Movie Reviews
Movie Reviews

Prime’s Magnetic “Étoile” Is Guaranteed To Be Your Spring TV Obsession | TV/Streaming

Like the medical dramas of the 2000s, the following decade was swamped by shows about dance. One of the most prevalent was Amy Sherman-Palladino’s “Bunheads,” which followed a former Vegas showgirl turned small-town ballet teacher, and was unfortunately cancelled after one season. Now, nearly 15 years later, Sherman-Palladino and her husband, Daniel Palladino, are back

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Movie Reviews

“Expedition 33” Is An Exercise In RPG Artistry | Video Games

Video game writers have become much more adept at using death as something more worthwhile than a dramatic plot device over the last decade or so. The starting point in Tetsuya Takahashi’s “Xenoblade Chronicles 3” is a frank admission that no one knows how to handle grief, honor the dead, or live what amounts to

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Movie Reviews

Prime Video’s “#1 Happy Family USA” Gives Ramy Youssef the Freedom to Laugh at Post-9/11 Paranoia | TV/Streaming

Ramy Youssef is one of the most interpersonal storytellers of today. Much of Ramy Youssef’s creations—the Max standup specials “Feelings” and “More Feelings” and the eponymous Hulu series “Ramy“—examine the realities Muslim immigrants face while navigating a post-9/11 world from an intuitive comic perspective. His latest venture alongside “South Park” alum Pam Brady, “#1 Happy

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Movie Reviews

Apple TV’s “Government Cheese” is Almost Great | TV/Streaming

Apple TV’s new comedy-drama “Government Cheese” boasts a talented cast. The story is witty, filled with religious references and commentary on 1960s culture. The sprightly soundtrack features well-chosen soul, krautrock, and pop. Why, then, does this series not rank amongst the best things to air on TV this year? The problem isn’t lead actor (and

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Movie Reviews

There’s No Catharsis: David Cronenberg on “The Shrouds” | Interviews

The latest film by David Cronenberg is his most personal in decades. Written after the death of his wife of 43 years, it’s about the unending nature of grief, the strange ways that people suffer, and what constitutes the truth in a world of endless, meaningless possibilities.  In “The Shrouds” (in theaters April 18), an

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Movie Reviews

The Day James Bond Movies Died | Far Flungers

A case can be made that the recent announcement of Amazon gaining creative control of the James Bond series from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, its caretakers of the last thirty years, should be welcome news. After all, there hasn’t been a new film since “No Time to Die” opened in 2021, and

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Movie Reviews

Total Fidelity: Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza on “Warfare” | Interviews

Alex Garland’s worlds, even those in the more fantastical realms of “Ex Machina,” “Dredd,” and “Annihilation,” find as many ways as possible to sell their fantasies within a realm of muted, grounded realism. And so it goes that his latest project, “Warfare,” takes that zeal for verisimilitude to its grandest degree yet: Recreating a real

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Movie Reviews

Short Films in Focus: Incident | Short Films in Focus

I find it challenging to review “found footage” documentaries where the primary focus is on the footage itself. You watch it. It makes sense that someone would release the footage into the world. You make sense of it in the context of our world today. And you think, “Wow. Nothing’s changed in our world,” or

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Movie Reviews

“The Last of Us” Returns with a Devastating, Riveting Second Season | TV/Streaming

Anyone who has played the games on which HBO’s “The Last of Us” is based knows that things are about to get intense. Without spoiling a single thing, the video game “The Last of Us, Part II” turns up the volume on the first game’s themes of individual responsibility set against the greater good with

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Movie Reviews

“South of Midnight” is a Colorful PS2 Throwback | Video Games

When Microsoft acquired developer Compulsion Games in 2018, all eyes were on the studio to see what it could deliver at the release of its last game, “We Happy Few.” Compulsion Games had something special and intriguing with the game’s narrative premise, set in a dystopia where everyone took drugs to stay happy. However, the

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