Robert Donat plays an extraordinarily caring teacher, a schoolmaster who loves the classics and the students in his charge, in this 1939 movie that is itself, by now, one of the classics. But there’s another reason to watch these days: When Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan sold his series, it was by describing the dramatic arc of his leading character, who goes from science teacher to meth dealer and murderer, as “Mr. Chips becomes Scarface.” Tune in, then, to see Walter Whi

2013

Mar

THE STAIRCASE By David Bianculli

Part 9. This is the mini-sequel fans of this series have been waiting to see. It’s one of two new installments, presenting new evidence in the case of convicted murderer Michael Peterson. If you harbored any reasonable doubts about his guilt before – or about his innocence – prepare to be challenged all over again.

2013

Mar

INSIDE COMEDY By David Bianculli

Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin are David Steinberg’s guests on tonight’s edition of his smart, rewarding talk show about comedy. And Martin and Steinberg, in particular, go way, way back. Steinberg was a guest on the third and final season of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, reprising a controversial “comic sermonette” bit that helped get the Smothers Brothers thrown off the air. Among the young writers on the show that season? Steve Martin, with his first regular job in

2013

Mar

BREAKING BAD By David Bianculli

SERIES REPEAT: The concluding half-season of Breaking Bad doesn’t show up until this summer. Meanwhile, though, Sundance has gotten rights to repeat the series from its first episode, two episodes every Monday night – beginning tonight with the brilliant episode that started it all. It starts with Bryan Cranston in his tighty whities, gun in hand – and never slows down from there.

2013

Mar

THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY By David Bianculli

I’m not referring to the 2005 movie version of Douglas Adams’ giddily inventive sci-fi comedy, though that has its moments. This is the two-DVD release of the 1981 BBC-TV miniseries (imported to the U.S. soon afterward), bringing to life the same dark, hilarious plot as the BBC Radio 4 series in 1978...

2013

Mar

THE BIBLE By David Bianculli

MINISERIES PREMIERE: This is a warning, not a recommendation. Survivor creator Mark Burnett and his wife, Touched By an Angel star Roma Downey, clearly want to treat their selected biblical stories with reverence and dramatic impact – but the road to bad TV is paved with good intentions. The Bible, presented by History with its first two hours premiering tonight, is more clunky and less dramatically effective than the spate of recent TNT biblical telemovies, not to mention such vintage TV

2013

Mar

ANNIE HALL By David Bianculli

One of the most brilliant comedies ever made: Woody Allen’s 1977 movie was the one that promoted him from frenetic funnyman to premier filmmaker. And it was a deserved jump in reputation, because everything about Annie Hall – the story, the structure, the editing, the music, and especially the performances, which provided depth and drama as well as laugh-out-loud moments – was so fresh, it still feels like a modern comedy all these decades later. And Diane Keaton? Perfection.

2013

Mar

THE GOOD WIFE By David Bianculli

Things at the law firm are pretty tense, now that Alicia (Julianna Margulies) has broken ranks with the other fourth-year associates whose offers to become partners were taken away from them. To keep those attorneys from protesting as a unified front, the bosses offered Alicia, and only Alicia, the chance to advance, and she accepted. Whatever’s going to happen for the rest of the season, it won’t be pretty. And tonight, the focus is on Eli (Alan Cumming), who’s the target of a

2013

Mar

THE WALKING DEAD By David Bianculli

This show usually leaves me reeling with its sudden bursts of violence and its often unexpected deaths – but last week, in an episode with more than its share of gore and dread, the image that stayed with me the most was of the Governor’s damaged eye. The Governor (David Morrissey) removed his eye patch and put a match right up to his punctured eyeball, hoping to see something – anything. It was a quiet, powerful, moment, and as gory, in its own way, as any of the imaginatively

2013

Mar

VIKINGS By David Bianculli

SERIES PREMIERE: This nine-part series stars Gabriel Byrne as an old-style Viking, and Travis Fimmel as the embodiment of a new generation with new ideas – like sailing West, to reach and plunder a land called England. I’ve watched all the episodes sent by History for preview, and Vikings has its moments: about four episodes in, when a British holy man is brought back as a slave, the series takes on some of the flavor of a Scandinavian Shogun. But oddly, given the rarity of this part

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