Ryan Murphy’s productions tend to be a little, well, melodramatic. That’s fair to say. They don’t merely dip their toes into dramatics; they practically relish in extremism. And when you deal with the eternal overblown anguish shared between two of…
‘Feud: Bette and Joan’ Review: “Pilot”
Often charitably, my friends tell me that I hold an encyclopedic knowledge on film. But I have to make a confession: I know very little about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis’ “legendary” behind-the-scenes rivalry during What Ever Happened to Baby…
Album Review: Dirty Projectors — “Dirty Projectors”
Perhaps more so than usual, especially of late, I walk away from Dirty Projectors’ latest, self-titled album Dirty Projectors of two different, maddeningly inconsistent minds. The first album to come from the band in five years, it’s both a self-pitying,…
Movie Review: The Comedian
Robert De Niro’s relationship with comedy is… well, pretty turbulent. In the right hands, he’s absolutely brilliant. In the wrong hands, the two-time Oscar winner finds his name in front of Showtime, Analyze That, Shark Tale and Little Fockers. And that’s…
In Celebration of Carrie Fisher, The Writer, As Seen Through The Princess Diarist
A little over a month ago, in a galaxy not very far, far away, we lost Carrie Fisher. Please note: I said Carrie Fisher, not Princess Leia. The Alderaan royalty will live long, and though she’s in a different popular ongoing…
Movie Review: Monster Trucks
One has to admire the sheer audacity behind Paramount’s injudicious Monster Trucks. Conceived by a studio executive’s four-year-old son (no joke), it’s a buddy sci-fi action-comedy where a guileless-yet-stubborn-and-moody small-town loner teen/car aficionado named Tripp, played by a fully-grown 26-year-old Lucas…
Album Review: “Run the Jewels 3” By Run the Jewels
In 2013, Killer Mike and El-P formed Run the Jewels, the exhilarating hip-hop duo that gave both third-decade music veterans the widespread media love and voluptuous public adoration they both deserved decades prior. Only a year later did they produce…