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

 
 
2013
Jul
12
 
 
It doesn’t quite compute that this Michael Cimino movie is now 35 years old. But my, what a movie – so intense, it’s at times almost unwatchable. Yet it’s an important movie to see, because of the astounding work by its impeccable young cast. Robert De Niro already had made Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and The Godfather: Part II by the time he got to this 1978 Vietnam war movie, but The Deer Hunter was of that same high caliber. Yet he’s not the only standout here: Chr
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
12
 
 
In 1967, film critic turned filmmaker Francois Truffaut wrote a book – a series of detailed conversational interviews, actually – in which he and Alfred Hitchcock examined and discussed every one of Hitch’s films. (The book was called Hitchcock/Truffaut, and a revised edition, covering Hitchcock’s final films, was published in 1985.)  The original book, a marvel of detail and insight and cinematic passion from both men, was one of my inspirations to become a critic.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
12
 
 
Among tonight’s guests is someone who’s never failed to deliver both outrage and outrageousness at his seat on Bill Maher’s roundtable: Cornel West.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Jenji Kohan, whose Weeds recently ended an enjoyable if overly lengthy run on Showtime, joins the ranks of writer-producers taking their wares to Netflix. Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, Orange Is the New Black stars Taylor Schilling as Piper, a middle-class white woman ratted out by a former lover in a plea bargain, for her complicity in a one-time money-smuggling crime a decade earlier. She turns herself in for an 18-month stint in prison, with her new fiancé promi
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
This 2002 comedy qualifies as being ahead of its time, especially with a subplot that brings to mind Herman Cain and scene-stealing supporting performances from both Dave Chappelle and Neil Patrick Harris. But this spoof of blaxploitation films is funniest as an “equal time” attack on white culture as seen through a black prism. Aunjanue Ellis and Eddie Griffin play secret agents working against “The Man,” and Denise Richards – in what probably is the best role of h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
This 1963 movie (pictured) kicks off tonight’s five-film salute to the late, great Ray Harryhausen, whose stop-animation movie work inspired not only several generations of filmmakers, but just about every action videogame ever made. Other films in tonight’s tribute, all featuring Harryhausen’s stop-action work: 1973’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad at 10 p.m. ET, 1977’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (midnight ET), 1956’s Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (2 a.m. ET
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
Jack Coleman, as Michael Weston’s CIA handler Andrew Strong, shows up uninvited at Fiona’s place, to persuade Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) not to follow through on her plans to skip town. And as fans of this show are well aware, he can make a very Strong argument when he’s so inclined.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: Jane Lynch hosts this new casual game show, with the fist night’s guest list including Lisa Kudrow, Martin Short, Kristen Bell and Matthew Perry. One thing you have to say about a new prime-time game show: At least it’s not a new prime-time reality show.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
11
 
 
Based on the first six of 13 episodes, Orange is the New Black has passed virtually every test with flying colors...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Jul
10
 
 
There are plenty of unpleasant things going on, and around, a bridge connecting El Paso and Juarez, but there's a lot of good storytelling, and great acting, to go around, too...