TV & Movie

The MGM+ series “The Winter King,” adapted from a trilogy of novels by English author Bernard Cornwell, derives much of its plot from Arthurian myth. But in practice, the drama acts more like earthbound historical fiction than fairy tale or fantasy. This Arthur Pendragon (Iain De Caestecker) doesn’t pull a sword from a stone in the five episodes provided in …

The story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who hid in a cramped attic with her family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam, is widely known, and amid the atrocities of the Holocaust, Anne’s diary presents a story of resilience and unrealized dreams. Nat Geo’s new limited series “A Small Light” isn’t Anne’s story, though the precocious teen’s legacy is …

It was only a matter of time before broadcast TV — where police procedurals reign supreme — took a harder pivot into exploring the lives of firefighters. With audiences either craving more cop content or deeply skeptical of its lionization, it makes sense that networks might be more into the idea of spotlighting firefighters, who tend to point hoses at …

The success of “Fleabag” loosed a glut of shows about young women tottering – heels broken, mascara smeared – in the vague direction of adult responsibility. Few have been as purely enjoyable as “Everything I Know About Love,” Dolly Alderton’s adaptation of her own memoir, which debuts on Peacock this week after winning plaudits on the BBC in midsummer. With …

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, …