Nostalgia for New York’s most decrepit years is a dangerous drug in film and tv. It emboldens creators, convincing them any half-assed idea they’ve got lying around can be brilliant if they drop it into a setting full of garbage fires, addicts and porno theatres. A simple look back at recent heavily hyped failures like Vinyl […]
Silicon Valley Would Be a Lot Better if it Stopped Giving White Male Mediocrity So Many Passes
For all its early promise, Mike Judge’s HBO comedy Silicon Valley has struggled to find its footing in any meaningful way. The past three seasons of the show have more or less featured the same arc, with the perpetually overwhelmed start-up Pied Piper shooting themselves in the foot every time they approach some form of success, […]
The Young Pope is an Eerily Prescient Vision of 2017
Near the end of the first episode of The Young Pope, Jude Law’s Pope Pius XIII tersely informs his Macchiavellian advisor Voiello (Silvio Orlando) that his actual priorities are not his homily or meetings with the college of cardinals but improving the Vatican Radio broadcast and getting a full catalog of the gifts sent to the […]
Violent Delights: Westworld’s Finale and the Cycle of Abuse
Warning: this essay has spoilers for Westworld throughout Throughout its first season, Westworld reveled in the cyclical nature of storytelling (whether it did this effectively is up for debate), from the connections between the parallel timelines that split its narrative to meta elements like the literal loops the hosts are on and the “maze” some of the […]
Westworld is Unsettling in its Lack of Self-Awareness
Have you ever noticed that the most advanced sexual pleasure technology is designed for women yet the bulk of sci-fi featuring any kind of “pleasure bot” centers around men’s pleasure? Taking that further, have you noticed that the best sex tech for women usually doesn’t look much like a penis (or any body part for […]
RIGBY…Silicon Valley Needs to Update Its Gender Representation
For three years now I’ve been tuning in to Silicon Valley, enjoying its mix of clever writing and deft characterization. It’s not a perfect comedy by any means, but Silicon Valley is without a doubt one of Mike Judge’s better works and a welcome successor to the likes of King of the Hill. But for three years, I’ve also […]
Vinyl Might as Well Be Goodfellas: The Musical
Like a lot of my generation, I was hooked on Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous the instant I encountered it. I might have been a teenage punk but Almost Famous‘ romanticism was hard to resist as a kid who grew up with music obsessed parents, the film as much a testament to the little people whose love […]
Cannibals, Midwesterners, and Talking Horses: The Best TV of 2015
TV in 2015 was wonderfully weird and eclectic, with basic cable taking up more of the critical conversation and Netflix continuing its ascent as a major player. Our favorite shows this year ran the gamut, from pop superheroics on the CW to the finales of long running faves like Mad Men to new entries from emerging […]
The Leisure Class is a Slog of a Film
The Leisure Class is many things, but never once a coherent or good film. Jason Mann’s HBO feature is a tonal and narrative mess, one that does a disservice to talented pieces to produce a cringe-worthy whole. It is a shining example that no matter how strong a cast and crew are, without a solid script, […]
Ballin’ on Ballers: From the Window…
We asked resident Entourage apologists Rafael Gaitan and Mark Stack to team up and discuss each week of the spiritual Entourage sequel Ballers. After taking a bye after the previous installment of Ballin’ on Ballers hack shocking cliffhanger, Mark Raffalo returns to tackle the penultimate and final episodes of the show’s first season as disappointment hangs in the air. Raf: […]