This 2000 autobiographical magical mystery tour by writer-director Cameron Crowe recounts his coming of age as a young rock journalist, covering the industry in the 1970s for Rolling Stone magazine while still a teenager. His first cover profile, in 1973, was on the Allman Brothers Band – basically reshaped here as a fictional band named Stillwater, led by Billy Crudup’s charismatic Russell Hammond. Crudup gives a marvelous performance, but director Crowe gets them out of almost all

2017

Dec

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW By David Bianculli

May the Force of Graham Norton be with you: The long-running British host fills his guest couch tonight with Star stars – specifically, with stars of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, including Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley, John Bodega and Gwendoline Christie.

2017

Dec

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE By David Bianculli

This 1978 comedy classic proved the crossover power of Saturday Night Live, which had launched in 1975,to a new generation of moviegoers, by making a star of supporting player John Belushi – whose role and performance here, as Bluto, is 95 percent id. (The psychological term, not the stuff in your wallet.) And as with other films shown tonight, Animal House is loaded with familiar faces and fabulous performances – including, in this case, Stephen Furst, Tom Hulce, Mark Metcalf, Tim M

2017

Dec

2017: NICHE WATCHING MAKES DINOSAURS OUT OF TOP-TENS By Eric Gould

Between streaming services, broadcast, and cable, the ability to find content personalized to your own tastes has never been greater – and the chance you’ll be able to share last night’s surprise twist has never been slimmer...

2017

Dec

A LITTLE MORE 'THIS IS BOB HOPE' By David Hinckley

I only ran into Bob Hope once, but from that brief encounter, I fully believe a central premise of PBS’s American Masters special on this comedy virtuoso...

2017

Dec

BLACK MIRROR By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: The new season of Charlie Brooker’s futuristic anthology series, a technology-focused cross between The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, arrives today, with six new episodes devoted to the dreamy, the nightmarish, and the absolutely unsettling. The flagship of the new season, so to speak, is “USS Callister,” a movie-length episode starring Jesse Plemons (of Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad, just for starters) as a videogame designer who finds a way to cl

2017

Dec

BILL NYE SAVES THE WORLD By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: To viewers the age of my college students, who watched Bill Nye the Science Guy on The Disney Channel as young kids, Bill Nye is a rock star – a science nerd whose enthusiasm for spreading knowledge, like theirs for his often playful lectures, has never waned. Season 2 utilizes the same fancy and fanciful set as last season, as well as the same approach: Each episode is devoted to a single topic, and presented not as a children’s series, but at one aimed at adults, e

2017

Dec

JULES AND JIM By David Bianculli

Oskar Werner and Henri Serre have the title roles in this 1962 film by Francois Truffaut, but the real star is Jeanne Moreau as Catherine, the woman who completes their long-running romantic triangle. The story begins before WWI, and follows the trio for decades, taking several unexpected and memorable turns.

2017

Dec

AMERICAN MASTERS: "THIS IS BOB HOPE..." By David Bianculli

Repeated from last month, this American Masters special is a solid overview of the career of Bob Hope, whose contributions to comedy – film as well as standup – are indeed well worth remembering and saluting. Check local listings. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

2017

Dec

APOLLO 13 By David Bianculli

After man reached and landed on the moon in the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, subsequent space missions, even manned ones, attracted a lot less attention – until the 1970 mission of Apollo 13, which developed serious problems shortly after launch. This 1995 movie, directed flawlessly by Ron Howard, captures it all, with just as much intensity during the mission control scenes on Earth as during the ones in space. And what a cast: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon are the astronauts lost

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