Author Archive
 

 

THE BIJOU RETROSPECTIVE: “Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix”

> The magically moving portraits are pulled off the walls of Hogwarts in 2007’s HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, and the colors have started draining from the Potter universe.  Gone are the lush visuals of ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED: 1st Pre-Look At NBC’s New Fall Comedies – UPDATED

> DISCLAIMER: These initial impressions are based on the clips (usually 3-5 minutes) released by the networks to use in their Upfront presentations and for promos.  They’re chosen to sell the show, not to accurately ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Review: “Saturday Night Live” with Matthew McConaughey

  Matthew McConaughey, one of the rare SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE hosts with nothing to promote, stood out even more in an installment that featured prominent plugs for musical guest Adele and the new Star Wars movie.  Although ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED NIELSENWAR CHRONICLES – Thursday

  There was a time, not that many years ago, when Thursday was the night that network television was all about.  Fueled by the enormous amounts movie studios spend to promote their openings the next day, the night was stu...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “The Deuce”

  David Simon is unquestionably a pivotal figure in the history of contemporary TV, yet he’s never been associated with a mainstream hit.  From Homicide: Life On The Street to The Wire to Treme to Show Me A Hero, hi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE BIJOU @ TIFF: Midnight Madness – “Sleepless Night”

> When the inevitable US remake of the French thriller SLEEPLESS NIGHT arrives, it’ll benefit from some sharper dialogue (assuming the subtitles in Toronto were fully translating the original), a bit more characterization...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 7.9.2023

  OPENINGS:  INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR (Screen Gems/Sony) reaffirmed the strength of the low-budget horror genre with a $32.7M start, better than the $29.6M launch of 2018’s The Last Key (which didn’t feature th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Death of Stalin,” “I, Tonya” & “Kodachrome”

  KODACHROME (no distrib):  AKA that page of the indie movie playbook marked “Dysfunctional Family Road Trip To Redemption.”  Jonathan Tropper (This Is Where I Leave You) wrote the script, and it has his nove...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Low Down”

  No one can accuse LOW DOWN of attempting to glamorize the true story it tells.  Jeff Preiss’s first film as a director is a slow, grim dirge set in an underbelly of the jazz world in 1970s Los Angeles, and it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “The Fosters”

  THE FOSTERS:  Monday 9PM on ABCFamily Previously… on THE FOSTERS:  San Diego cop Stef (Teri Polo) and charter school assistant principal Lena (Sherri Saum) are a gay couple raising a blended family:  Stef’...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the Friday Box Office – 7/18/14

  Even though it’s just mid-July, Guardians of the Galaxy is the only likely blockbuster opening left this summer.  Barring some surprises, the seasonal picture is ugly. OPENINGS:  THE PURGE: ANARCHY (Universal) t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Unsolved”

  UNSOLVED: THE MURDERS OF TUPAC & THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. – Tuesday 10PM on USA – Potential DVR Alert The progeny of The People vs. OJ Simpson continue to arrive.  This season we’ve had the (so far) en...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Game of Thrones”

  GAME OF THRONES:  Sunday 9PM on HBO There’s intrigue behind the cameras as well as in front of them on GAME OF THRONES these days.  Series creators/showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have let it be known th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “Elementary”

  ELEMENTARY:  Thursday 10PM on CBS For those of us mildly obsessed with BBC’s superlative Sherlock, it may have been unwise for CBS’s ELEMENTARY (which all concerned agree is not, legally, a knock-off) to bri...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Homeland” Earns Showtime’s Allegiance

  On the heels of last night’s jaw-dropping episode of HOMELAND, which basically played 52 pick-up with the show’s very premise, Showtime has issued an early Season 3 renewal for what is now its flagship series...
by Mitch Salem