Six years after its finale, “Breaking Bad,” the drama about a soft-spoken chemistry teacher turned corrupt meth-cooking crime lord, is still recognized as one of the greatest television shows to grace the small screen. Yet what made the AMC hit special was its conclusion, which strung together the show’s loose-ends in an emotionally satisfying and climactic hour.
James Gray’s “Ad Astra” puts Brad Pitt in space, with a pleasant and dichotomously different character portrayal than his role in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” It’s the most satisfying space-themed film I’ve seen since “Interstellar,” but it’s not without its flaws. Roy McBride (Pitt) is told that his long-lost astronaut father may still…
Warning: spoilers ahead. Thursday night. I’m tucked in the back of theater, wrapped in a fleece jacket, my eyes glued to the screen as Arthur Fleck chases a man down the pristine white halls of Arkham Hospital, leaving a bloody trail of footprints along the immaculate floor. Suddenly, the words “The End” appeared. For a…
You need to see “Parasite” in theaters. Flinch as much as you’d like, but do not look away.
When Netflix recently released it on its platform (the first time the show could be legitimately accessed online in years), it was all my various video game and sci-fi geek websites could talk about. “Why you HAVE to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion,” “Why Neon Genesis Evangelion is the Greatest Anime of All Time” and similar stellar headlines graced my Google News feed. I’d already known the show’s reputation as one of the first anime to gain a following in the US. And the premise? A show about giant robots (“Evas”) in far-future Tokyo that fight bizarre monsters (“Angels”) rooted in Jewish mythology? I couldn’t help it. I had to see it for myself.
Director Elia Kazan was not equivocal when asked about the meaning of his film “On the Waterfront.” Kazan had been a left-wing activist in his youth, and, in April 1952, he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, or HUAC.
“The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” turns down the darkness while elevating the artistry: it is a work of incredible beauty, far beyond the boundaries of the original film, “The Lord of the Rings” to Henson’s “Hobbit” It’s Netflix’s most ambitious, and arguably most successful, project to date, ten hours of limitless wonder in one of the most well-developed worlds since “Star Wars.”
Netflix recently dropped two of its subscribers’ favorite shows, “Friends” and “The Office,” adding to the leeway other streaming services have had in rising to fame and getting more subscribers based on the content and prices they place on their service.
