TV & Movie

‘Little Demon’ Review: Danny DeVito and Aubrey Plaza in Animated FXX Comedy

‘Little Demon’ Review: Danny DeVito and Aubrey Plaza in Animated FXX Comedy

To get the easy joke out of the way quickly, FXX’s upcoming adult animated series “Little Demon” gives new meaning to the phrase “the ex from Hell.” In fact, “Little Demon” is a very to-the-point title, as the series revolves around the aftermath of 13-year-old Chrissy (voiced by Lucy DeVito) — an otherwise unremarkable seventh-grade girl, with no friends other …

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‘The Crown’ Season 6 Part 1 Review: The Weeks Before Diana Car Crash

'The Crown' Season 6 Part 1 Review: The Weeks Before Diana Car Crash

It is the beginning of the end, as “The Crown” creator Peter Morgan brings his massive reimagining of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign to a close. After a stilted fifth season, which lacked the focus and majesty of its predecessors, Season 6 opens in Paris amid the glittering lights of the Eiffel Tower and the gut-wrenching sounds of a crash. It …

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Oscars Review: Academy Awards Producers Lose Success in Format Changes

Oscars Review: Academy Awards Producers Lose Success in Format Changes

After strutting into the Oscars framed by a pointedly cinematic aspect ratio, the Los Angeles sunlight streaming in through Union Station’s windows, opening presenter Regina King took the stage of the most unusual ceremony in recent memory and promptly tripped on her gown. Steadying herself with a broad smile, the consummate professional shrugged and laughed, “live TV, folks!” Despite the …

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‘Neon’ Review: Netflix Show Captures Harsh Realities Of Music Industry

'Neon' Review: Netflix Show Captures Harsh Realities Of Music Industry

Youth bolsters a certain amount of invincibility. For young people, there’s almost an embedded assurance that their dreams are bound to come true. Netflix’s latest series “Neon,” created by Shea Serrano and Max Searle, follows a trio of best friends in their early 20s who leave their hometown of Ft. Myers, Florida, for Miami’s lush beaches and glitzy nightlife, determined …

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‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ Review: Taylor Sheridan Western Has an Old Soul

'Lawmen: Bass Reeves' Review: Taylor Sheridan Western Has an Old Soul

“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” bears many of the trademarks of executive producer Taylor Sheridan, who now counts the anthology drama among his sprawling (and still growing) stable of shows for the streaming service Paramount+. The hour-long series is a big-budget Western with an overqualified cast — a rough synopsis that also applies to Sheridan touchstones like “1883” and “1923,” both star-studded prequels …

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‘True Lies’ Review: Generic Spy Thriller No Intrigue, No Lies

‘True Lies’ Review: Generic Spy Thriller No Intrigue, No Lies

When James Cameron’s “True Lies” hit theaters in 1994, the story of a muscly spy (Arnold Schwarzenegger) moonlighting as a computer salesman while his bored wife (Jamie Lee Curtis) found secretive ways to pursue purpose was fun, fresh and provocative. Fast-forward nearly 30 years, and many of the film’s tropes and stereotypes just don’t hold up. So when it came …

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‘The Other Black Girl’ TV Review: A Brilliant Hulu Adaptation

‘The Other Black Girl’ TV Review: A Brilliant Hulu Adaptation

Literary legend Toni Morrison once called racism a distraction. “It keeps you from doing your work,” she said during a 1975 speech. “It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” Black people must contend with everything from blatant acts of racist terrorism to small microaggressions that filter into our everyday lives. Instead of existing, you find yourself …

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Colin From Accounts: TV Review

Colin From Accounts: TV Review

Where the theatrical romcom seems to be undergoing a moment of crisis – struggling to honor the patented formulas of yore while meeting the demands of the modern multiplex crowd – TV looks to have adapted more rapidly and skilfully to the recent remapping of gender relations and personal boundaries. One creative response has been to engineer intentionally cringier, Larry …

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‘Slow Horses’ Season 3 Review: Brilliantly Dysfunctional and Grim

‘Slow Horses' Season 3 Review: Brilliantly Dysfunctional and Grim

Jobs can suck. (Not this one! Everyone is very nice, and there is free Cherry Coke Zero with movie theater ice on the fifth floor.) If you’re past 25, you’ve probably had one that left you feeling like a three-legged whippet abandoned at the pound. Maybe everything was grand, and then there was a regime change, and the new boss …

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‘Survival of the Thickest’ Review: New Netflix Comedy Is Too Short

'Survival of the Thickest' Review: New Netflix Comedy Is Too Short

It’s a great irony of the streaming age that many platforms built their audience on the backs of sitcoms with vast, bingeable catalogs — only to produce abbreviated, compressed sitcoms of their own. Classics like “Friends,” “The Office” and “Seinfeld” have served as a bridge between a previous era of television and the current one, offering lessons in what can …

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