Adam McKay knows you’re angry. He’s angry, too. The writer-director partially responsible for some of the greatest comedies of the 21st century — and what is comedy, really, but a more socially acceptable form of expressing aggression — is steaming mad about the state of our nation, our hemisphere, our …
Read More »A Pandemic Descends in 'Station Eleven' — and Watching It Just Might Make You Feel Good
The timing of HBO Max‘s Station Eleven is either unfortunate or spectacular, depending how you look at it. The 10-part adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel’s acclaimed novel, about the aftermath of a flu pandemic that wipes out most of humanity, arrives while we are still fretting about the impact …
Read More »Joaquin Phoenix Has Adventures in Babysitting in 'C'mon C'mon'
Maybe the simplest way to describe Mike Mills’s new film C’mon C’mon is as an adventure in babysitting. Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is a radio producer who’s undertaken an ambitious project to travel the country interviewing young people about the future and their feelings about it — about climate change, animal …
Read More »What If 'Mare of Easttown,' but Jeremy Renner? Let's Call It 'Mayor of Kingstown'
The first thing you need to know about the new Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown is that it is not a spinoff, reboot, or in any other way tied to Mare of Easttown, despite the two shows having sound-alike names. It’s the most confusing bit of series nomenclature since NCIS …
Read More »'The Last Duel': Damon and Affleck Reunite for a Medieval #MeToo-Drama Fail
Back in the day — “the day” being 14th-century France, when the loyal soldiers of King Charles VI fought the English in the Hundred Years War, and women had slightly more rights than livestock — you did not meet the slander of your good name with a strongly worded letter …
Read More »'Jungle Cruise': The Rock and Emily Blunt Go Up the Disney River, Without a Paddle
Blame Johnny Depp. I mean, listen, feel free to blame the actor for any number of things, if you want. But specifically, in terms of riot-act reading, let’s go back to 2003, when Mr. Depp slapped on a head scarf, trotted out his best Keef Richards wobble and slur, and …
Read More »'Snake Eyes': Ninjas, Yakuzas and 'G.I. Joe' Origin Stories, Oh My!
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Over the next several days, He would create the evening and the day, the light and the dark, the waters and the firmament, the movies and the Military Industrial Complex and various corporate marketing divisions. On the fourth day, He …
Read More »'Lupin': Mastering the Art of the Steal
Among the many comic delights of Lupin, the French heist series that premiered on Netflix earlier this month, is an unspoken one. Time and again, the show’s hero, master thief Assane Diop (Omar Sy) is able to slip into a place unnoticed, or by assuming a minor disguise that prevents …
Read More »'Mr. Mayor': Ted Danson Goes to City Hall
The new NBC sitcom Mr. Mayor began life as a 30 Rock spinoff in which Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy, having conquered the corporate worlds of GE and Kabletown, would run for mayor of New York City. Baldwin ultimately wouldn’t agree to a contract, at which point 30 Rock creator Tina …
Read More »'Away': Hilary Swank Spaces Out
At one point in Away, Netflix’s new drama about the first manned mission to Mars, NASA commander Emma (Hilary Swank) asks her ship’s chief scientist Yu (Vivian Wu) how Yu copes with being millions of miles away from her loved ones. Yu, aware of how much Emma has struggled with …
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