‘Scream’ (1996) makes slasher horror cool again
The ‘Scream’ saga (Movie review): This Craven-Williamson joint doesn’t invent slashers or pop-culture references, but it makes them cool again.
Mystery
‘Scream’ (1996) makes slasher horror cool again
‘Unbelievable’ takes advantage of binge format to tell a gripping, personal story of a landmark serial rape case (TV review)
When TV scholars look back years from now at trends in storytelling structure, I suspect “Unbelievable” (Netflix) will be seen as a pivotal show. The approach of releasing whole seasons at once was pioneered by […]
First episode impressions: ‘Emergence’ (TV review)
The pilot episode of “Emergence” (Tuesdays, ABC) is a crisply crafted hour of TV that would set the stage for an excellent series in an alternate universe where there weren’t already dozens of recent series […]
First episode impressions: ‘Prodigal Son’ (TV review)
“Prodigal Son” (Mondays, Fox) does a lot of things right, but they are the same things a lot of other shows have done right. This serial killer procedural/ongoing mystery mix makes nice use of lived-in, […]
‘Veronica Mars’ becomes great character piece in Season 4
TV review: Hulu brings back “Veronica Mars” for eight episodes that ramp up the threat level.
‘True Detective’ Season 1 (2014) an elite short-form mystery
Throwback Thursday (TV review): “True Detective” stands as the decade’s elite example of the short-form sleuth series.
A second opinion: ‘Us’ is a boring piece of beautiful arthouse horror (Movie review)
Writer-director Jordan Peele’s “Us” reminds me of Alex Garland’s “Annihilation” (2018). Both are followups to a breakthrough piece of chilling sci-fi/horror that I and everybody else loved – “Get Out” (2017) in Peele’s case and […]
First episode impressions: ‘Big Little Lies’ Season 2 (TV review)
If the first episode is any indication, “Big Little Lies’ ” second season (9 p.m. Eastern Sundays on HBO) lacks the zest of the first but has so much momentum in the wake of the […]
‘Slasher’ Season 3 cracks code on slasher TV narrative
TV review: The present-day narrative of “Slasher: Solstice” is tense and tight. But the show is also peppered with flashbacks where we learn about motives.
Mamet makes a reader work in crime novel ‘Chicago’ (2018)
Mamet Monday (Book review): Mamet makes a reader work, but it’s worth the effort in this 1920s crime novel.