The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
December 13, 2011
Young Adults Report Card
The Diablo Cody penned, Jason Reitman directed, and Charlize Theron illuminated film Young Adult opened in limited release last week. If you haven’t seen trailers or reviews yet the movie is a dark somewhat-romantic comedy, and its conceit is a story that follows the typical Hollywood rom-com beats with the twist that the main character […]
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After the Suicide: Understanding The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
It’s hard to be a person who enjoys reality television. Not only do you have to struggle with the stigma of being the kind of piggy media-vacuum that sucks up big tumbleweeds of TV-watching every day, but you must at some point acknowledge your involvement in creating celebrities out of people who are (or — […]
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December 12, 2011
Luck: The Weirdest, Oldest and Most Downright Interesting Hour of TV We Watched This Weekend
Movies are no country for old men. Or old anything, really: women, dogs, even Spider-Men. And so one of the instant pleasures of Luck, HBO’s new prestige drama that premieres in January but sneak-previewed last night, was watching hungry lions like Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte shake off the indignity of paycheck sequels and tabloid […]
Read moreViral Video of the Day: “Boardwalk Empire State of Mind”
Grantland friend Erik Weiner — he of the cameo-rap classic One Line on the Sopranos — straight does it again, this time riffing on his small part (and quick death) in Boardwalk Empire. After last night’s fairly amazing season finale, this is as good as it’s going to get for BW fans for a while.
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Brooklyn Rappers, Memory Loss, and WMDs: Which TV Procedurals Are Worth Your Time This Week?
A Murder Forecast breakdown.
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Oscarmetrics: Critics’ Awards Upend the Best Picture Race
What a frenetically busy weekend it was in the handing out of shinies and sparklies and mantel-trinkets to chronically underappreciated movie people, who at other times of the year often have to survive for weeks without winning anything. Critics’ groups in Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco announced their honorees, as did online critics in […]
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Boardwalk Empire Recap: Death on the Jersey Shore
A jalopy pulls up at a Klan meeting with two masked men. Richard and Jimmy, recognizable by Jimmy’s distinctive teen-dream bang-tendrils and Richard’s hat, hop out and start firing. They take prisoners for crimes committed against Chalky White’s gang. In Philadelphia, Manny The Butcher is hiding in a synagogue, laying forth on crime and punishment. […]
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Homeland Recap: A Show Makes the Leap
Chekhov’s famous rule, adapted to the age of terrorism, might read something like this: “if a bomb is introduced in the first act, make sure it detonates by the last.” No, the ball-bearing-laden death vest created by the ardently tinkering tailor didn’t go off — at least not yet. But last night’s brilliant Homeland did […]
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