When I first saw previews for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, I audibly groaned to myself. Musicals don’t exactly have a storied history on television. After Buffy, the Vampire Slayer popularized the concept of the musical episode with its legitimately good effort, it seemed every show tried to do one of their own. They had varying results, but all were basically subpar. Imagine my surprise that Zoey is not just good, but at times extraordinary. Jane Levy (Suburgatory) stars at the titular Zoey, who after a freak accident can suddenly hear people’s innermost feelings expressed through musical numbers. Yes, full dancing and…
Author: Justin
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Director Andrew Ahn’s Driveways feels like the perfect film for our times. It’s a treatise on the basic decency of humans arriving when perhaps we’re most out of touch with our humanity physically and spiritually. If that sounds like high praise for such a small film, well, it’s well earned. It tells the story of mom Kathy (Hong Chau) and son Cody (Lucas Jaye) as they arrive to clean out Kathy’s sister’s house after her death. Across the driveway is neighbor Del (Brian Dennehy), a widowed veteran who doesn’t speak much. My guess is you can already guess where this…
The new She-Ra is a very, very good show. It’s not just good for girls, or children in general, but it’s one of the better fantasy shows to air on television in recent years. It’s smart for sure, but what sets it apart is the compassion and focus on character. So many modern shows claim to focus on character while really being about the character through plot. She-Ra has the guts to let the story grind to a halt to simply let the characters breathe. That’s the kind of modern hero we need. The fourth season left our characters splintered…
By this point you likely already know whether the comedy of Kimmy Schmidt tickles your funny bone or not, so you’re mostly wondering about this film’s big gimmick—choosing your own path. Yes, Kimmy Schmidt is finally delivering upon the promise of 90s interactive movies with a “choose your own adventure” story that they’re very careful never to call by that name, lest they be sued by the books’ publisher. The setup here isn’t all that important, but Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) discovers the titular Reverend (Jon Hamm) may have more women locked up in bunkers just like he did with her…
Much has been made in recent years about comedy getting too safe and how the Mel Brooks satires such as Blazing Saddles couldn’t be made in today’s politically correct society. So, what are we to make of a film like Jojo Rabbit? Is it safe to make a film where a young German boy has Hitler as an imaginary friend? And yet, Jojo Rabbit feels entirely appropriate for our time. As noted, Jojo Rabbit tells the story of young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) and his mom Rosie (Scarlett Johansson). Jojo is as devout a Nazi as any young boy can…
Of all the love stories, perhaps the young love one is the most difficult to fully capture. Inherently, it is almost always told by someone much older. From the writer to the director to the actors, the people recounting young love are very rarely, well, young. Somewhere in those years the discovery, awkwardness, passion, and fear often get lost and what we really get is an adult romance set in a high school. The Half of It is that rare teen romance that captures so much of those lost elements. It tells the story of Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), an…
The buzziest show of coronavirus outbreak has been Tiger King on Netflix. Perhaps it’s fitting everyone is stuck at home surrounded by death outside watching a show about people stuck in a zoo surrounded by potential death at the jaws of tigers. But really, people just want to watch some wacky characters. Tiger King is about the big cat breeding and zoo industry, but it’s really the Joe Exotic show. Joe is a gay man will a mullet living in rural Oklahoma and taking care of over 100 big cats (lions, tigers, and bears—oh my) as part of his zoo.…
How do you revive characters we haven’t seen in nearly twenty years, from a show that itself is over thirty years old? By bringing back our central hero and setting him off on an entirely new quest. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is back, but this time without the safety and crew of the USS Enterprise. But is a new Picard what fans really want? We find Picard living at his vineyard back on earth, having traded in adventure for the mundane. Soon, however, a strange young woman comes in search of him and sets and him and a new crew off…
I sat down to write something about the need to take care of one another during this mess. April Fool’s felt like the appropriate time for me of all people to pen something somber and serious. Only, as I got to writing, it progressively got too somber—too disheartening. Writers sometimes have to be careful what words they unleash upon the world, because truly it’s out of our control once we do. So, I’m going to pull back from quoting Jung and talking about the seriousness of this moment in time. I think the seriousness is self-evident for all by now—even…
I must admit, knowing nothing about this film going in had me hoping it was a sequel to the 1984 Jeff Bridges film Starman. It is not. Still, it is about an unusual visitor who comes into the life of someone forever changing it. The titular Stargirl might not be from outer space, but then again maybe she is? In Stargirl our hero Leo (Graham Verchere) is leading a fairly forgettable life, or at least that’s what the film tells us. Leo has friends, is in band, helps produce a talk show at his high school, and has a loving…