“The Walking Dead” ended last year to little fanfare, tempered as the finale was by news of at least three additional series on the horizon (in addition to the three already in existence). At first glance, it’s difficult to comprehend what additional zombie stories could possibly remain to be told. But for those who haven’t yet succumbed to zombie-apocalypse fatigue, …
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Only Murders in the Building Season 3 Review: Meryl Streep Stands Out
Meryl Streep has taken on some transformative roles in her time, but in the third season of “Only Murders in the Building,” the star takes on her biggest stretch yet. In her return to serialized TV, Streep plays Loretta, an actress without a scrap of Streep’s acclaim or success. It’s a part that pushes her limits as a performer, and …
Read More »‘All the Light We Cannot See’ Review: Netflix Adaptation Falls Flat
“All the Light We Cannot See” is not, in the strictest sense, a comfort watch. Like the Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthony Doerr novel on which it’s based, the four-episode limited series takes place in a walled city under siege by a bombing campaign, its trapped civilians unable to evacuate — hardly a relaxing break from today’s headlines. But the Netflix show is, …
Read More »‘The Morning Show’ Season 3 Review: Jon Hamm Joins the Chaos
It’s difficult to top the heights and/or depths of “The Morning Show” Season 2, a borderline camp masterpiece in which Elle Woods sucked face with Alicia Florrick and a disgraced Matt Lauer type drove his car off an Italian bluff. But the Apple TV+ drama is obligated to try, so for its latest premiere, it goes where no fictional daytime …
Read More »‘Kennedy Center Honors’ Review: U2, George Clooney, Amy Grant Saluted
Broadcast television is enough of a no-man’s-land right around the holidays that some old-school celebrate-the-arts programming manages to sneak in, offering the sight of very classy people in their tuxes for the benefit of those of us who haven’t gotten out of our pajamas in a couple of days. On the heels of last week’s excellent pre-Christmas Paul Simon tribute …
Read More »‘History of the World Part II’ Review: Mel Brooks’ Sequel is Mixed
It took 42 years, but Mel Brooks is finally making good on a parody of a promise he never seemed likely to keep: Bringing “History of the World, Part II” to audiences far and wide. The filmmaker addresses that elephant in the room within the opening minutes of the new, eight-part Hulu series, admitting that he agreed to the project …
Read More »‘High Desert’ Review: Patricia Arquette Stars in Apple Comedy
Patricia Arquette likes to go big. In 2018’s “Escape at Dannemora,” she donned copious prosthetics to play a prison employee who assists in an escape. In “The Act” the following year, she played an eerily doting mother with Munchausen by proxy. And in “Severance,” she’s an unhinged boss who lives a double life, surveilling her employees on and off the …
Read More »The Santa Clauses Review: Tim Allen Returns in Bloated Disney+ Series
For several Christmas seasons in my childhood, “The Santa Clause” reigned supreme. The 1994 Tim Allen movie about magic, divorce and accepting the realities of both was such a go-to that soon enough, my vision of the North Pole became one and the same with this one, with its snarky elves and legendary hot chocolate I would happily push Santa …
Read More »Tiny Beautiful Things Review: Kathryn Hahn as Cheryl Strayed on Hulu
Kathryn Hahn has a type. Since starring in Joey Soloway’s “Afternoon Delight” in 2013, the actor has spent a decade delivering nuanced portrayals of messy, horny, hilarious women who bluster their way through middle age. It is a miracle of modern television that Hahn’s hyper-specific specialty has supported three separate series: “I Love Dick,” also helmed by Soloway; “Mrs. Fletcher”; …
Read More »‘Special Ops: Lioness’ Review: Taylor Sheridan Makes Military Propaganda
The women in Taylor Sheridan projects tend to be lone wolves. They also tend to fit into specific, narrow archetypes: the vulnerable naif (Kate Macer in “Sicario”; Jane Banner in “Wind River”); the ferocious badass (Beth Dutton in “Yellowstone”; Hannah Faber in “Those Who Wish Me Dead”); the steely matriarch (Beth’s ancestors Margaret and Cara, who anchor the “Yellowstone” prequel …
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