TV Reviews
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Is Quacktastic: Review
The Pitch: “You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” as Harvey Dent said all those years ago. Well, the Mighty Ducks were never going to die, and they’ve since flipped the coin. Now, they’re the powerhouse team in the Twin Cities region, no different than Coach Reilly’s Hawks back in the early ’90s, and they’re in it to win it. That’s bad news for young Evan (Brady Noon), who’s cut from the Ducks for not being good enough. Seeing her son defeated and humiliated, Evan’s mother Alex (Lauren Graham) rallies around the kid to form a new team of underducks. Though, as we learned through three Mighty Ducks flicks, it takes more than skates and speeches to start flying together. Cobra Quack: It was only a matter of time before we’d see another franchise follo...
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Stumbles Slightly on Takeoff: Review
The Pitch: In the wake of the blip and the events of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), has settled into a modest life of crimefighting with his signature wingsuit. Why isn’t he the new Captain America?, eagle-eyed Endgame viewers might be asking; after all, Old Cap handed him the signature star-spangled shield the last time we saw him. Well, Sam feels uncomfortable with the weight and responsibility of the title — it feels “like someone else’s.” Meanwhile, former Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is wrestling with his own post-terrorist trauma, struggling to reintegrate into society after ninety years of cryogenically-frozen evildoing. But the two might get drawn back into each other’s orbits with the arrival of a mysterious flash mob...
FX’s Hip Hop Uncovered Is a Powerful Watch: Review
The Pitch: Far too often, the history of hip-hop is condensed to make its origins more palatable for younger fans. Black folks in New York — downtrodden by systems that perpetuated poverty, racism, and police brutality — pioneered a form of creative expression meant to give a platform to their pain. However, FX’s Hip Hop Uncovered explores the genre’s complexity. More importantly, it analyzes rap music in a sociopolitical context. From slavery to the destruction of Black Wall Street to the war on drugs to the Black Lives Matter movement, Hip Hop Uncovered reminds viewers of the brutal American history that has always worked to violate and abuse Black people. It also demystifies some of rap’s most prominent figures who were pivotal in the careers of artists like Nipsey Hussle, Nicki Minaj, ...
Clarice Shifts the Gaze of The Silence of the Lambs: Review
The Pitch: FBI Agent Clarice Starling returns to the screen 30 years after Jodie Foster’s Oscar-winning performance in Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. The new psychological drama from CBS joins the titular FBI agent a year after she caught and killed notorious serial killer Buffalo Bill. As the title suggests, this iteration of Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter series is centered firmly on the titular agent as she struggles with PTSD and the burden that comes with being a hero. Rebecca Breeds steps into the famous cheap shoes and West Virginia accent to make the role her own, delivering a nuanced performance that feels simultaneously familiar and fresh. Set in the post-Waco ’90s, Clarice is an examination of misogyny in the workplace and the tightrope women must walk to avoid being...
SNL Top Highlights: Dan Levy Charms In Hosting Debut
Since kicking off Season 46 last fall, Saturday Night Live has been running closer to business-as-usual than almost any other late-night show during the pandemic. Still, if you look closely, there are differences: Their audience size has been reduced, which has often made studio reactions more muted; the schedule has featured more episodes in a row and yet longer breaks in between; and the host bookings feel less tethered to the usual promotional cycles of big movies, TV show premieres, and awards season. Case in point: 10 months after Schitt’s Creek ended, four months after the show’s historic Emmys sweep, and two months after his co-starring role in Hulu’s Happiest Season, Dan Levy took a victory lap this week with his first Saturday Night Live hosting gig. In other words, he wasn’t real...
Cobra Kai Season 3 Brings The Karate Kid Sequels Back Into the Dojo: Review
It’s a Cruel Winter: Dark clouds have descended upon the rolling hills of Encino, California. Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña) remains in a coma following Season 2’s climactic battle at West Valley High. Robby Lawrence (Tanner Buchanan) is on the lam, tortured by his betrayal of Miyagi-Do’s code. And Samantha La Russo (Mary Mouser) is suffering PTSD after being sent to the hospital at the hands of Tory (Peyton List). Meanwhile, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is back in the bottle, stumbling into Reseda sports bars as quickly as he’s being tossed out of ’em. Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is losing favor across town and his community, which spells trouble for the future of his dealership. And John Kreese (Martin Kove) is planning his next move at the titular Cobra Kai dojo, where he’s cru...
