Just in the nick of time: Here’s my review of Black Mirror‘s fourth season. In a word, it’s superb. In more words, well, hey now – you’re not getting my thoughts out of me that easily. In the real world, don’t have the kind of technology that lets you do that. If we lived in the Black Mirror-verse, maybe … Continue reading
For WBUR’s The ARTery, I wrote about a too-common problem even the best TV shows face: Figuring out when to end it all, by which I mean (he said in a rush) when to wrap things up and close the series out. Certain great shows can go beyond three or four seasons of content without … Continue reading
If you’re not already watching Starz’ The Girlfriend Experience, might I suggest you start now; now in its second season, the show has completely changed face by moving on from its season one arc, involving the great Riley Keough, to a dual-narrative that respectively involve Anna Friel and Louisa Krause, and Carmen Ejogo. It’s still a … Continue reading
Put me in the stocks and excoriate me in town square, because I am not a fan of The Handmaid’s Tale. But maybe don’t put me in the stocks, because a) we’re a somewhat civilized people in 2017, and also b) I loved Alias Grace, the other major slash high-profile Margaret Atwood television adaptation released this year. I am … Continue reading
Shocking revelation: I’m a big-time sucker for a good sitcom. My love for Brooklyn Nine-Nine is well-documented, I watched The Mindy Project religiously until it went to Hulu (because, y’know, I didn’t have Hulu at the time), I grew up on Family Matters and Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and you get the idea, right? So, basically, I’m … Continue reading
Oh, Top of the Lake: China Girl; I wish I liked you better. The first season of Jane Campion’s SundanceTV series is phenomenal, make no mistake; also make no mistake that she should have left it at one season, assuming that her plan for following it up was always, well, this. Top of the Lake: China Girl … Continue reading
Maybe I’m the wrong person to write about superhero stuff in 2017. Guys, really: I just can’t watch superhero things without finding big philosophical flaws in their makeup and intent. I’m afraid to sit through the second season of Jessica Jones when it airs next year, even, though then again, Jessica is the best thing about The Defenders, … Continue reading
There’s an internal debate raging in the pop culture center of my brain as to whether Epix’s new show, Get Shorty, is actually as good as I think it is, based on its existence as the second adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1990 novel (the first being, of course, 1995’s Get Shorty); I’m still mulling over whether it’s … Continue reading
Trust me: I really wanted to love Comrade Detective. I’m fond of most of the people involved, and if I’m naturally inclined to consider the basic conceit of dubbing comic vocal tracks over material that is not at all innately comic, I’m okay with it on the off chance that the people doing it nail the … Continue reading
I know it is unfashionable for men to talk about sex and arousal in context with pop culture, but I’m a big dummy who doesn’t know what’s good for him, so I went ahead and did exactly that for The Playlist’s Bingeworthy Breakdown feature, in which I say a bunch of smart stuff, and smartass … Continue reading
If you’ve been watching FX’s Feud, as I have, you’ve either been seduced and dazzled by its depiction of its period in both America and in Hollywood, as well as the central performances given by Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange; or you’ve been put off by the cheapness of Ryan Murphy’s recreation of the era and its … Continue reading
I’m officially free of my Taboo-reviewing duties, at least until the next series (because there are two more, apparently, which is as much a surprise to me as it might be to you all) goes to air in 2018, presumably. If I’m being honest, I’m going to miss writing about this thing; I wouldn’t say I … Continue reading
I think I finally figured out how Taboo could have been a better show to start with, and it involves introducing Lucian Msamati’s Sons of Africa lawyer way, way earlier in the narrative than “Episode 5.” George Chichester has a clear cause that could have given the story backbone; by contrast, James Delaney’s cause is muddled, which … Continue reading
…man, I don’t even know with this Taboo show anymore, guys! I’m riding a fucking roller coaster here! The frosted side of me is in love with its unapologetic, bizarre narrative course as well as its aesthetic, which borrows as much from Game of Thrones and Deadwood as it does Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. … Continue reading
This week on Taboo: Andy can’t take it anymore, so he dives deep on the show’s lack of focus on its non-Tom Hardy people, especially its non-Tom Hardy people who are ladies. Maybe it’s Oona Chaplin’s lot in life to be cast as women caught under the heels of patriarchal violence, domination, and abuse; I don’t … Continue reading
I’m a big fan of weirdness and debauchery in my visual media, and when you mash them together, all the better. So it’s fair to say that Taboo is slowly but surely becoming more and more my jam as it leans more into its weirdness and its flagrant aristocratic indulgences. To wit: This week’s episode, where … Continue reading
Alright! A quality episode of Taboo! After the stumbles taken in “Episode 2,” it’s nice to see the show get its footing back by actually telling a story instead of just checking off plot points. Plus, people who are not Tom Hardy are now getting more opportunity to strut their stuff, though Hardy is still the … Continue reading
Annnnnnd just like that, after Taboo‘s pilot episode, we see a steep drop-off in its palability. I wouldn’t call it “bad,” per se, but boy, it is way overstuffed; each time I thought I’d finished summing up the events of the second episode (titled, rather simply, “Episode 2”), I realized that I’d left something out. Plot, … Continue reading
A couple years back, I wrote a review of Justin Simien’s awesome feature debut, Dear White People, and assholes on the Internet decided that the best response to a film so named was to drop a bunch of racist-as-fuck comments in the comments section, without really reading the review (or seeing the movie, obviously). My editor … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 