside down world where NCIS is the top-rated show on TV after God knows how many seasons (seriously, how long has that show been on? 7 years? 17 years? I would believe either answer), and…
TV Review: “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge” is a Hidden Gem
I never watch the Syfy Channel. That might sound like snobbery—-and maybe it is—-but I’m just not down with watching intentionally awful TV movies and unintentionally awful TV shows. So a small little Syfy reality show about people who want to make amazing puppets for a living wasn’t exactly on my radar until very recently….
10 Summer Movies I’m Looking Forward to (And 10 I’m Not)
The Summer movie season has already started, and I’m left wondering when it ever ended since nearly every other week sees a Marvel superhero, young adult adaptation, or some other big budget CGI non-sense. I’ll admit that this is not the strongest summer for movies, and very few of the bigger budget sequels look promising,…
TV Review: How “About a Boy” Lost Me
I wanted to like NBC’s new sitcom About a Boy (with back-to-back episodes tonight serving as the season finale), I really did. For starters, I love both the Nick Hornby book it’s based on and the movie adaptation that (in my humble opinion) is still the best of the Hugh Grant rom-coms. Secondly, who isn’t a fan…
Movie Review: Disney’s “Bears”
Every Earth Day, Disney puts a nature documentary into theaters that few people see, but more people really should. I’ll admit to being something of a sucker for these films, although some are a bit sleepier than others. [If you go in half-tired you might not be able to resist some zzzz.] However, Bears is…
Movie Review: The Not-so-Amazing Spider-Man 2
Another circle jerk from Marvel. Honestly, I’d rather you read any other review I’ve done today since this movie has already been given too much press. What Works: Well, Andrew Garfield has good chemistry with Emma Stone, and uhhhh, well…ummm…Stone is certainly a livelier presence than Kristen Dunst was in the first films (but not…
Movie Review: Cesar Chavez
A forgotten gem from roughly two months ago. The true story of legendary labor pioneer Cesar Chavez (for those unfamiliar, please look him up) who championed fair wages for field workers. American fruit pickers were/are largely illegal and the largely-Mexican/Central American or Filipino workforce was paid a ridiculously low wage by large agricultural titans who…