Barry: Season 2 Hits The Mark

HBO’s dark comedy, Barry, is able to hit the mark during the sophomore season and the series capably avoids the sophomore slump. I’ve only seen the first three episodes of the season season.  While I can’t speak to the rest of the second season, co-creators Alec Berg and Bill Hader have upped the ante on the second season.  When we last left our anti-hero, he was in some sort of a personal crisis.  Not just any…

"Barry: Season 2 Hits The Mark"

The Sentence: A Riveting Documentary

If The Sentence doesn’t have you in tears at some point, please check your tear ducts. Rudy Valdez developed a love for film because of his sister, Cindy Shank.  His older sister had wanted to be a filmmaker at one point in her life and she passed along this love to her brother.  Six years after the death of Cindy’s ex-boyfriend, Alex, she is sent to jail because of “the girlfriend problem.”  It has something…

"The Sentence: A Riveting Documentary"

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

It was a sad day when we lost legendary comedian Robin Williams but a new HBO documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, tells his story in his own words. Williams got his start during the 1970s comedy scene in Los Angeles.  This led to various television appearances in the 1970s.  None of those appearances were more notable than the time that he made his first appearance as Mork on Happy Days.  The two-episode appearance…

"Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind"

Succession: The Dramatic Arrested Development

The best thing that one can say about the new HBO drama, Succession, is that it is the dramatic version of Arrested Development.  After that, it gets tricky. The series follows around the family of Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the CEO of Waystar Royco.  As the series starts, it’s assumed that Logan Roy would be retiring from the company.  After all, he’s 80 years old and can’t keep doing the job forever.  He’s married to his…

"Succession: The Dramatic Arrested Development"

John McCain: For Whom The Bells Toll

The longtime Arizona Senator and military hero, Senator John McCain, is celebrated in the HBO documentary, John McCain: For Whom The Bells Toll. I hesitate to use the word celebrated but given the senator’s cancer diagnosis, it’s a better term to use than “profile.”  Family, friends, and colleagues share their thoughts on McCain’s life and work habits in his bittersweet documentary.  In airing the documentary while he’s still alive, it gives the senator an opportunity…

"John McCain: For Whom The Bells Toll"

The Tale: Laura Dern Deserves All The Awards

While The Tale is a film that certainly would benefit from a theatrical release, it’s best viewed at home because of all the screaming at the screen.  This is, in part, due to the events that transpire on screen during the 1970s. The question at hand while viewing the film, which runs shy of two hours, is whether or not it qualifies as a Me, Too film.  Writer/director Jennifer Fox, a documentary filmmaker, uses a…

"The Tale: Laura Dern Deserves All The Awards"

Fahrenheit 451: A Trump Era Adaptation

Fahrenheit 451 depicts a bleak future in which one can only hope will never come to fruition.  It also feels as if it’s very much made for 2017. This is only the second-ever feature-length adaptation of the classic novel written by Ray Bradbury.  In his novel, Bradbury presented a future where firemen start fires by burning books rather fighting fires.  Moreover, nobody seems to give a regard for either facts or history.  As for the…

"Fahrenheit 451: A Trump Era Adaptation"

Sundance 2018: The Price of Everything

An official Sundance selection, The Price of Everything is a documentary that goes into the art world and examines what art is worth, be it for the collector or the artist. The film is a fascinating documentary, directed by Nathaniel Kahn, and explores a world in which one may only hear  about in the news in passing but outside of the die-hard art collectors, that’s just about it.  Art collecting is a different world in…

"Sundance 2018: The Price of Everything"

Spielberg: HBO Documentary celebrates Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg’s life and career is celebrated in Spielberg, a new documentary from HBO. From award-winning director Susan Lacy, Spielberg’s life is documented in 2.5 hours and that amount of time alone isn’t enough to cover everything in Spielberg’s career.  Many films are allotted to just a glimpse in a montage that covers Spielberg’s filmmaking career and even then, there are a number of Spielberg films that manage to get left out. “I avoided therapy…

"Spielberg: HBO Documentary celebrates Steven Spielberg"

Freedom Fighters: The Ray set in Alternate Universe where the Nazis won

The upcoming CW Seed series, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, is set on Earth X, an alternate Universe in which the Nazis won during World War 2. From the creators of #Arrow and #TheFlash, Freedom Fighters: #TheRay premieres this fall on CW Seed! pic.twitter.com/6ckrpTxfOh — CW Seed (@cwseed) July 23, 2017 The trailer premiered yesterday at Comic Con in San Diego.  The news of it set in an alternate universe comes on the heels of outrage…

"Freedom Fighters: The Ray set in Alternate Universe where the Nazis won"