The Holy Grail, a character in “Mrs. Davis” observes, might be the “most overused MacGuffin ever.” From “Monty Python” to “Indiana Jones,” the mythical chalice is an easy shorthand for a magical object that motivates heroes and antagonists alike. Sister Simone (Betty Gilpin), a nun who spends her days mak- ing strawberry jam at an abbey outside Reno, is the …

Baz Luhrmann’s work has always been infused with an air of grandeur. An homage to his homeland, his 2008 film “Australia” is no different. Set just before the outbreak of World War II, the movie is a sweeping epic, comprising adventure, romance and war. It also attempts to address the country’s notorious race laws, which have affected the Aboriginal populations …

On the afternoon of June 13, 1997, a fire caused by an improperly maintained transformer broke out in Delhi’s Uphaar Cinema, quietly fumigating an auditorium packed for a first-day screening of flagwaving blockbuster “Border” with carbon monoxide before plunging the room into darkness. Those scrambling for the exits found multiple code violations standing between them and survival; the balcony doors …

Adapting a beloved book series into a television show that doesn’t lose the author’s carefully crafted nuance is a tough job. Doing so while expanding upon that world and elevating the original work is an even more challenging task. Yet “Three Pines” does both with aplomb. “Three Pines” is based on Louise Penny’s award-winning mystery novels, which feature an array …

Earlier this year, the creative and commercial success of “The Last of Us” all but guaranteed video games would be television’s next great font of IP. Yet there are reasons video game adaptations have historically been troubled, and why “The Last of Us” was uniquely suited to become not just a show, but a prestige drama on HBO. In protagonists …

The 2023-24 fall television season has launched, and amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the broadcasters’ lineups are anything but typical. In an average year, network writers’ rooms usually open in late spring, enabling shows to go into production by midsummer for a late September launch. This schedule allows enough episodes to be completed leading up to the holidays. However, …

If “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” was Amazon’s attempt to supply its streaming service Prime Video with a homegrown version of “Game of Thrones,” the new spy series “Citadel” is its attempt at a “Squid Game,” “Money Heist” or “Love Is Blind”: a show with the global appeal to match the reach of its platform, and …

Is knowledge power, or is ignorance bliss? That central question drives Apple TV+’s “The Big Door Prize” through its first 10 episodes — although if you’re expecting a concrete answer, you may be disappointed. When the half-hour(ish) comedy debuts its first three episodes on March 29, it presents the residents of a small American town called Deerfield grappling with that …

Viewers won’t go wrong watching the two-hour entirety of “Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon” tonight on CBS. But if you have only about a 10-minute stretch to spare for televised non-holiday music in the days leading up to Christmas, maybe make it the closing act of this special — especially the generational handoff number …

In January 2021, the Jared Padalecki-starring and executive-produced “Walker, Texas Ranger” reboot (simply titled “Walker”) premiered as a new hit for The CW. Perhaps not quite infiltrating pop culture the same way as “Riverdale” had, still, it found success as a family and crime drama. The show was soon renewed for a second season, and is about to start its …