“I know I come across as quite confident,” says newswoman Philomena Cunk, “but sometimes when I’m talking to experts, I worry that, you know, I might come across as quite stupid.” This is easily the most self-aware moment for Cunk throughout the five-episode British mockumentary series Cunk on Earth, which …
Read More »'Knock at the Cabin' Begs the Question: Is M. Night Shyamalan Doing OK?
Dear M. Night Shyamalan: Are you doing ok? We completely sympathize if you’re not. Look, the last seven or so years have not been easy for anyone, and no one would blame the Oscar-nominated filmmaker if, like so many of us, his faith in humanity has taken a few massive …
Read More »'Fight the Power' Misses How Mainstream Rappers Became the Power
At the outset of PBS’ docuseries Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World, Chuck D asserts, “[In 2020], the Black Lives Matter protests wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for hip-hop.” It’s a lofty statement, as anti-establishment organizing and revolt have existed since Black people were brought to America. …
Read More »Netflix's Interracial-Dating Romcom 'You People' Is Trying Way Too Hard
There’s an alternate timeline where You People, the feature directorial debut of Kenya Barris (black-ish), is the next great romantic comedy. There’s another version where it’s a biting satire that delves into the strain parents can inflict on their grown children. There’s an even more distant option, where it’s a …
Read More »'Teen Wolf: The Movie' Is Its Own Worst Enemy
“We’ve heard plenty of stories about teenage werewolves. There’s always a new one.” It’s an ending quip made by Dr. Conrad Fenris (John Posey), an expert on lycanthropy and the on-again, off-again director of Eichen House, a supernatural prison/insane asylum set in the mysterious Southern California town of Beacon Hills …
Read More »Hulu's 'The 1619 Project' Is the American History the GOP Wants Us to Forget
In the first episode of Hulu’s new docuseries The 1619 Project, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones strolls in her Air Jordans down a picturesque path in Williamsburg, Virginia. With the help of Woody Holton, a Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, Hannah-Jones explores how slaves in Virginia …
Read More »The Sex in 'Passages' Is as Raw and Passionate as Its Emotions
“I had sex with a woman last night,” says Tomas (Franz Rogowski) to his partner, Martin (Ben Whishaw). “Can I tell you about it?” This is a place they’ve been before. Martin says that it happens whenever Tomas, a filmmaker, finishes a movie. And this is fine. It is what …
Read More »'Eileen' Is Anne Hathaway's Sexiest Turn in Years
She’s captivating. It’s the first thing you notice about Anne Hathaway’s character Dr. Rebecca Saint John, one of the elusive anchors of Eileen, an adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 novel. You notice it because the movie makes you notice. Dr. Saint John wafting in, tall, poised, cigarette to her lips. …
Read More »'Poker Face' Is a Star-Studded, Highly-Addictive Case-of-the-Week Series
Once upon a time, most of television was like Poker Face, the new Peacock drama created by Glass Onion’s Rian Johnson and starring Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne. It is a purely episodic, case-of-the-week show. Each episode sets up its own specific story, which Lyonne’s Charlie Cale finds a way to …
Read More »'Fair Play': Sundance's Dirty, Sexy $20 Million Hit That Seduced Netflix
You can call Fair Play a lot of things: a finance-industy psychodrama about paying the cost to be the boss, a treatise on power dynamics in relationships, the surprise hit out of Sundance’s first weekend and the film festival’s first big-ticket sales item. (How Netflix plans on recouping its $20 …
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