The animated comedy “Hazbin Hotel” has a feel-good backstory belied by its grim premise: a horde of demons suffer eternal damnation in Hell, their ranks periodically culled in mass exterminations led by armies from Heaven. Creator Vivienne Medrano, founder of YouTube channel VivziePop, independently produced the pilot with money from her Patreon, and posted it to the streaming site in …
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“You can spend all the time in the world in here,” a chef tells his eager protegé as they work in a temple of haute cuisine. “But if you don’t spend enough time out there…” There’s no need for him to finish the sentence. The mentor’s meaning is clear enough: To achieve greatness, you need to expand your horizons. This …
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Crime dramas have been a staple on television for decades, and in classic series like “The Wire,” along with more recent shows like “The Cleaning Lady” and “Peaky Blinders,” criminality has an undeniable allure. The Courtney A. Kemp-created” Power” was a massive hit with a six-season run on Starz, introducing iconic characters, including the menacing Kanan Stark (Curtis “50 Cent” …
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For fans of a specific period of Black cinema, Peacock’s “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” is an epic, end-of-an-era conclusion on par with “Avengers: Endgame.” The specific period spans from roughly 1990 to 2000, when the Black romantic comedy grew into its power. The confluence of two successful movements — Black romantic fiction and Black indie cinema — birthed …
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How impressive is Ken Burns as a documentarian? Think of it like this: In the 1980s, the Brooklyn-born filmmaker earned Oscar nominations for making compelling docs on the history of a pair of inanimate objects. Granted, “Brooklyn Bridge” and “The Statue of Liberty” were films on America’s strength and exceptionalism as much as they were on the landmarks themselves, but …
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Amazon’s Prime Video has quickly become the go-to spot for R-rated animated shows, such as “Invincible” and “The Legend of Vox Machina” — and “The Boys Presents: Diabolical,” a spinoff of the mature superhero parody series “The Boys,” is a welcome addition to that bloody, irreverent family. “Diabolical” is an animated anthology series with a heroic cast of A-list voice …
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The reboot of NBC’s “Night Court” feels like it came out of nowhere, but as sitcom resurrections go, it’s kind of irresistible. The original show, which ran for nine seasons, was the brainchild of Reinhold Weege, a spark plug of a television writer who earned three Emmys for the show. He had previously won an Emmy for his work on …
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In 2020, the Academy Award for Documentary Feature went to “American Factory,” a portrait of a former General Motors plant taken over by Fuyao, a Chinese company that lowered safety standards and pay while fiercely resisting unionization. The Oscar was a victory not just for filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, but for the company that acquired “American Factory” as …
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From “Halloween” to “The Prince of Darkness,” after nearly five decades in the industry, legendary director John Carpenter has earned his title as a master of the horror genre. With his terrifying jump cuts and ominous musical scores, Carpenter has always had the ability to thread a sense of terror and foreboding throughout his films, making them viscerally frightening. Now, …
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Late in his newest special “Baby J,” John Mulaney spins a yarn about a desperate quest for cocaine. In the summer of 2020, the comedian bought a brand-new Rolex, then pawned it at a steep discount to get some hands on some quick cash. “As you process and digest how obnoxious, wasteful, and unlikeable that story is,” Mulaney concludes, “Just …
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