Top Ten Films: 2021

I’m worried. I’m sure you are, too. It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years to be a film fan (along with everything else). 2019 was a stronger-than-average year at the movies, with sprawling, hearty, career-capping epics from major auteurs like Scorsese (The Irishman) and Tarantino (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), ambitious, adult-oriented big screen […]

Strong & Silent: ‘The Power Of The Dog’

The stoic cowboy is, perhaps, the most stalwart hero trope we’ve ever had in the movies. Detectives have always been hard-boiled, soldiers are often racked with guilt and trauma, cops frequently cross over to the wrong side of the law, but the cowboy protagonist has rarely been less than noble. Even revisionist Westerns like Unforgiven […]

Irish Goodbye: Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’

Believe it or not, it’s been nearly 30 years since Martin Scorsese made GoodFellas, one of the auteur’s least disputed masterpieces. The film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture. Joe Pesci won Best Supporting Actor. Scorsese’s name has been mentioned in a lot of film criticism lately, and not just because […]

The Not-Oscars 2016

It’s just about Oscar time again — though for once, the Best Picture race isn’t exactly the most disappointing contest I’ll witness over the past year. At times like these, the Academy Awards feel somewhat frivolous. It’s possible that some likely winners — The Salesman, Mahershala Ali, The White Helmets, OJ: Made In America, and even […]

Monsters In Moonlight: The Year’s Best Dramas Come Out To Play

The “coming out” film has been the cornerstone of queer cinema for at least a couple of decades. For all the progress the LGB… (sorry, I’ve lost track of how many letters are supposed to be attached to that alphabet soup) movement has made in shifting from the niche to the mainstream in that time, […]

‘Freak’ Of The Weak: Fall TV Roulette (Part Three)

We are officially wrapping up the fall TV season now, as most shows have begun or are about to take a hiatus for the holidays, and others are taking a hiatus for… ever. Farewell, A To Z! Good riddance, Selfie! Manhattan Love Story, we hardly knew ye!

‘Breaking Bad’ Series Finale: “Felina”

“I did it for me. I liked it.” And so it ends. Can I now safely say that Breaking Bad was the best TV drama there ever was? Not without watching a whole lot of other TV dramas I haven’t caught up with yet, and not without stirring up a heated debate. There are a […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Granite State”

“Why don’t you just die already?” For once, the Sunday night television conversation was centered around a different series last night — Dexter, and how utterly disappointing the finale was. I’ve only seen the first season of Dexter, but I know that the show has disappointed fans for the past few seasons, and it’s for […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Ozymandias”

“The reaction has begun.” Leave it up to Breaking Bad to kill off one of the four leads in an episode and have that not be the scene everyone is talking about. Last week’s “To’hajiilee” was, for me, a mixed bag. A mostly good bag, but with a few questionable items mixed in. I didn’t […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “To’hajiilee”

“Baby, I got him.” There isn’t a single episode of Breaking Bad that doesn’t advance the story and the characters in intriguing, insightful, and surprising ways. This show does not waste any of our time. For so long Breaking Bad has teased us in the most delightful manner, often dawdling when it comes to the […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Rabid Dog”

“Mr. White’s gay for me. Everybody knows it.” Possibly the biggest question mark surrounding the second half of Breaking Bad‘s fifth season pertained to Walt and Jesse’s relationship — it’s been a tense one over the years (or months, if we’re using the show’s timeline). They’ve been friends and enemies, back and forth — from […]

‘Breaking Bad’ Season Five: “Confessions”

“He really did a number on you, didn’t he?” Hoo boy! The final season (okay, half-season) of Breaking Bad is officially underway. There have been two pretty solid episodes so far, “Blood Money” and then “Buried,” both of which gave us scenes (and moments of hand-to-face contact) that have been a long time coming. This […]