For as much money and effort as she spends pretending that White Lotus hotels are the luxurious safe havens she so craves, Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) nonetheless sees them for what they truly are. “What a beautiful view!” she coos at the cliffside Sicilian seascape greeting her upon arrival. Then, in practically the same breath: “I wonder if anyone’s jumped from …
Read More »‘Echo’ Disney Plus Review: Another Marvel Misfire
Typically, the narratives comprising our origin story begin long before birth, often stretching back generations and centuries, linking us with ancestors we will never know and places we might never visit. For Maya Lopez, aka Echo (Alaqua Cox), the deadly former leader of Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) Tracksuit Mafia gang, her rise started well in advance of her introduction in …
Read More »‘The Crown’ Season 6 Part 2 Review: Netflix Drama Ends in Anticlimax
There are two vacuums at the heart of the final installment of “The Crown,” which concludes this week with six episodes to round out its last season. The first is the death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), whose final weeks, tragic car accident and funeral took up the entirety of the season’s first part, released last month. The second is …
Read More »‘The Buccaneers’ Review: A Fun, Enticing 19th Century Culture Clash
For centuries, shame has been used to keep women in subservient roles. The threat of embarrassment and ostracization has kept women from all cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds silent and complacent. Of course, even within their roles navigating “polite society” or as laborers and caregivers in the working class, women have always found ways to rebel against the rules that have …
Read More »2021 Tonys Awards Show Review: Broadway is Back
The Tonys deserve to win multiple Emmys next year. A night married with celebration, inclusivity and in what can only be described as the realization that Jesus Christ returned to save us all in the form of Jennifer Holliday — it was a sensational awards ceremony that may have offered all the critical clues to constructing a new age of …
Read More »‘Obliterated’ Review: Netflix Satire Is No Fun At All
Projects like “Arrested Development,” “The Office” and even “The Hangover” film trilogy have prompted writers to infuse hysterical beats with satire as a way to examine the state of 21st-century American society. These shows and films comment on everything from race and sexuality to work and class. “Cobra Kai” creators Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg and Josh Heald put a satirical …
Read More »Will Smith Leads Star-Studded ‘Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop’
As the 50th anniversary of hip-hop comes to a close, the Recording Academy has one last trick up its sleeve to honor the pillars of the culture. The Academy joins forces with CBS for “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” an aural spectacular that’s as much an ode to the culture as it is a documentation of it. …
Read More »‘Glamorous’ Review: Kim Cattrall Shines In Netflix Series
Every generation gets the aspirational workplace it deserves. In 2006, “The Devil Wears Prada” helped establish the archetype of an imperious, intimidating woman who rules her chic urban office with an iron fist; with its obvious Anna Wintour analog, the book-turned-film also doubled as a bookend to the era of the print magazine editor’s omnipotence. Eight years later, Sophia Amoruso …
Read More »‘Lessons in Chemistry’ Review: Brie Larson Boosts Adaptation
In the decade since her breakout in “Short Term 12” and the seven years since she won an Oscar for “Room,” Brie Larson has become a kind of cautionary tale for how little Hollywood has to offer its rising stars. After achieving the industry’s highest honor, Larson has largely cycled between blockbuster franchises (“Captain Marvel,” “Fast X”) and car commercials …
Read More »‘The Winter King’ Review: King Arthur Drama Falls Flat
The MGM+ series “The Winter King,” adapted from a trilogy of novels by English author Bernard Cornwell, derives much of its plot from Arthurian myth. But in practice, the drama acts more like earthbound historical fiction than fairy tale or fantasy. This Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker) doesn’t pull a sword from a stone in the five episodes provided in …
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