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
Jan
31
 
 
[Editor's note: On rare occasions, I present guest blogs assigned to former students from Rowan University -- ones whose writing and perspective display exceptional potential. This latest entry comes from Valerie Balock, and is about her recent, enthusiastic discovery and embrace of Columbo, that classic 1970s TV series.... - DB]
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
31
 
 
Filmmaker Frank Darabont concludes his “Stars Behind Bars” overview on TCM with one final Tuesday night of prison films. Tonight’s chain gang of movies begins at 8 p.m. ET with 1962’s Birdman of Alcatraz, starring Burt Lancaster (pictured), and also includes a late-night 2 a.m. ET showing of 1980’s Brubaker, starring Robert Redford.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
31
 
 
Fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, have permeated our culture for generations – but this 2015 movie is based on tales by an Italian folklorist, Giambattista Basile. Watch for Salma Hayek as a vengeful queen, and John C. Reilly and Toby Jones as her co-stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
31
 
 
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, in Bianculli’s Best Bets, I made the mistake of thinking yesterday was today, and including two of the PBS offerings, this show and Frontline, in Monday’s recommendations instead of Tuesday’s. Please forgive me – it was one of those stress days, or, as I think of them, days. And maybe you can think of them as very literal sneak previews. Regardless. They’re on tonight, and here are details, repeated from yesterday. When you
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
31
 
 
Tonight’s episode features Patton Oswalt in his recurring role as a loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Actually, it’s more than one recurring role – and tonight, both of them are in danger.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
31
 
 
Repeated from my error-filled yesterday: This new installment of Frontline takes a very close-up look at the war in Iraq, with the battle for Mosul photographed from a street-level perspective. Check local listings.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
30
 
 
If you’re happy with TV crime procedurals where the bad guys get nailed and justice wins in a crisp 42 minutes, don’t bother watching the latest incarnation of Witness for the Prosecution when it debuts on Acorn TV Monday...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
30
 
 
The standing ovation for Lily Tomlin was to be expected. After all, she was at Los Angeles’ 6,300-seat Shrine Auditorium to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
30
 
 
Warren Buffett is the kind of guy who gives the super-rich a good name. That’s probably America’s dominant perception of a man worth about $63 billion...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2017
Jan
30
 
 
MOVIE PREMIERE: The latest import from Acorn TV is this new British version of Agatha Christie’s durable courtroom drama,. In England, this latest version was shown as a two-part TV tale. For the States, it’s reconfigured slightly as a one-shot movie, but the real reconfiguring comes from writer Sarah Phelps, who aggressively updates some of the dialogue, sexual situations and other elements. Kim Cattrall plays a voracious cougar who pounces on a young WWI vet named Leonard (Billy Ho