Legendary’s MonsterVerse live-action series for Apple TV, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” achieved a franchise first: provide compelling human characters. In the first season, creators Chris Black and Matt Fraction managed to tell a captivating story with a monstrous, globe-trotting scope spanning two timelines: the 1950s and the 2010s. The series follows three branches of the

Netflix has a complex history with adult animation. Some of their most critically acclaimed original comedies are animated: “BoJack Horseman,” “Big Mouth,” last year’s excellent “Long Story Short.” And yet there’s the other side of the coin with duds like last year’s “Haunted Hotel,” and the truly execrable “Hoops,” a show so bad that I

Roger Ebert was a champion of independent films, and he was never more enthusiastic than discovering a new filmmaker with a fresh perspective. That is most evident in his support for Black filmmakers like Spike Lee, Julie Dash, and John Singleton. In honor of Black History Month, here are some of our favorites from his

There are often projects whose complexity and importance I find difficult to fathom. How does one, for instance, distill the history of Black film into 100 titles? How does one define “Black” separately and in conjunction with “film”? Should a movie be helmed by a Black director to be considered a Black work? What about

The Oscar-nominated Shorts programs continue to attract audiences who are either looking to complete their Oscar viewing list or just curious cinephiles seeking works from new voices from around the world. This year’s crop is a mostly solid bunch and difficult to predict. There are three English-language crowd-pleasers in the Live Action category (those always

James Van Der Beek often felt like he was fleeing the ghost of Dawson Leery. As with so many actors who become known for playing teen heartthrobs, that breakthrough role sometimes felt like it defined Van Der Beek, who died this week after a two-year battle with colorectal cancer. He occasionally found ways to disrupt

By the end of the surreal third season of AMC’s “Dark Winds,” it felt as if the foundation of the series had seen an irreversible shift. After battling personal demons, Lt. Joe Leaphorn’s (Zahn McClarnon) past decisions forced his wife, Emma (Deanna Allison), to walk away from their marriage, leaving Joe alone for the first

Anyone who grew up in the suburbs knows how weird some of your neighbors can be. Unless it was you, and you’re the weird one. Inspired by the 1989 Tom Hanks starrer written by Dana Olsen, Peacock revisits the murder-laced cul-de-sacs and suburban paranoia that hit so hard with “Desperate Housewives”—but this time with a

Find below links to all of our coverage of this year’s Sundance, broken out by program. The reviews are written by Brian Tallerico, Robert Daniels, Marya E. Gates, Zachary Lee, Monica Castillo, and Peyton Robinson. (Note: If a title isn’t linked yet, the review is still tentatively forthcoming.) Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves and Channing Tatum