> BEST FRIENDS FOREVER:  Premieres Wednesday 8:30PM on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… NBC isn’t exactly swinging for the multigender fences with BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, the newest entry into the deathtrap known as the network’s Wednesday night schedule.  The term “chick show” is rightly viewed as perjorative, but it’s hard to avoid when […]

On Homevideo and VOD:  Still Not Worth Seeing. James L Brooks is legendarily responsible for some of the great comedies and comedy-dramas of his generation, with a record that stretches from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” to “The Simpsons” on TV, and Terms of Endearmentto Broadcast News in film. Recently, though, he’s stumbled as a […]

    FRIGHT NIGHT – Watch It At Home:  At Least Farrell Had Fun   The new remake of Tom Holland’s 1985 FRIGHT NIGHT has a great set of credentials.  Craig Gillespie, the director, was behind the well-regarded indie Lars and the Real Girl, and has since been house director of United States of Tara […]

YOUNG ADULT: Worth A Ticket – Theron + Oswalt = The Real Thing   Charlize Theron plays the hell out of her character Mavis Gary in the new YOUNG ADULT.  Theron has had a curious Hollywood career, with the usual big-budget flops (remember Aeon Flux?) mixed with a clearly wholehearted commitment to difficult, independent projects […]

  PROJECT X:  Not Even For Free – Don’t RSVP   How is it that no one has yet produced a 3D found-footage movie?  You’d think the combination of the most (usually) mind-numbing gimmicks of the past decade would be a commercially sure bet, but so far it’s an untapped market. Meanwhile we have PROJECT […]

THAT’S MY BOY:  Not Even For Free – Low-Rent Even For Sandler   THAT’S MY BOY is 116 minutes long.  I mention that up front because, for those of us who consider time spent watching Adam Sandler movies to be akin to a prison term, there’s a constitutional right of due process to let you […]

  COVERT AFFAIRS:  Tuesday 10PM on USA   WHERE WE WERE:  At the CIA, where Annie Walker (Piper Perabo), the young, beautiful languages expert who supposedly works for the Smithsonian, is actually an agent.  (She met a guy on the beach while on vacation… it’s not worth getting into.)  Specifically, Annie works in the Domestic […]

  THE NEW NORMAL: Tuesday 9:30PM starting September 11 on NBC -If Nothing Else Is On… Disclaimer: Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall. Pilots are often reedited and re-scored, and in some cases even recast or reshot. These critiques shouldn’t be taken as full […]