Sometimes a movie slips through the cracks, and I eventually catch up to it… Shimmer Lake…It’s too bad this twisty, well-crafted noir film didn’t get a theaterical release because I feel the Netflix-only model is tantamount to getting buried with a “straight to DVD” release. There are 100s of new things on Netflix every single…
Category: Mindless Mondays
TV Reviews: “American Gods,” “Fargo,” “Better Call Saul,” “Veep,” “Silicon Valley”
Various critically beloved shows finished their seasons over the last week. Here now, a quick review of all… American Gods…I’m not quite a believer yet, and even if I liked Bryan Fuller’s over-the-top, ghoulish style in “Hannibal” (adding a surrealistic dimension to a series that would’ve been laughably far-fetched otherwise), it tends to smother a…
TV Review: “GLOW” the Rare Critically-Beloved Series that Deserves Its Praise
GLOW…It’s tempting to dismiss “Glow”‘s critical praise as “Well, it’s a show about female empowerment, did you really think critics were going to shit on it?” But its larger empowerment themes are actually just sweet icing on an excellently acted, well-scripted, crisply directed cake that seems to have an actual narrative that’s actually going somewhere. [I would…
Family TV Reviews: “Bill Nye Saves the World” Begins and “Samurai Jack” Ends
Is there anything harder to find on TV than a “family show” you can watch with kids but can find in primetime? I can remember growing up watching “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” a bunch of other sitcoms, and eventually “Lost” with my entire family, but what could you really say that about today? Cable TV has narrowcasted…
Does “House of Cards” Look Different in the Age of Trump?
House of Cards…After rebounding from a lousy season 3 with a series-best season 4, it’s another step backwards with a season that is a little off-the-rails and once again asks us to believe characters would do something that seems completely against their nature. During the season finale, you have to wonder if the writers were trying to…
Ranking and Reviewing the Seasons of “American Crime”
Normally, I’m ahead of the curve on a much buzzed-about TV show, and am perhaps a little proud of the fact that I watched “Arrested Development,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Shield,” etc. when they were actually on TV (from episode 1) rather than a year after they went off the air. “American Crime” is different in…
Ranking All Pixar Films from Worst to Best
Note: Really, even “the worst” Pixar film is worth seeing, and after I got to about the mid-point of this list I realized I was just ranking different degrees of excellence (the difference between an A- and an A or even an A and an A+). It’s truly remarkable what this studio has accomplished, that an…
“Cars 3” Reviewed by a Critic that Actually Likes This Franchise
Is there a more underrated franchise out there than “Cars?” The first film was terrific, but is usually ranked in the middle-of-the-pack or towards the bottom when people begin comparing Pixar titles, and “Cars 2” is usually (wrongly) labeled “the worst Pixar film.” Even on Rotten Tomatoes, people seem surprised that they actually liked “Cars…
Movie Review: Wonder Woman
Once you get past the exaggerated praise (that feels more about what’s happening outside the theater than anything shown in the movie), it’s a solid superhero movie that’s at least as good as anything Marvel (or DC) has put out since “The Dark Knight” trilogy ended. What Works: Most critics have somewhat-myopically focused on “Wonder Woman”…
Movie Review: Captain Underpants
The title of “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Adventure” is either a hopeful promise of sequels or a threat of more early Nickeldeon-esque inanity depending on how much you liked this first installment. Like the titular hero (the brainwashed alter ego of a joyless, so-miserable-he’s-angry principal), I was somewhat divided watching it: I enjoyed long…
Movie Review: Hunter Gatherer, The Discovery, Monster Trucks
Sometimes movies slip through the cracks, and then it’s time to throw the unlikeliest of films together for a mixed-salad of reviews… Hunter Gatherer…A classic example of how a bad ending can really ruin an otherwise solid film. The Wire’s Andre Royo has been so good at livening up stale material (he brought energy to…
Reviewing Every Episode of “The Leftovers,” and Ranking the Seasons
Note: I’m only reviewing each individual episode in the third and final season, but I’ll have reviews of Season 1 (not so great) and Season 2 (a masterpiece). I chose not to write reviews of each episode in those seasons because it would be tedious, episode quality is more uniform in those seasons, and to be brutally honest,…
In Defense of Real Time: Bill Maher is Awesome
Let’s not be Republican pawns and turn on THE toughest, most consistent anti-Trump voice in The Resistance. Here a “Real Time” superfan who’s seen every episode defends one of the best voices on TV for criminal justice reform, freedom from religion, and especially the environment. [People may have missed that Bill’s interview with Ben…