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Coming fresh off the heels of shows like My Lady Jane and The Great, The Decameron already feels familiar, if somewhat predictable, in its attempt to be irreverent and anachronistic. It’s funny, at first, and a delight to look at—the sharp medieval gowns and raw Italian forests feel refreshing when soft pastel costumes and refined […]
In theory, Queenie sounds like the kind of show many will find comforting and relatable. It follows an emotionally complex 25-year-old Black woman figuring out life, love, and everything in between. But unlike Insecure, I May Destroy You, or even Fleabag and Girls before it, Queenie struggles to find a discernable style and identity. It’s […]
Right off the bat (the basketball?), here’s what Clipped is not—it’s not a riveting sports drama, since there’s barely any on-court action to be found. It’s also not a biopic about the infamous ex-owner of the team, Don Sterling, even though the series revolves around his misdeeds. Instead, Clipped plays like a less inventive version […]
Between The Regime’s star-studded cast, HBO-backed budget, gorgeous Vienna backdrops, and well-known producers and writers (some of the same people behind The Menu and The Crown), The Regime seems like a show that couldn’t fail. And yet, there’s something shallow about the series’ attempts at parody. It’s not as smartly observed as Succession, or as […]
Produced by David E. Kelley, one of the most prolific TV writer-producers and the mastermind behind Boston Legal, Picket Fences, and, more recently, the amazing HBO show Big Little Lies, Goliath follows Billy McBride, a formerly brilliant but washed-up lawyer, who becomes an alcoholic after having acquitted somebody who went on to kill an entire […]
Making a video for a concept album isn’t particularly new, but you’d be hard pressed to find a feature as whimsical as Harry Nilsson’s The Point. Framed as a fable a father tells his son, The Point takes Nilsson’s psychedelic soundtrack to score a pun-filled fairytale with a seemingly on-the-nose moral, but the combination proves […]
While many Palestinians had to leave their homeland, there are some families that stayed within the region. One such family is that of Palestinian director Elia Suleiman. The Time That Remains is a semi-biographical film that depicts each generation of the family in excellently framed, colorful shots, but while each scene is a beauty to […]
There is a very good case to be made for Veep being, pound-for-pound, the best American comedy to air on TV. Because while many other workplace sitcoms comment also comment on current events and satirize bureaucratic processes, no other show has committed this deeply to the inherent corruption and stupidity of every single one of […]
How do you get rid of an irremovable stain? In Lodge Kerrigan’s psychological thriller, characters shave the dirt off in hopes of returning things to their original pristine state. In the process of doing so, however, permanent damage is incurred, which begs the question: is the eradication of filth correspond to cleansing? Through erratic editing […]
Taylor Tomlinson clearly has more of a writer’s approach to stand-up than a performer’s, for better or worse. On the one hand, every word in this special feels considered (even those that she has to come up with on the spot during audience interactions), with a cadence meant to draw you towards the writing itself. […]
Forgoing the typical catastrophic approach to the apocalypse, writer, star, and director Don McKellar opts for a grounded tone in Last Night, a film about the end of the world. In it, various Torontonians figure out how best to celebrate and mourn their final hours on Earth. While McKellar’s character Patrick originally planned to spend […]
Fans of sketch comedy, documentaries, and the always-hilarious duo of Bill Hader and Fred Armisen are in for a treat with Documentary Now!, a delightful miniseries that both satirizes and pays tribute to the non-fiction format. Each episode parodies a particular documentary and tone, bringing the comedians and their ever-revolving roster of guest stars to […]
A 40 minute, often jaw-dropping movie about an innocent man accused of killing a teenage girl and the attempt to clear him from the murder. The man in question is Juan Catalan, a young father of two who had had a fair share of interactions with the law. His brother had recently been convicted for […]
Leo Tolstoy’s most famous book, on which this was based, defies summarization but this powerful, sumptuous, and head-spinning BBC production might have done just that. In 1805 St. Petersburg, the illegitimate son of the richest man in Russia (played by Paul Dano) finds himself at the center of his country’s downfall as it faces another […]
Due to the fictional romantic subplot and the need to explain the historical background, it takes around half its runtime for North Face to get to where they want to go. For some viewers, that might be too long. But for others, the lengthy set-up eventually rewards them with an exhilarating adventure, as the two […]
There are a striking number of similarities between Priscilla and director Sofia Coppola’s earlier offering, Marie Antoinette: both revolve around 14-year-old girls hand-picked to be partners to more powerful men in long-unconsummated relationships, and both girls are emotionally cut adrift and forced to live in gilded cages. But where Coppola’s Barbie-pink historical biopic is punkily […]
Serene and almost silent, Goodbye, Dragon Inn is a film contemplating an old movie theater in Taipei. In its heyday, this cinema was jam-packed and full of eager eyes watching the 1967 Wuxia classic Dragon Inn, but now it’s nearly empty for its last screening. Despite the lack of attendees, this cinema still has some […]
