Even though nothing particularly thrilling happened on this seventh season of ARMY WIVES, it was a crucial season for Lifetime’s veteran drama.  The show completed the reboot it had begun in Season 6, and assuming an 8th stanza on the way–which seems fairly likely–the only original Army Wife from the show that debuted in […]

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques shouldn’t be taken as full reviews, but rather as a guide to the general style and content of the […]

  JACKIE (Fox Searchlight – December 9):  The most impressive film of the festival thus far is director Pablo Larrain’s jewel-like examination of the realities and artifices behind our perceptions of history, viewed through the prism of Jackie Kennedy, who is played by Natalie Portman in a performance that goes beyond (brilliant) impersonation to deliver […]

  DOMINION:  Thursday 9PM on Syfy Previously… on DOMINION:  Following on the events of the movie Legion, in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, an enclave of surviving humans are protected by the Archangel Michael (Tom Wisdom) from the evil angels, led by his brother Gabriel (Carl Beukes), who killed most of mankind–which they believe they did […]

  CARRIE:  Watch It At Home – Respectable But Uninspired Rebo The talented director Kimberley Peirce plays a losing game with her remake of Brian DePalma’s iconic 1976 CARRIE.  (In fairness to Peirce, it’s not clear how many of the creative shots she was calling; she signed on as a director-for-hire after struggling for years […]

  TRANCE:  Watch It At Home – Tricky But Unsatisfying Thriller From Danny Boyle TRANCE is both extremely clever and remarkably stupid.  I wish I could explain exactly how, but Danny Boyle’s thriller, written by John Hodge and Joe Ahearne, has the kind of story that piles reversals on twists on reveals, so there’s not […]

> A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and production of episodes for the regular season:  a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have had their own turnover in the off-season) give plenty of notes, both helpful and otherwise, and […]

THE WATCH:  Not At Any Price – Do the Stars a Favor:  Don’t Watch Some terrible movies surprise and disappoint, but you could see THE WATCH coming for weeks.  The increasingly desperate marketing campaign told the story–it’s a buddy comedy!  it’s a sci-fi comedy!  it’s a buddy comedy and a sci-fi comedy!–as did the panicky […]