Pilot + 1

SHOWBUZZDAILY Pilot + 1 Review: “Limitless”

Posted September 29, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  LIMITLESS:  Tuesday 10PM on CBS Previously… on LIMITLESS:  Office temp Brian Finch (Jake McDorman) got his hands on a drug called NZT, which made him an unmatched genius for 12 hours, allowing him to use every cell of his brain to outlearn, out-calculate, and out-strategize anyone.  Unfortunately, NZT also leads to painful side effects.  […]

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Film Festival

Toronto Film Festival 2024 Review: “Babygirl”

Posted September 21, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  BABYGIRL (A24 – Dec. 25):  We’ve reached the point where Nicole Kidman’s work ethic has become something of a running gag.  In the past 5 years alone, she’s appeared in an incredible eight feature films and seven TV series, with three more series on tap for 2025 (so far).  Truth be told, it can feel […]

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Film Festival

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Zone Of Interest,” “Expats” & “Finestkind”

Posted September 14, 2023 by Mitch Salem

  THE ZONE OF INTEREST (A24 – TBD):  Jonathan Glazer has only directed 4 feature films in his 23-year career (the most recent was Under the Skin a decade ago).  His latest, The Zone of Interest, is a work of formal brilliance, although unlikely to be to the taste of mainstream audiences.  So rigorous and painstaking in its […]

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Reviews

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Californication”

Posted April 7, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  In its sixth season, Showtime’s CALIFORNICATION barely tried to achieve forward motion.  Every year, occasional novelist and full-time satyr Hank Moody (David Duchovny) toys with reform (which barely lasts an episode), and amidst his always-busy substance abuse and sexual exploits, he pines for his lost love and ex-wife Karen (Natascha McElhone), the (mostly) level-headed […]

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Reviews

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Finale Review: “Madam Secretary”

Posted December 9, 2019 by Mitch Salem

  MADAM SECRETARY quietly had one of the most interesting paths of recent broadcast network dramas.  Airing of all places on CBS, it was a frankly political series that began its run in 2014 and ended 5 years later, bridging two entirely different eras of real-life US politics.  The show’s own center-left policies on social […]

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Reviews

THE SKED Season Premiere Review: “The Walking Dead”

Posted October 13, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  THE WALKING DEAD:  Sunday 9PM on AMC Devouring its showrunners much as zombie walkers do unwary or unlucky humans, THE WALKING DEAD returned tonight under the helm of its third leader, Scott M. Gimple, who’s been a writer/producer on the show since Season 2.  Based on the Season 4 premiere, which Gimple wrote, his […]

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Pilot + 1

THE SKED Pilot + 1 Review: “Fargo”

Posted April 23, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  FARGO:  Tuesday 10PM on FX – DVR Alert Previously… on FARGO:  It’s chance that puts mild-mannered, beaten-down Bemidji, Minnesota insurance salesman Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) beside sociopath Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) shortly after Lester had a run-in with the bully who made his high school years a living hell.  But when asked directly […]

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Film Festival

ShowbuzzDaily Sundance 2022 Reviews: “892” & “After Yang”

Posted January 24, 2022 by Mitch Salem

  892 (no distrib):  John Boyega’s turbo-charged performance fuels this true story.  In 2017, when Brian Brown-Easley (Boyega) entered a Wells Fargo branch in a suburb of Atlanta and informed the teller that his backpack contained a bomb, he wasn’t trying to hold up the bank.  Rather, it was his desperate attempt to get enough […]

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