Created by Boyz N’ The Hood director John Singleton, Snowfall is an epic crime drama that tracks the rise of the crack epidemic in the United States, mostly through the lens of Franklin Saint (Damson Idris). Over the seasons, we follow Franklin and a host of characters separately but equally involved in the drug trade. […]
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Director Ziad Doueiri is one of the first filmmakers to successfully break through to the global stage out of Lebanon, and West Beirut, which was selected as the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1999 Academy Awards, is one of his most accomplished films. The film stars the director’s son Rami […]
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In The Magic of Ordinary Days, a Hallmark movie set in the heartland during World War II, Keri Russell plays Livvy Dunne-Singleton, a college-educated young woman who is forced to marry a simple farmer after her father finds out she got pregnant out of wedlock. If you watch enough Hallmark movies, you can probably guess […]
Boxer starts and ends with a reminder about Communist Poland and how difficult that time was for the country. “This is dedicated to the Polish immigrants who fled in the ‘80s, this story could’ve been real,” the intro reads. So one would expect just that, a film about the grit needed to succeed under an […]
Murdering your spouse is bad, so it’s slightly bizarre how Drowning by Numbers has an unbothered, even amused, attitude towards its murders. Moments seem randomly placed, like the first scene of a girl jumping rope while listing the stars by name, and the film can be hard to follow, even if the production design and […]
Hallmark is the last place you’d expect to find a low-budget movie that decries excessive automation and advocates for local businesses, but for some reason this is the setting against which Love & Jane’s story is told. And the movie doesn’t come across as insincere either, as it uses a familiar romcom template to actually […]
Finnish director and megastar Aki Kaurismäki hits with yet another absurd but poignant movie. The Other Side of Hope is about a Syrian refugee and his journey across Finland, both the country and the culture, in hopes for a fresh start. It’s a genuine and simple movie, played masterfully by a cast of newcomers. But […]
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Does fiction influence real life? It’s a question many artists have to reckon with, especially if they depict darker themes and have detractors as a result. More so if they’re considered the Master of Italian Horror. This makes Tenebre quite interesting. Through a murder mystery where a serial killer seems to take their playbook from […]
What would you do if your favorite artist is in the country? Die-hard fans would literally congregate and wait for their arrival, but in 1960’s Spain, under the Franco dictatorship, it’s a different story. Gathering in groups was restricted to party-approved activities. So in imagining artist and activist John Lennon visiting the country, Living Is […]
In most instances, Rez Ball isn’t all that different from traditional sports dramas. It features a down-on-their-luck high school basketball team–the Chuska Warriros– that gets better through sheer perseverance and teamwork. But as the title suggests, the Warriors play a slightly different kind of game. Rez Ball, according to the film, is faster and more […]
The first My Spy film was a fun caper that let kids imagine what life could be like if they trained and fought alongside the country’s top agents. This second film, set in Italy and following a now-tween Sophie, tries to be more grown up than the last but instead falls flat in every aspect. […]
Éric Rohmer movies are what you watch when you want to experience the thrill of someone putting into words something you might never have been able to express yourself. The magic of his characters is that they’re breezily candid, even if that honesty doesn’t protect them from committing the same contradictory foibles we all do. […]
The World of Us is a vibrant, colourful movie that follows the story of Lee Sun, a shy and sweet fifth grader who meets Ji Ah, a new girl in town. The movie is innocent, light and relatable, centered around two new friends playing in the summertime. But behind its vibrant colors, there is a […]
Like a less intense and somewhat grayer BoJack Horseman, Animals follows anthropomorphic animals in New York City as they mull over everything from heartache to existential dread. It sounds bleak, but there’s a lightness to it thanks to the improvisational nature of the series. Instead of a script, creatorsPhil Matarese and Mike Luciano, who also […]
How do you make a documentary about a man who was exploited his entire life while still respecting his true, dignified self? Whatever the answer is, it’s unlikely you’ll find it in Gary, a biography detailing the ups and downs (but mostly the downs) of Gary Coleman’s life. It’s less a holistic portrait than a […]
It’s rare for true crime documentaries to take on open, ongoing cases, so Taken Together is commendable for having the courage to do that, at least. But overall, this three-part docuseries about the unfortunate abduction of young cousins Elizabeth and Lyric fails to relay the facts of its case in a meaningful or respectful way. […]
As exciting as it sounds to have a real person transported into a fictional story, An American an Austen really doesn’t do much with its protagonist’s foreknowledge of the plot, nor is it particularly clear about the rules or consequences of Harriet’s situation, if any. This means that much of the film consists of watching […]
