Earlier this same evening, TCM presents a groundbreaking outer-space movie in terms of themes and special effects (2001: A Space Odyssey), followed by an equally groundbreaking one in terms of gender (Alien, presenting Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley as a take-no-prisoners heroine). Stay up long enough, though, and those films from the Sixties and Seventies, respectively, will be crushed in counterpoint by this movie from the Fifties. Queen of Outer Space, made in 1958, is as laughably horrible

2014

Jun

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT By David Bianculli

It’s an easy day’s night for me, reviewing-wise, when this 1964 classic movie musical is one of the day’s TV offerings. A Hard Day’s Night is a brilliant, bouncy, bravely innovative movie, directed by Richard Lester in a way that captures all the freshness, excitement and insanity of Beatlemania. In the U.S., the soundtrack album was padded with lots of incidental music in place of some of the Beatles’ music from the film – but the British pressings, and the e

2014

Jun

24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY By David Bianculli

In tonight’s episode, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) and Kate (Yvonne Strahovski) finally work together, rather than at odds, in hopes of following a trail to the terrorists who are controlling the overridden drones. But Jack’s idea of “working together” is a little extreme: first thing he does is turn Kate over to the enemy.

2014

Jun

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS By David Bianculli

Tom Hanks stars in the title role in this intense, fact-based thriller, about a U.S. cargo ship captain whose vessel, in 2009, was overtaken by pirates from Somalia. And while Hanks is really good, the extra voltage in this 2013 movie is provided by Barkhad Abdi, the Somalian native whose performance is both riveting and unforgettable.

2014

Jun

GO GO MANIA By David Bianculli

Here’s a real rarity, as part of TCM’s celebration tonight of the “Swingin’ Sixties.” It’s a 1965 compilation of what might be viewed as pre-MTV music videos from Britain: a collection of studio performances, lip-synched to original recordings and filmed in color, by such just-breaking groups as The Animals (“House of the Rising Sun”), Herman’s Hermits (“I’m Into Something Good”), and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (“

2014

Jun

LOUIE By David Bianculli

This season, I’ve been absolutely amazed by the high level of acting presented on, and demanded by, this series. Louis C.K. is as daring and honest an actor as he is a comic, and I mean that as high praise indeed. And he’s written scenes this year for his TV daughters, and for recurring guest star Ellen Burstyn as a neighbor, that are intense two-handers requiring, and getting, perfectly pitched performances from Louie and his co-stars.

2014

Jun

LEVAR BURTON CARRIES ON ‘READING RAINBOW’ – AND THE LEGACY OF FRED ROGERS By David Bianculli

PITTSBURGH, PA – LeVar Burton, with his current Kickstarter campaign to revive Reading Rainbow, is doing more than rebooting that brilliant children’s literacy series for a new generation, though that would be plenty. He’s also rebooting the spirit of Fred Rogers…

2014

Jun

COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY By David Bianculli

In this new episode, host Neil DeGrasse Tyson takes on the infuriatingly controversial issue of climate change (infuriating precisely because it shouldn’t be controversial). Tyson tackles the issue of fluctuating weather (it was colder this winter where I lived) versus long-term climate change (oceans are rising, glaciers are melting) by taking his dog on a walk on the beach. The dog, with its unpredictable meanderings on its leash, he explains, is weather. Tyson, walking in a much more pr

2014

Jun

GAME OF THRONES By David Bianculli

This new episode is called “The Mountain and the Viper,” a title which refers to the duel to decide the future of Tyrion – as in, if he’ll have one. His champion, representing him in a duel to the death, is Oberyn Martell, also known as the Red Viper. The Viper faces the formidable Gregor Clegand, known, for obvious reasons, as “The Mountain.” Expect an epic duel of Princess Bride proportions…

2014

Jun

HALT AND CATCH FIRE By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: AMC, in its quest to replicate its amazing string of early successes (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead), has given up too early on one possible contender (Rubicon), been too patient with others (Hell on Wheels), let some go off the rails (The Killing), and approved some baffling series ideas in the first place – like Turn and, now, Halt and Catch Fire. Lee Pace, as a computer visionary in the early 1980s, plays a man who’s less prodigy than pirate, and the sin

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