Tonight’s competition takes place at an elementary school, where Gordon Ramsay oversees the contestants going through their paces in the school cafeteria kitchen, trying to come up with healthy meals for hundreds of vegetable-averse children. It may be worth watching just to see how Ramsay adjusts his usually rough-edged barrage of insults, given the environment. Instead of calling someone a “bloody cow,” will he shift to the more acceptable “silly wabbit?”

2013

Jun

SOPHIE'S CHOICE By David Bianculli

Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol star in this intensely acted and filmed 1982 version of the William Styron novel, adapted for the screen and directed by the wonderful Alan J. Pakula. When it comes to the moment of revealing, and acting out, the meaning of the title, actress and director come together in a way that makes it impossible to imagine a more emotional, more powerful alternative.

2013

Jun

THE FAR COUNTRY By David Bianculli

In this 1955 Western set in the last half of the 1890s, James Stewart plays a cowboy who tries to take advantage of the sudden Gold Rush by herding cattle from Wyoming to the rugged north. As you watch this Anthony Mann-directed movie, remind yourself that not one head of cattle was generated by a computer – then play a version of supporting-actor “Where’s Waldo?” by looking for all the familiar faces. Walter Brennan is a co-star here, so he’s a gimme – but wa

2013

Jun

60 MINUTES SPORTS By David Bianculli

One of tonight’s stories on this new edition: A celebration of the 40th anniversary of the stunningly authoritative Triple Crown win of Secretariat. (Look at that photo! Take that, Eadweard Muybridge!) Another story: The dangerously aggressive redesign of the catamaran selected by the U.S. team to represent America’s Cup. Instead of a main sail, there’s a giant carbon-fiber wing, and last month the Swedish crew, practicing with a similar craft, suffered a fatality after t

2013

Jun

THROUGH THE WORMHOLE WITH MORGAN FREEMAN By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: To begin Season 4, Morgan Freeman and company are changing focus, going away from the galactic questions to ask some other, equally puzzling ones. No, not “Why is there air?,” though Bill Cosby’s answer to that still makes me laugh. But big questions nonetheless, starting with tonight’s controversial little query: “When does life begin?”

2013

Jun

"BE LIFE" JOSS WHEDON TELLS WESLEYAN GRADS By Al Mannarino

Joss Whedon cut right to the chase when delivering the 2013 Wesleyan University commencement address: "You are all going to die," he told graduates...

2013

Jun

THE VOICE By David Bianculli

This is elimination night for the Top 6, who performed yesterday – and the official NBC lead-in to yet another competition reality series, America’s Got Talent, which begins its new season with two new judges, Heidi Klum and former Spice Girl Mel B. I can’t imagine ratings for that show not going down this year – just as it’s easy to imagine The Voice getting stronger, at least for a while, even though it also uses its rotating thrones as a game of musical chairs. J

2013

Jun

JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES By David Bianculli

This 1998 vampire film, directed (but not written) by John Carpenter, is 15 years old now, but retains enough edge to make it a watchable, unpredictable, sometimes unsettling film in the vampire genre. Some of that comes from James Woods’ successful attempt to play a hero in the later Kurt Russell mode, but a lot comes from the supporting performance by Sheryl Lee of Twin Peaks, who here ends up undead, but not wrapped in plastic.

2013

Jun

APOLLO 13 By David Bianculli

If you’ve worked your way through the new episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix, you’ve seen Ron Howard’s imagined Imagine office, with its full-size lunar module. Here is the 1995 movie from which that came: Howard’s taut, smart, inspiring dramatization of the ill-fated Apollo 13 lunar mission of 1970. Tom Hanks stars, but there are star turns almost everywhere you look, including those by Gary Sinise (pictured) and Ed Harris. And speaking of Arrested Development:

2013

Jun

BROOKLYN DA By David Bianculli

In this week's new installment, among other cases followed from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, is the continuation of one begun in last week’s series premiere: the art theft investigation, which this week gets to the point of installing high-tech equipment in hopes of capturing the thieves red-handed. Or, at least, a nice shade of crimson.

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