(May 26, 2022)
GEORGE CARLIN'S AMERICAN DREAM. Given his insistence on examining words and everything else in context, it would be disrespectful to talk about the comedic life and legacy of George...
(May 19, 2022)
BLACK CRAB. When the world's bleakness is inescapable as it has been of late, even fewer actors have the power to lure me into an apocalyptic landscape, a gritty wartime...
(May 12, 2022)
THE SOUND OF MAGIC. I believe in magic. I live in a world where people spontaneously sing and dance, and cherry blossom petals fall from trees in the most opportune...
(May 5, 2022)
WHITE HOT: THE RISE & FALL OF ABERCROMBIE & FITCH. Why is White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch on Netflix a poignant documentary? Was it supposed...
(April 28, 2022)
THE NORTHMAN. In hindsight, I should probably have been kinder to The Witch (2015). At the time, I damned it with faint praise, basically comparing it unfavorably to some of...
(April 21, 2022)
SLOW HORSES. Given that my daily news podcast unloads an avalanche of horror and idiocy most mornings, what I want when I turn to entertainment is a change, something free...
(April 14, 2022)
The editor suggested, due to some fairly horrific recent events, that I keep this week's selection light, perhaps write a column about comfort viewing. I may have met her halfway....
(April 7, 2022)
THE BUBBLE. It was almost — only? — two years ago that The King of Staten Island, Judd Apatow's last feature, was released. It felt noteworthy because Apatow's comedies are...
(March 31, 2022)
X. I've been a fan of Ti West's work for longer than I care to remember. Sometime more a decade ago, I heard him interviewed and was intrigued enough by...
(March 24, 2022)
AFTER YANG. Envisioning the future is a dicey prospect in the best of times; lately it seems borderline pointless/delusional. Global dissolution aside, committing to an imagined version of progress or...
(March 17, 2022)
TURNING RED. Getting prepared for date night by changing into pajamas, cleaning my bedroom/cave and assembling the pre-bought junk food to watch a movie on TV is turning me into...
(March 10, 2022)
THE BATMAN. Despite the time, space and vitriol I've maybe/probably/definitely wasted bloviating about the state of movies in the shadow of the comic book-adaptation monolith, I've been a Batman shill for...
(March 3, 2022)
CODA. Although my editor made not-so-veiled threats regarding The Sky is Everywhere — order must be maintained, after all — none were required to compel me to watch this,...
(February 24, 2022)
THE KING'S MAN. As late as 2019 — which is when, if memory serves, the trailer for The King's Man began to circulate — I could be frequently heard singing...
(February 17, 2022)
I WANT YOU BACK. Contrary to my frequent cantankerousness — contrarianism in all things! — I like romantic comedies (almost) as much as the next audience member. Despite their frothiness...
(February 10, 2022)
I've had occasion, these last 10 days or so, to do some catching up — obvious, probably inevitable reasons. Circumstances notwithstanding, this period of isolation has coincided nicely with a...
