Film Festival

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ TORONTO: “Great Expectations”

Posted September 13, 2012 by Mitch Salem

At this point in movie history, it’s beside the point to ask why we even need a new film version of GREAT EXPECTATIONS when David Lean’s 1946 masterpiece still exists.  (And for those who want a different slant on the story, there’s Alfonso Cuaron’s 1998 modern-day revamp.)  The industry feeds itself on a diet of […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review; “Friends With Better Lives”

Posted April 16, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES:  Monday 8:30PM on CBS Previously… on FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES:  A half-dozen 30-ish friends hang out.  OB-GYN Bobby (Kevin Connolly) and Andi (Majandra Delfino) are married, and she’s expecting their second child; Jules (Brooklyn Decker) and Australian health-food restauranteur Lowell (Rick Donald) are newly engaged; Will (James Van Der Beek), […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Murder In the First”

Posted August 25, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  In its second season, Stephen Bochco and Eric Lodal’s MURDER IN THE FIRST altered its format, only to find new ways to fail.  Season 1 had told a single convoluted story, a murder mystery loaded with so many red herrings and reversals that by the time it ended, it was impossible to care who […]

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Pilot Reports

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Broadchurch”

Posted August 7, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  BROADCHURCH:  Wednesday 10PM on BBCAmerica – Potential DVR Alert BROADCHURCH suffers a bit, through no fault of its own, from murder fatigue.  Since The Killing, we’ve seen quite a few of these extended mysteries, tracing a single crime (usually against a child or other innocent) throughout a season, from The Bridge to Top of […]

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Articles

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “The Three Stooges”

Posted April 14, 2012 by Mitch Salem

  THE THREE STOOGES:  Watch It At Home – More Nyuks Than You’d Expect   The Farrelly Brothers’ THE THREE STOOGES is better than its marketing campaign let on, and while that would be more impressive if the trailer and ad materials hadn’t been almost unwatchably bad, it still makes for a welcome relief.  The […]

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Film Festival

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Inspection” & “Emily”

Posted September 11, 2022 by Mitch Salem

  THE INSPECTION (A24 – November 14):  Back in 1983, Robert Altman directed the film version of David Rabe’s play Streamers, about a Vietnam-era boot camp that turned even more violent and vicious with the catalyst of one recruit’s closeted homosexuality.  Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection tells a similar story for the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” […]

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Articles

SHOWBUZZDAILY NY THEATRE JOURNAL: “Other Desert Cities”

Posted February 19, 2012 by Mitch Salem

> Buzz has it that Jon Robin Baitz’s play OTHER DESERT CITIES is one of the frontrunners for this year’s Best Play Tony Award, and it’s easy to see why. (Let’s leave aside the fact that so few new plays open on Broadway these days, whatever manages to stay open for more than a couple […]

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Pilot Reports

THE SKED PILOT REVIEW: “Dallas”

Posted June 14, 2012 by Mitch Salem

  DALLAS – Wednesday 9PM on TNT:  If Nothing Else Is On…   DALLAS is a gusher, all right.  TNT’s disinterment of the 1980s blockbuster soap is loaded with so many emptily portentous glares and melodramatic reaction shots that it might almost be a telenovela. In 1978, the year the original Dallas went on the […]

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