It’s heartening to realize that we have officially reached the point as a country when a mainstream director known for his tough guy movies and a leading man known for making teenage girls watch Titanic fifteen times in one week can make a movie together about a homosexual love affair. It’s even more heartening to […]
I walked into The Ides of March terrified I’d be bored by a political thriller lacking heart. Instead, I found myself nearly bowled over by a moral thriller playing with the language and heartbreak of politics. The movie is essentially a moral tragedy. It tells the tale of idealistic campaign manager Steven (Ryan Gosling), who […]
I stopped writing about Bones about two years ago. It had stopped being fun. The show seemed to stop being the kind of show that really benefits from tons of analysis. Instead, it seemed to fall strongly into a procedural crime drama where the characters weren’t as engaging, and the plots seemed designed just to […]
As we come upon awards season, we’re starting to see the rollout of prestige films- delicate beasts that tackle serious issues in intriguing ways. We get to see biopics, war dramas, and for some reason a movie from the world’s most famous director about a horse. All signs point to Oscar times ahead at the […]
I am too old for Percy Jackson. I’m okay with that. But I think it’s important to start off this review with a qualification: Percy Jackson is not Harry Potter, it’s not the The Hunger Games, it’s not even Twilight. Which is to say, it’s not a careful examination of adult themes through the guise […]
I once touted the virtues of the Hulu-enabled series catch-up on this very website, but today, in view of Netflix’s dismal stock showings, I’m here to throw the company a bone. Netflix remains a great way to stumble upon TV shows you never would have considered during their regular schedule. And so it was that […]
I have stuck with Gossip Girl long past what most people seemed to consider its expiration date. I do this in large part because it’s addictive and filled with really pretty people. I’ll probably continue “XOXO”ing until the day the dialogue loses its juicy flavor and the drama stops being oddly intriguing. But the real […]
I didn’t want to. It felt like a meager replacement for My Boys, Zooey Deschanel was basically playing Zooey Deschanel, and in the first episode the leading guys consisted of two thinly sketched caricatures and an overly nice everyman. Even the marketing ticked me off, constantly referencing Deschanel’s “adorkability” (a term that simultaneously made me […]