Three films that pretty much have nothing in common except they’re all about different men assembling a team for an unusual project–whether it’s making a CD with your daughter, playing the same game of tag for thirty years, or stealing rare books from a college campus… Hearts Beat Loud…Nick Offerman plays an ex-musician and struggling…
Category: Mindless Mondays
HBO Documentaries: “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “The Final Year”
Two great documentaries that most political junkies will probably love. Although the subject matter is fairly different (for political docs), there are some overlaps in that both are about honorable civil servants trying–and mostly failing–to do the right thing in the face of a rising wave of political ignorance and hostility. The Final Year…This documentary…
Movie Reviews: “The Incredibles 2,” “Ocean’s 8,” “Adrift,” “Life of the Party”
Four films that don’t really have a lot in common except that they feature women in prominent roles and that I don’t really love or loathe any of them enough to want to write a several-paragraph full review… The Incredibles 2…Really, truly, completely nowhere near as good as the original. I’ve probably watched the first…
Movie Reviews: “Solo,” “The Titan,” “Hotel Artemis,” “Upgrade”
Sci-Fi fans have no shortage of options these days, so you might have to be pretty hard up to see these mostly so-so offerings. We’ll move from worst to first… Hotel Artemis…A great example of a movie that shouldn’t exist. This movie isn’t clever, it isn’t original, it isn’t particularly well-constructed nor well-directed nor well-written,…
Movie Reviews: “The Tale” vs. “Paterno”
HBO has had two TV movies deal with the difficult subject of child sexual abuse but in very different ways. “The Tale” is more experimental (and much more personal), zeroing in on the abused in a shockingly intimate way, while “Paterno” takes a broader, docu-drama approach to covering the after-effects of abuse and the real…
The Worst Pixar Movie (and Why They Should Cool it with Sequels)
AL gives his pick for the worst Pixar film ever made, a brief defense of the misunderstood “Cars 2” (the rare bumpkin-empowerment movie), and talks about why Pixar should stop making so many sequels.
Great Movies Revisited: “The Truman Show” is One of My Favorites
On the 20th Anniversary of “The Truman Show,” I explain why it’s one of the best movies of the 90’s and one of my personal favorites of all time. A powerful religious allegory, a razor-sharp media satire, and a drama for the ages all wrapped into one movie; it’s the best film ever made that…
Bad Movies Revisited “The Phantom Menace”
In the wake of “Solo”‘s flop, AL revisits the despised “Phantom Menace” and makes the case that it’s actually not the WORST “Star Wars” movie. He talks about the prequel trilogy’s real arc (the seductive lure of fascism) and ranks all the Star Wars movies.
Reviewing AND Ranking All “The Americans” Seasons
It was a long, torturous journey for me as “The Americans” went from one of my favorite shows in season one to my most unlikely hate watch by season 5. Luckily, the sixth and final season was the best since season one, but I wasn’t entirely sold on the series finale. Ultimately, if you missed…
Movie Reviews: “Book Club” Vs. “Deadpool 2,” Vs. “I Feel Pretty” Vs. “Avengers 3”
For no real reason other than I was kind-of bored, I decided to just review all four of these movies against each other. Who will come out on top? It’s surprisingly difficult since they’re all pretty close in quality… Book Club…Judging by “50 Shades Freed,” a movie about 70-year-old women reading “50 Shades of Grey”…
By Shunning the Excellent “Roseanne” Reboot, Liberals Fall Into Another Trap
Dan and Roseanne Conner are fat. They are old. They are not genetically-blessed. They have never made more than lower-middle class wages. They are still working in their 60’s. They have severe health problems. And they live in an uncool city in a less-cool state that doesn’t touch an ocean. In other words, they are…
What “The Terror” Taught Me About Leadership: Franklin (Bush), Hickey (Trump), Little (Paul Ryan), and Crozier (Gore/Clinton)
For an in-depth review/recap of the finale, check out the article immediately below this one, but if you’re interested in learning how to apply the lessons of “The Terror” to your own life, this is the right place. Because while the show may seem entirely foreign to your everyday life, including your workplace–arctic setting, period setting, British…
TV Review: The 5 Saddest Moments on “The Terror” Finale
The easiest way to make sense of all the (emotional) carnage on last night’s finale of “The Terror” is just to list it… 5. “Close”…Last night’s arc of Lt. Little was one of the more devastating. Almost all of Crozier’s loyal officers are either dead (Tobias Menzies’s excellent Fitzjames, the senselessly murdered Lt. Irving who…