In a Summer of movies that have largely “underperformed” (to put it charitably), there’s one movie that has exploded expectations so thoroughly, its box office graph looks more like the performance of Bernie Madoff’s hedge fund. Of course, I’m referring to the over 100-million (so far) grossing “Sound of Freedom.” Many box office prognosticators (or… Read More »
Like most “Blacklist” viewers, I had not actually seen the show in years. To be honest, I’m struggling to remember exactly when I stopped watching the series, but it was probably somewhere between the end of season 2 or 3. [I know I didn’t make it to Mr. Kaplan’s “turning” on Red–an event I’m only… Read More »
I had planned to post this article right after the “Succession” series finale, but the bleak finale (combined with “Barry”‘s equally hopeless ending that aired right after it) was a little too harrowing to review immediately after it was over. I can’t say I’m entirely surprised that it ended in a depressing place (some of… Read More »
“Succession”‘s series finale was so bleak it made “Barry”‘s bruise-black finale (which aired right after it) look downright sunny in comparison. More than half of “Barry”‘s main cast was killed or wrongfully convicted for murder–with Hollywood even giving them the full villain treatment, which is probably worse than death for most of Barry’s limelight-obsessed characters–and… Read More »
“Succession” is widely thought of as TV’s Best Drama (winning that very award the last two times it was up for it at the Emmys). There’s going to be a serious hole in quality to fill when it, “Barry,” and “Ted Lasso” all end over the next week. So let’s look at how it might… Read More »
Note: More than ever, it would be truly impossible to watch all the movies that came out in a modern calendar year. I’ve seen well over two hundred 2022 movies, but there were still a dozen major ones I would’ve loved to have seen before finalizing this countdown–although, frankly, I doubt it would’ve made much… Read More »
Rumors are flying that Quentin Tarantino’s final movie will be called “The Movie Critic,” and that it’s about Pauline Kael in the late-70’s, possibly about her experience going from movie critic to Paramount studio consultant (for a few months). None of this is confirmed, but if Quentin’s final movie really is about Pauline Kael (and… Read More »
On the (actual) 30th anniversary of “Groundhog Day,” Alabama Liberal talks about why it’s the rare romantic comedy that is actually funny and romantic. Also, why the movie’s unique character study and heady philosophical questions (is it actually a stealth Buddhist movie too?) make it not only one of the best movies of all time,… Read More »
Note: It would actually be impossible to watch all of the scripted series that came out in 2022, but 100 shows is certainly nothing to sneeze at. I usually just do a movie countdown, but I figured I watched enough TV series to be close to complete for the year’s best shows (somehow I just… Read More »
This was such an exceptionally good year for TV characters, I had to extend the usual “Top 10” list to 15 mentions. Of course, I did the same thing for the “Worst” list as well, but why focus on the negative? The bottom line is that if you couldn’t find a TV show (and character)… Read More »