DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
Scan YouTube for highlights of Planet Earth II and one can’t help but be struck by how many compilation fan videos are of the blood-’n’-claws variety...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
The evidence builds against eccentric Larry Henderson (John Lithgow) in Trial & Error, a mockumentary spoof of the burgeoning “true crime” genre...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
Every time you start to get annoyed at NBC’s new sitcom Trial & Error, you think how much the creators obviously love the immortal film My Cousin Vinny and you back off...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
The contestants continue, this season, to both surprise and impress with their song choices, and especially with their individual interpretations of those songs. From last week, one case in point whose originality lingers as a sterling example: Taylor Alexander, doing a very country, very male version of Cher’s “Believe.” It was good enough, and unusual enough, to land him on Adam Levine’s team. This is the final week of the audition round, and last night, once again, pro
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
Actually, they should have called this 1971 movie Bree – because Bree Daniels, the call girl played by Jane Fonda, is the real center of this Alan J. Pakula film. Fonda won the Oscar, and deserved to, as the prostitute who is among the targets of a killer of ladies of the night. Klute is the name of the detective, John Klute, assigned to solve the case and protect Bree – he’s played by Donald Sutherland, who’s excellent here, too, but Klute is Fonda’s movie all the
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This series, the NBC spiritual predecessor to such heartwarming family dramas as Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, concludes its first season with an episode that manages to wrest emotion even out of its flashback scenes, though we know how they will, and won’t, turn out. Credit the writing… and the acting, including that of singer Mandy Moore.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
FX sent out the first three episodes of this fifth season for preview – and they’re really, really good. Tonight’s episode explores more of the central couple’s new cover identities as an airline pilot and hostess, getting into some amazingly relevant discussions about Russian and American ideals. It also unveils what I suspect will be the year’s dominant story arc, and also greets a few familiar returning faces, while elevating the dramatic ante in personal stories
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: On my book tour a few months ago, one of my stops in Los Angeles was Adam Carolla’s podcast. I wasn’t surprised by how much fun I had there, but I was surprised by two things. One, how many people I told afterward were fans of Carolla’s podcast, from the waiter at Rao’s to my own son. And two, how Carolla’s home-base headquarters looked as much like a carpentry warehouse as anything else. Now I know why. And Carolla is so comfortable and honest when
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation. I love John Lithgow, and the premise for this show, sight unseen, sounds like a home run: In this faux crime documentary, Lithgow plays a Robert Durst-type accused murderer, surrounded by a somewhat incompetent legal team. But that’s sight unseen. Once you’ve seen it, as I have, it’s no longer promising. It breaks that promise, by being way too obvious, and nowhere near funny enough. I blame the writing and direction much more than
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Mar
14
 
 
As we ramp up to the return of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks this summer, I recommend soaking up many of his other, later efforts – including this haunting but baffling 1997 film, in which Patricia Arquette plays two roles – a femme fatale blonde, and, in another sort of reality, a femme fatale brunette. And Robert Blake plays… well, I don’t know who or what the hell he plays, but he sure does commit to it…