“In the Original ‘Candyman,’ Curiosity Is Recognized as Transgression (and Dealt with Accordingly)”

If you click the link to this review 5 times while staring in the mirror, I appear behind you and say “thanks for clicking.” Continue reading →

“Taking the Grandstand in ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7′”

Making history fun, and also not exactly true! Continue reading →

Review: Aquaman, 2018, dir. James Wan

Preamble: Man, the DCEU movies are fucking bad. (Excepting Wonder Woman, which is good until it’s bad.) …okay, got that out of the way. Aquaman kinda rocks. Like Wonder Woman, Aquaman cradles its share of flaws and bad creative decisions, most of them involving the totally great Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who deserves to be a big huge movie star and … Continue reading →

Review: First Match, 2018, dir. Olivia Newman

In its own modest, tasteful way, Olivia Newman’s First Match is a harsh watch, a movie loaded with social and political (and sociopolitical) messages that shouldn’t feel modern but do anyways. That’s 2018 for you. We’re still that country. The film leaves no trace of whiteness and makes no mention of whiteness (at least that I recall), … Continue reading →

Review: The Greatest Showman, 2017, dir. Michael Gracey

I liked the musical numbers in The Greatest Showman. I liked them a lot! Like all good musical numbers, they help facilitate storytelling; they’re also bright, beautifully orchestrated, utterly joyful, and so compelling that I found myself tapping my feet through most of them. (The rest are not feet-tapping songs, which is to say that they … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, 1.11, “Only from Exile Can We Come Home”

I can’t stop reviewing The Get Down! Actually, no: That’s a lie. I can. And I have. Sad face. Well, c’mon, you didn’t think the show would go on forever, did you? Granted, Netflix split the first season into two halves, which kinda gave the show a sense of unnatural longevity, but we all knew it … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, 1.09 & 1.10, “One by One, Into the Dark”/“Gamble Everything,”

I’ll admit it: I have a hard time writing about The Get Down, not for lack of things to say, but because there’s so much that can be said and should be said about it, and so much that needs to be said to satisfy the purpose of a recap. This is what I get for knocking … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, 1.07 & 1.08, “Unfold Your Own Myth”/“The Beat Says, This Is the Way”

It’s back! The Get Down is back! Sure, we had to wait for the length of one human reproductive cycle for that to happen, but boy, it’s worth it; episodes seven and eight of season one* are stellar, and let me tell you in advance that they generally get better from here (if a bit messier). The best … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, 1.03 & 1.04, “Darkness is Your Candle”/“Forget Safety, Be Notorious”

It’s a genuine relief that The Get Down knows when to take its foot off the pedal. The show’s pilot, as you may have gathered from my review, is an amusement park ride, a full-throttle blast through introductions to its character, its era, and its place. That’s not the kind of pace that you want to … Continue reading →

TV Review: The Get Down, 1.01 & 1.02, “Where There Is Ruin, There Is Hope for a Treasure”/”Seek Those Who Fan Your Flames”

Everyone went nuts over Stranger Things, and now nobody is going nuts over The Get Down. I guess that makes sense to me, even if I happen to like The Get Down more. Stranger Things speaks to anybody who grew up in the 80’s or grew up on 80’s pop culture. The Get Down speaks to anybody who loves the … Continue reading →