Tag Archives: Review
MAD MEN – S05E01-02 (TV Review)
The white men have ruled the world of Mad Men all along, and their entire way of life has been built on racial injustice and the subjugation of women, in ways they’ve never even questioned. But Megan is not going to accept Betty’s role, and the “negroes” in the lobby are not going to take “no” for an answer. Change won’t come quickly, but it is coming. Continue reading
Filed under Mad Men, TV REVIEWS
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE (2011)
Exceedingly phony and insufferably cloying, Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close begs the question: ten years after the events of September 11, 2001, are we ready as a nation to turn our collective trauma into simpering schmaltz? Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a stylish, cookie-cutter crime drama, but Lisbeth Salander—at least as portrayed by Rooney Mara—is something immeasurably more: fascinating, undefinable, and unforgettable, she’s one of the first great film characters of the 21st century. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2011)
My Week with Marilyn is competently made, but it has the feel of a superficial TV biopic blown up large. It is notable only for its lead performance from Michelle Williams, but that one performance is well worth the price of admission. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
J. EDGAR (2011)
Featuring a ridiculously miscast Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, a shallow, subtlety-deaf screenplay that wants to be Brokeback Bureau, and a clunking directorial style that feels like a color-blind Douglas Sirk helming an episode of Dragnet, J. Edgar is just laughably, appallingly bad. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
DEADWOOD—S1E6
This incredibly foul-mouthed, frequently violent, sex- and greed-driven show is one of the most deeply religious programs ever produced for television. Continue reading
Filed under Deadwood, TV REVIEWS
ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011)
By dropping its monsters down in a South London council estate, and by finding its unlikely heroes in a multi-racial group of teen-age delinquents, “Attack the Block” achieves something remarkable: it makes what could have been a formulaic, low-budget monster movie feel like a story we’ve never seen before. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011)
Mr. Favreau, Mr. Spielberg: I’m sorry to say it, but the publicity for your movie more or less spoiled my enjoyment of your movie. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011)
Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class is a triumph in many ways. Rescuing the series from the diminishing returns of the previous movies by Bryan Singer (the passable X-Men and X2: United) and Brett Ratner (the muddled X-Men: The Last Stand), Vaughn breathes new life into the franchise by taking it back to its start. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
GAME OF THRONES S01E05 “The Wolf and the Lion”
Of all the shows on television that could feature a guy getting a knife through the eyeball, a bludgeoning dwarf, a breast-feeding 7-year-old, a spontaneous equine decapitation, and a discussion of the economics of cadaver fucking—all in the same episode—Game of Thrones has definitely become my favorite. Continue reading
Filed under Game of Thrones
DOCTOR WHO S06E04 “The Doctor’s Wife”
Even before the Doctor or any of the dozens of companions who would travel within her, before we even knew what it was or what it meant, we saw this mysterious blue box that promised to be the gateway to all the stories to come. And last night, after more than 47 years, in yet another junkyard just beyond our universe, we finally met her. Continue reading
Filed under Doctor Who
GAME OF THRONES S01E04 “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”
“Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things” is a relatively uneventful episode—it’s weighted with exposition, and busy positioning everyone for the midgame—but it’s also, thematically, the strongest entry so far. Its mission statement is summed up in that title: in such a heavily structured society, with a strong clan mentality, what happens to the outcasts, the cast-offs, the people who just don’t fit? Continue reading
Filed under Game of Thrones
DOCTOR WHO S06E03 “The Curse of the Black Spot”
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of energy to spend on this thing: “The Curse of the Black Spot” (written by Steve Thompson) isn’t even going to be fun to crap all over. It’s not horrible, it’s just not much of anything at all. It’s a filler episode, a budget-controlling episode, a go-do-this-while-we’re-over-here-working-on-the-ones-that-matter episode. Continue reading
Filed under Doctor Who
GAME OF THRONES S01E01–3 Winter is Coming, The King’s Road, Lord Snow
I needed a new television addiction like I needed an ice-cold broadsword up the ass. Continue reading
Filed under Game of Thrones
DOCTOR WHO S06E01–2 “The Impossible Astronaut” & “Day of the Moon”
Last year’s Doctor Who season opener, “The Eleventh Hour,” was—by coincidence and design—a good jumping-on point for the series. With this year’s season opener, on the other hand, Moffat seems to have different goals entirely, and “safe” is nowhere on the agenda. Continue reading
Filed under Doctor Who
THOR
Thor is a crushing mediocrity, a passable but forgettable entry in the Mighty Marvel Movie Franchise. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
DOCTOR WHO An Introduction
I doubt anyone involved in the creation of Doctor Who would have predicted that the show would be thriving well into the new millennium, but—whether by accident or intention—there’s no denying that they built this show to last. Continue reading
Filed under Doctor Who
OF GODS AND MEN
It’s hard to think of a film that better explores the question of what it would mean to truly live a Christian life than Of Gods and Men. Whether you consider yourself a believer or not—and, for the record, I do not—the result is a profoundly beautiful and powerfully gripping drama about faith, conviction, and quiet, humble courage. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
ARTHUR
The best that can be said of director Jason Winer’s 2011 remake of Arthur is that it’s harmless. And it is harmless—in the same way, for example, that necrophilia is harmless. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
SOURCE CODE
Everything Inception gets wrong, director Duncan Jones’ Source Code gets right. Source Code is undoubtedly a smaller picture, both less impressive and less anxious to impress, but for me it’s the better for it. Continue reading
Filed under 2011 Films, MOVIE REVIEWS
