There are two performances that jump out instantly in the new season of The Crown (on Netflix), and they're not the performances you might expect...

2020

Nov

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME By David Bianculli

SPECIAL PREMIERE: This new TV version of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book about race and racism expands the concept of the stage play, which employed several voices to read from, and bring to life, the vibrant viewpoints in Coates’ book. The play premiered at the Apollo Theater in Harlem – a perfect launching pad – and this new HBO version, potentially reaching millions on its HBO and HBO Max platforms, injects its Between the World and Me with even more star power. Phyli

2020

Nov

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY By David Bianculli

Time machines are one of the most cherished tropes in the sci-fi genre – and though time machines to do not figure in either of the pivotal sci-fi films shown tonight as a double feature by TCM, they do allow us to take a time-machine trip of sorts. They allow us to watch, in sequence, futuristic films by two of their generation’s most innovative and influential filmmakers: Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas. So imagine you’ve just set your Wayback Machine, and start with 1968, w

2020

Nov

THX 1138 By David Bianculli

In 1971, three years after Stanley Kubrick directed and co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, a young filmmaker named George Lucas directed and co-wrote his own sci-fi movie, called THX 1138. It’s about a repressive future where a man and woman decide to rebel, and the man is played by Robert Duvall, a year before Lucas’s filmmaking friend, Francis Ford Coppola, cast him in The Godfather. And two years after filming THX 1138, Lucas directed and co-wr

2020

Nov

SMALL AXE By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: It’s getting tougher and tougher, these days, to determine with any authority what is a movie, a TV show, a series, and a miniseries. The Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was designed as a six-part anthology Western miniseries, intended for television, and a premiere on Netflix. But before Netflix premiered it in 2018, all six episodes of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs were shown at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival, as

2020

Nov

ANIMANIACS By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This reboot counts as an official revival of the 1993 animated TV series, with the same characters (Yakko, Wakko and Dot, as well as Pinky and the Brain), all voiced by the original voice actors. And yes, Steven Spielberg is involved, so bring decently high expectations.

2020

Nov

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: Last Sunday, John Oliver ended his Last Week Tonight with John Oliver HBO series by literally exploding 2020 (look it up on your Google machine). Five days later, another HBO current-events satirist, Bill Maher, ends his season tonight. Both series scheduled their finales presuming that the election would be decided. Well, that was optimistic. But for tonight, Maher has lined up a suitably strong guest list, including Alex Wagner from Showtime’s The Circus,&nb

2020

Nov

EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY By David Bianculli

This 1988 comedy was co-written by Julie Brown, who co-stars – and captures the late 1980s better than most movies of that era. Better yet, it captures lots of young talent on the rise. Geena Davis stars as a California Valley Girl whose life is ripped asunder when a spaceship crash-lands in her swimming pool. Inside are three very colorful aliens – played by the equally colorful Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans, and Jim Carrey. This was one of my daughter Kristin’s favorite movies,

2020

Nov

1983: ABC PRESENTS 'THE DAY AFTER' By TV WW

On this day in 1983, ABC presented The Day After, a miniseries depicting the aftermath of a fictional nuclear war...

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