The Stand Reboot Is Christmas for Stephen King’s Most Constant Readers: Review
The Pitch: Based on Stephen King’s 1978 novel, The Stand is an apocalyptic epic that sees 99.4% of the world’s population decimated by a lethal strain of government-stamped influenza. What humanity remains is spiritually drawn into a climactic battle of good and evil. On one end is Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg) and her ragtag team of survivors out in the Rockies. On the other is Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard), a Canadian tuxedoed force who has amassed a devoted following nearby in Sin City. Place your bets. Danse Macabre: To say the road to this reboot has been long is an understatement. Prior to landing at CBS All Access, the project had been in development hell since the latter half of Obama’s first term. This is back when Warner Bros. initially envisioned it as a theatrical even...
Hulu’s Animaniacs Returns Prettier, Glossier, and Shinier: Review
The Pitch: Twenty-two years after their last escape from the Warner Brothers water tower on the Burbank studio lot, Yakko, Wakko and Dot are back for more slapstick comedy, more hijinks, more political commentary, more pop culture dissections, and more absurdity. Also returning to the fold is executive producer Steven… Please click the link below to read the full article. Hulu’s Animaniacs Returns Prettier, Glossier, and Shinier: Review Ryan Larson You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
The Crown Season 4 Belongs to Princess Diana: Review
The Pitch: November 15th marks the return of Peter Morgan’s opulent biopic about British royalty and its current sovereign, Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman). The new season picks up with the IRA assassination of Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance) and spans Margaret Thatcher’s (Gillian Anderson) 11-year tenure as Prime Minister. Season 4 also prominently features the long-awaited appearance of Diana, Princess of Wales (Emma Corrin), and explores the majority of her troubled marriage to Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor), having finally reached an era that many of us remember from personal experience, rather than history books or documentaries But this season does not rest on its exciting historical events, shaping the narrative to present its most pointed examination of the monarchy as an institut...
Moonbase 8 Is a Charming But Weightless Astronaut Comedy: Review
The Pitch: NASA’s astronauts are the best of the best, lifelong professionals who dedicate their intellect and resolve to boldly going where no man has gone before. Before they can do that, though, they have to go through extensive training in the Arizona desert, simulating life on the moon in all its isolation and resource scarcity. For Cap (John C. Reilly), Rook (Tim Heidecker), and Skip (Fred Armisen), it’s a responsibility they take with the utmost seriousness; unfortunately, they might not be the best people for the job. The Wrong Stuff: Space-themed comedies are all the rage this year, between HBO’s droll Avenue 5 and Netflix’s execrable Space Force. Moonbase 8 sits somewhere between these two on the scale, funnier than the latter and less incisive than the f...
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions Lose Luster Without Live Element: Review
It’s been a strange year for the music industry. Case in point: we’re finally watching the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions in November, it’s all being done remotely by tape, and there are no musical performances. Nothing about this is normal, of course, and fans will surely miss the who’s who of rock royalty that can usually be seen rubbing shoulders at the ceremony, not to mention the opportunity to see our heroes climb on stage together — sometimes for the first time in years — to accept hardware and even take a stab at performing our favorite songs. Obviously, the raging COVID-19 pandemic made a normal induction ceremony impossible, and those who produced or took part in Saturday’s telecast deserve credit for finding a way to safely honor the best of the music industry. <i...
The Mandalorian Season 2 Returns with Easter Eggs and Familiar Western Riffs: Review
The Pitch: When we last left Mando (Pedro Pascal), he’d just been tasked with a holy Mandalorian mission to track down Baby Yoda The Child’s species and return him to them — a mighty feat given that no one’s ever seen anything like him. Still, even though he’s left the bounty hunting life behind (for now), his quest will still take him to the farthest corners of the galaxy, righting wrongs along the way. While Season 2 will surely have more answers to the show’s broader, arc-based questions, the series premiere, “The Marshal”, kicks off Disney+’s hit with a no-frills space Western of the classic mold. Seeking a Mandalorian rumored to be on Tatooine (the identity of whom any self-respecting Star Wars fan can piece together), Mando heads to a remote mining settlement on the desert plane...
