“There’s an alternate timeline in which Creed is a superfluous waste of nostalgia. In that universe, Warner Bros. gave the reins to a filmmaker other than Ryan Coogler, the young Oakland-born director who stunned viewers in 2013 with Fruitvale Station, a bio-drama about the death of Oscar Grant. Maybe Coogler is the last person anyone … Continue reading
“When Pixar first arrived with 1995’s Toy Story, they fell into a steady release routine and reliably output a movie every one to three years. 2006 began the eight-year streak in which the animation giant dropped a new title every summer, all the way up to 2013’s Monsters University, which came out amid peak Pixar … Continue reading
“Good news for Amanda Fisher: Ruby is her new best friend. That only seems fair, doesn’t it? Ash has already gained two new best friends himself. Why should Amanda be left out of the fun? Now she has someone to pal around with in pursuit of her perp, though Ruby’s intentions sound a lot less … Continue reading
“Marvel’s television brand has come a long way since the 2013 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.That show was the company’s coltish first step into the widening TV world—an awkward, gangly attempt at bringing their operatic, costumed rumpuses onto a smaller screen with a larger creative space. Over time, the series has shaped itself into a … Continue reading
“If The Bastard Executioner’s cardinal season can be summed up with a single word, that word is “rushed.” From the show’s premiere to its finale, “Blood and Quiescence/Crau a Chwsg,” every narrative thread, every plot point, every character arc has felt unjustly compressed, like so many square pegs being stuffed into round holes. This, in … Continue reading
“For Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s last couple of episodes, Jake and Amy have had the luxury of acting like a couple without needing to prove their couple bona fides. They’re an item, period. It’s true that “Halloween III” put a teensie bump in their road, but Jake’s paranoia over Amy’s allegiance in his prank campaign with Holt … Continue reading
“What do you really know about Ash? That’s the fundamental question of Ash vs. Evil Dead’s latest episode, “Books From Beyond,” which a handcuffed Amanda Fisher poses to a gun-toting Kelly in a decidedly lopsided conversation about Ash’s dubious morality. Sure, we all know that he’s the hero, here, but Fisher is yet to be … Continue reading
“Patricia Riggen’s The 33 ends appropriately with a seaside reunion between its cast’s real-life counterparts: The cadre of Chilean miners who lived buried beneath a mountain for 69 days in the 2010 Copiapó mining calamity. One by one, Riggen introduces her audience to these men in a beautifully lit scene that pays homage to the … Continue reading
“Quentin Tarantino isn’t a stranger to controversy. He’s been courting it for the lion’s share of his career: He has a penchant for violence that borders on fetishism, and his scripts boast an inexcusably stomach-churning amount of racial epithets. Even in the beginning of his career, with Reservoir Dogs he chapped the asses of cinephiles … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 