Hard to believe this movie is 21 years old. Computer animation has come a long way – but this is the full-length film where it all started, thanks to the fabulous folks at Pixar. And though Toy Story was made in 1995, it still charms you, and warms your heart. Just like an old toy.

2016

May

ALL THE WAY By David Bianculli

Bryan Cranston won a Tony Award for portraying Lyndon Baines Johnson in Robert Schenkkan’s 2014 play about the President’s behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (played here by Anthony Mackie) regarding the civil rights movement. This HBO adaptation is directed for television by Jay Roach, who also directed Cranston in Trumbo – and who adds another triumph to his string of politically themed HBO projects, which already includes Recount, Game Chang

2016

May

DOUBLE INDEMNITY By David Bianculli

When I was growing up in the 1960s, I thought of Fred MacMurray as the amiable patriarch of My Three Sons, and thought of Barbra Stanwyck as the tough matriarch of The Big Valley. It was a few more years before I’d delve into the earlier parts of their careers – such as this 1944 film noir classic, in which MacMurray plays an insurance salesman seduced into evil acts, including murder, by Stanwyck’s femme fatale.

2016

May

ROOTS: A NEW VISION By David Bianculli

A remake of Roots, the landmark 1977 miniseries about Alex Haley’s personal family history, is arriving on Memorial Day, shown across all the History Channel network of sister platforms. Tonight, to whet your appetite, History presents a behind-the-scenes special. Among the new miniseries’ executive producers: LeVar Burton, who starred in the original as Kunta Kinte.

2016

May

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

Tonight is the Season 41 finale for Saturday Night Live, and for the occasion, the show is bringing back a former alumnus as guest host: Fred Armisen. Will he do a new sketch as Prince? Or would that be “too soon”? Musical guest: Courtney Barnett.

2016

May

‘ALL THE WAY’ IS A LANDSLIDE WIN FOR BOTH HBO AND BRYAN CRANSTON By Ed Bark

JFK has been center stage far more than LBJ on screens small and large. But in terms of a chops-licking acting challenge, the strong-arming, deep-drawling, oft-uncouth son of Stonewall, Texas is the role to beat...

2016

May

JAWS By David Bianculli

This is when I consider it summer, officially, regardless of what the calendar says: It’s summer whenever TV networks begin repeating Jaws in prime time. Made in 1975, it’s still one of Steven Spielberg’s, and the cinema’s, greatest blends of action movies and character studies. Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw star.

2016

May

DARK SHADOWS By David Bianculli

This 2012 movie was a pale remake of the original gothic soap opera series – and considering how pale Jonathan Frid’s Barnabas Collins was in the original TV show, that’s saying something. But though Johnny Depp plays a more comic and silent-movie version of Barnabas, this remake is worth watching because of the villainess, played by Eva Green of Penny Dreadful. She not only looks completely different here, she acts completely different.

2016

May

KEN BURNS' JAZZ By David Bianculli

Part 9. This portion covers the years 1956-60, and includes the ascendance of Miles Davis (pictured) – whose complex and groundbreaking Bitches’ Brew album took me more than a decade to fully appreciate. Of course, for me back then, my idea of jazz sophistication was Herbie Mann playing flute on “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” so I had a lot to learn. Though I still like Herbie Mann. Check local listings.

2016

May

BANSHEE By David Bianculli

SERIES FINALE: This is the last episode of this series, so I expect one thing and only one thing: carnage. As to who lives or dies at the end, if anyone, that’s what office pools are for. Oh, and the finale’s title? “Requiem.” That should provide a pretty strong hint.

Posts 61-70 of 187

6 7 8 9 10

New From TVWW

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption