‘Cruel Summer’ is sudsy and satisfying
First episode impressions (TV review): Bert V. Royal has crafted an engrossing mix of questions, accusations and interpersonal drama.
Family Drama
‘Cruel Summer’ is sudsy and satisfying
‘Dark Skies’ (2013) makes aliens scary again
Frightening Friday (Movie review): This Keri Russell starrer isn’t wildly original. But it’s a fun, grimmer answer to films like “E.T.”
Allen shows serious side in ‘Interiors’ (1978)
Woody Wednesday (Movie review): After a decade of comedies and romances, Woody Allen gets introspective in this somber character study.
Great actresses carry ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 2 (2019)
Throwback Thursday (TV review): Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep take turns being stellar.
Allen stand-ins steal ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’ (1986)
Woody Wednesday (Movie review): The title characters are great, but what’s even better is that we get two Allen-esque characters.
Hughes’ ‘Baby’s Day Out’ (1994) crazily mixes tones
Hughes Day Tuesday (Movie review): Granted, this movie is fundamentally ridiculous. But amid Hughes’ second decade of films, you could do a lot worse.
‘Dennis the Menace’ (1993) watchable, ‘Flubber’ (1997) awful
Hughes Day Tuesday (Movie reviews): These supposed family films are two exhibits in the case against the second decade of Hughes’ filmmaking career.
Evan Rachel Wood’s ‘Kajillionaire’ is (way) offbeat
Movie review: Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez stand out in Miranda July’s appealingly strange film that’s like a dark “Napoleon Dynamite.”
Dogs have their day in ‘Beethoven’ (1992), ‘101 Dalmatians’ (1996)
Hughes Day Tuesday (Movie reviews): A lot of Hughes’ later films are for the dogs. That said, you’re not barking up the wrong tree if you expect laughs here.
‘Cobra Kai’ Season 3 balances fan service, sharp writing
TV review: More than any other show that resurrects an old property, “Cobra Kai” knows how to give fans what they want and still make smart TV.