This fourth installment is the final episode that was sent to critics for preview – and it’s the one, in which our heroes finally get their hands on some physical evidence of what they’re up against, that raises The Strain to an even higher level of creepy. So enjoy – I sure did.

2014

Aug

MANHATTAN By David Bianculli

One of the positive aspects of tonight’s second episode is how it veers away from where you presume the show is headed. John Benjamin Hickey, as scientist Frank Winter, was established in last week’s opener as the guy at the Manhattan Project who was on to the best time-saving, and thus life-saving, theory about building a practical atomic bomb. But this week, instead of having that theory embraced and adopted, it’s rejected by the other scientists – and so is Frank, who

2014

Aug

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA By David Bianculli

This 2006 comedy, starring Meryl Streep as a dictatorial fashion editor, was made only eight years ago, but look at all the players whose stars have ascended since. You start with Anne Hathaway, the sweet center of the film, who was handed her first significant adult role here. But keep going: Other co-stars include Emily Blunt, who just starred opposite Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow; Adrian Grenier, who was just starting to break out as a star of HBO’s Entourage; and Simon Baker, two yea

2014

Aug

THE PINK PANTHER By David Bianculli

This 1963 movie stars David Niven – whose day this is on TCM – as a master thief, and Robert Wagner as his equally suave and sly son. But the movie’s center turns out to be the bumbling detective on their trail: Inspector Jacques Cousteau, played to comic perfection by Peter Sellers. Some aspects of humor, you outgrow through the years – but Clouseau, he always makes me laugh, even just thinking about him. And when he spins that globe, I’m laughing even before he re

2014

Aug

LIMITLESS By David Bianculli

You have to respect and applaud Bradley Cooper’s acting choices – not only what he does on screen, but the roles he accepts. TV viewers knew about his good looks and easygoing style by watching him as far back as Alias, but after co-starring in The Hangover, he could have settled into an easy street of unchallenging romantic comedies. Instead, he went for the unexpected – first by starring opposite Robert de Niro in this 2011 modern variation on Flowers for Algernon, then by re

2014

Aug

THE GREAT MARTIAN WAR 1913-1917 By David Bianculli

Okay, this is just weird. This 2013 Canadian film is a faux documentary, “interviewing” historians about a reimagining of World War I. Instead, after alien spacecraft land in the forests of Europe, the conflict instead becomes Worlds War I, as former enemies unite on the battlefield to take aim against deadly weaponry from outer space.

2014

Aug

EYES WIDE SHUT By David Bianculli

This 1999 Stanley Kubrick movie captured Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman when they were still a couple, but also captures tensions between their characters that are difficult not to overlay onto their real-life counterparts at the time. Kubrick’s theatrical sexuality and dreamlike direction may seem indulgent in this late-career film – but if you go back and read the original novella that is its source material, it’s almost shocking how faithful this movie adaptation is to the spi

2014

Aug

FX’S MOSTLY UNDER THE RADAR 'PARTNERS' STARS TWO GUYS NAMED KELSEY GRAMMER AND MARTIN LAWRENCE By Ed Bark

The stars are well-known brand names. Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence are the front men for Partners, an odd couple-ish pairing of lawyers that premieres on Monday, Aug. 4th with back-to-back episodes...

2014

Aug

WHEN A NOVEL CROSSES OVER TIME AND TELEVISION By Donna J. Plesh

Diana Gabaldon was working as a research professor in the late 1980s when she decided she wanted to write a novel. One novel led to another until Gabaldon had a wildly successful series on her hands. Now, the first novel, Outlander, has been adapted for a 16-part series on Starz...

2014

Aug

JANE FONDA MOVIE MARATHON By David Bianculli

Friday nights are good times to nestle into the couch and watch a good movie on TV – and August is the month when TCM devotes every day, as well as every night, to a single star or filmmaker, presenting a 24-hour marathon of related movies. This year, the celebration begins with Jane Fonda, and the party’s already begun (it started at 6 a.m. ET) with 1960’s Tall Story, the actress’ first movie, in which she played a cheerleader opposite star college basketball star Anthon

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