Posts Tagged ‘satire’
 

 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Parks & Recreation”

  PARKS & RECREATION:  Thursday 9:30PM on NBC WHERE WE WERE:  Celebrating the election of Leslie Knope to the Pawnee, Indiana City Council.  But a little concerned that her new post, and the new job in Washington DC...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED REVIEW: SNL Weekend Update Thursday

  The political comics of America owe a heartfelt “thank you” to Mitt Romney for his “47%” bungle that became public this week.  (So do the Democrats, but that’s another story.)  Jon Stewart...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Sundance Film Festival Reviews: “Official Secrets” & “Greener Grass”

  OFFICIAL SECRETS (IFC):  Film festivals have a way of creating unintended double features when thematically similar films are seen in close proximity, and it’s hard to watch Gavin Hood’s Official Secrets wit...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON PREMIERE REVIEW: “Weeds”

  WEEDS:  Sunday 10PM on Showtime   WHERE WE WERE:  After a season largely concerned with a battle for supremacy in the New York drug trade, both within and outside the family, there seemed to be a moment of compara...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Good Girls”

  It was clear from the pilot of NBC’s GOOD GIRLS that the series had a trio of strong assets and some major challenges.  The strengths were its three stars, Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman, each of them ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “American Fiction,” “The Critic” & “Mother, Couch”

  AMERICAN FICTION (Orion/MGM/Amazon – Nov. 17):  The Toronto People’s Choice Award has been something of a golden ticket to a Best Picture nomination over the years, and this year the prize went to Cord Jeff...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival 2024 Reviews: “The Substance” & “Nutcrackers”

THE SUBSTANCE (MUBI – Sept. 20):  It’s quite a feat to take the body horror crown at a film festival that also features a contribution from David Cronenberg, but Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance uses its revo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED Season Finale Review: “Getting On”

  HBO’s GETTING ON was generally close to unwatchable, and that’s meant as sort of a compliment.  Even in the world of pay-TV, where ratings aren’t always at the forefront of a network’s expectatio...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SERIES FINALE REVIEW: “Weeds”

  A suburbanite with money troubles gets into the drug business, gradually becoming corrupt, paranoid and power-hungry, increasingly alienated from family and former life… Not to take anything away from Breaking Bad,...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Film Review: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”

  ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES:  Watch It At Home – Fun But Overextended Silliness ANCHORMAN 2:  THE LEGEND CONTINUES runs 119 minutes, which is rather too much of a not-bad thing (the original Anchorman, in 2...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “House Of Lies”

> After a full season, it’s still not clear just what HOUSE OF LIES is. The season finale, written and directed by series creator Matthew Carnahan, centered on what became the show’s main storyline in the latter par...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “The Campaign”

  THE CAMPAIGN:  Not At Any Price – Abstain THE CAMPAIGN, like many a politician before it, tries to be all things to all people, and winds up delivering almost nothing. There was reason to be hopeful about The Camp...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED PILOT REPORT: ABC’s “Suburgatory” – PREMIERING TONIGHT

> 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 sh...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SEASON FINALE REVIEW: “Californication”

> CALIFORNICATION lost a step this season, which is what often happens when a series of limited scope reaches Year 5.  Unlike other Showtime series like Weeds and Dexter, Californication has never had the appetite for seas...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Sundance 2023 Reviews: “Eileen,” “Shortcomings” & “Landscape With Invisible Hand”

  EILEEN:  A dark tale of liberation, based on the novel by Ottessa Moshlegh (and adapted by Moshlegh with Luke Goebel).  Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) is an anonymous employee at a boys’ prison in a confining, wintry...
by Mitch Salem