Posts Tagged ‘family’
 

 

Sundance Film Festival Reviews 2025: “Hal & Harper”

  HAL & HARPER (no network):  Cooper Raiff launched his career as an actor-writer-director with Shithouse, which won the Narrative Grand Jury Award at SXSW.  He parlayed that into Cha Cha Real Smooth, which was less...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Sundance Film Festival Reviews 2025: “The Ballad of Wallis Island” & “Jimpa”

  THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND (Focus/Universal – March 28):  A low-key British charmer.  A decade ago, Herb (Tom Basden) had a successful run as part of a folk duo with Nell (Carey Mulligan), which ended when they ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

PREMIERING TONIGHT: THE SKED Pilot Review NBC’s “Welcome To the Family”

  WELCOME TO THE FAMILY:  Thursday 8:30PM on NBC – Change the Channel NBC continues is retro approach to fall comedy with WELCOME TO THE FAMILY. Even more than Sean Saves the World and The Michael J. Fox Show, Fami...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY FILM REVIEW: “The Way, Way Back”

  THE WAY, WAY BACK:  Watch It At Home – Modestly Engaging Coming-Of-Age Tale THE WAY, WAY BACK is one of the last real indie hopes for a original breakout hit this summer (it was a big buy out of Sundance, a $10M p...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY MOVIE REVIEW: “After Earth”

  AFTER EARTH:  Not Even For Free – The Smith Family In Outer Space In AFTER EARTH, Will Smith plays Cypher Raige, an emotionally austere father who withholds affection from his son because of his doubt that the boy...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Shameless”

  In the post-Homeland era of Showtime, SHAMELESS, the network’s Parenthood on crack, has been pushed even farther to the background–and to be sure, the two shows aren’t comparable in terms of seriousness...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Shameless”

  SHAMELESS:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime SHAMELESS often feels like the raging id of its showrunner and (US) creator, pillar of the Hollywood establishment John Wells.  Wells is the man behind ER, the senior producer who gui...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Parental Guidance”

  PARENTAL GUIDANCE – Not At Any Price – Stupefying “Family” Sitcom Too Little For the Big Screen This is said with all due respect to a pair of performers who have entertained millions for decades,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “The Guilt Trip”

  THE GUILT TRIP:  Watch It At Home – Maybe If the Ride Were Bumpier, It Would Be More Interesting The odd thing about THE GUILT TRIP is that it doesn’t especially cater either to fans of Barbra Streisand (w...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Silver Linings Playbook”

  SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK:  Don’t Get Sold Out – A Rom-Com With Dance Moves All Its Own Anyone who doubts that Jennifer Lawrence is a real-thing, big-time movie star should get thee hence to a theater showing ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Boss”

  Few television series have worked so hard to be unlikeable as BOSS.  There had been some thought, after its initial off-putting season, that when Starz replaced series creator Farhad Safinia with Dee Johnson as showrunn...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “Frankenweenie”

  FRANKENWEENIE:  Watch It At Home – Tim Burton Tries To Bring His Old Creation Back to Life Tim Burton certainly can’t have planned it this way, but his new stop-motion feature version of FRANKENWEENIE serves...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

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

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have ha...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Raising Hope”

  RAISING HOPE:  Tuesday 8PM on FOX WHERE WE WERE:  The town of Natesville, where the Chance clan–Jimmy (Lucas Neff), mom Virginia (Martha Plimpton), dad Burt (Garret Dillahunt) and ancient Maw-Maw (Cloris Leachman...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED’S PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Ben and Kate”

A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audience focus groups weigh in, networks and studios (which may have ha...
by Mitch Salem