Devs, the first series to hit new “FX on Hulu” rebrand of the FX network*, is a very mixed bag. After watching the first two episodes of the series, I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. If you’re a fan of Alex Garland’s other work (Ex Machina and Annihilation), I suspect you’ll be […]
TV
Star Trek: Picard – Nepenthe Review
I’ll admit “Nepenthe” was the one episode of Star Trek: Picard that I was the most wary of watching this season, largely because I feared it would just turn into one giant nostalgia bomb – stalling out the plot and making me wish for things (characters, plotlines, more nostalgia) that the series is never going […]
No Kidding? LEGO Masters is Fun (Spoiler-Free Review)
I’m not a fan of cat videos on the Internet. I don’t like when people re-watch TV series (no matter how good they are) instead of watching new TV (because they should be reading books after all). I don’t understand how people can spend hours on Instagram or Pinterest. So the mere idea that grown […]
Dispatches from Elsewhere (Spoiler-Free) Review
On a warm September day several years ago, I was blindfolded in the lobby of a Chicago theatre and sent off on a quest through the Loop with just a cell phone and a series of videos. I spent the next couple of hours interacting with actors and being pushed out of my comfort zone. […]
Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season Two (Spoiler-Free) Review
I have never watched a single Formula 1 race. In truth, I’ve never watched any auto racing at all. It’s just not how I would choose to spend my time. Which makes it all the more surprising that I absolutely loved the Netflix documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. I burned through the first […]
Star Trek: Picard – The Impossible Box
After last week’s weighty (but fun) outing, Star Trek: Picard decided it was time to finally start pushing it’s relatively thin narrative forward at warp speed with the plot-packed “The Impossible Box.” After spending half the season talking about saving Soji and the extreme difficulty such a rescue attempt would present, that was shockingly simple, […]
Responsible Child Review
Responsible Child was a TV movie for BBC Two about how the legal system treats children accused of serious crimes. Ray (Billy Barratt) is a 12-year-old boy who is accused of a violent murder. The film looks at the run-up to the crime, what drove Ray to do it, and the legal proceed afterwards. In recent […]
Survivor 40 Episode 2: Measure for Measure (Warning-Spoilers)
We all know Survivor is about taking the measured risk, so it is only fitting to see what risk players would be willing to take now that Amber and Natalie are on the “Edge of Extinction.” But surprisingly, the risks are few as the tribes take measured steps to readjust alliances and not over-react early […]
Star Trek: Picard – Stardust City Rag
A sentence I never thought I would write: I want to see a Seven of Nine spin-off series ASAP, CBS All Access. Holy hell, was that great hour of television. This is the kind of episode I was expecting when Star Trek: Discovery launched: dark, moralistically murky, but still fun. It’s what I hoped to […]
Survivor 40 Episode 1: A Token for Your Thoughts (Warning–Spoilers)
Early on in the first episode of Survivor 40: Winners at War, host Jeff Probst turned to one of the beloved returnees, Amber, and asked her what it was like to be back 20 years after she was first on the show. He reminded her, “Last time you were on this show the iPhone didn’t […]