Creating costumes for the court of Louis XIV at Versailles turns out to involve a lot more than throwing some fancy fabric on the king, queen and an occasional mistress...

2017

Sep

'TEN DAYS IN THE VALLEY' FEELS A LOT LONGER By David Hinckley

Ten Days in the Valley looks like it will also give viewers 10 weeks in a soap opera...

2017

Sep

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL By David Bianculli

This 1952 movie is presented by TCM as one of “The Essentials,” and presents Kirk Douglas as an unscrupulous Hollywood producer (or is that redundant?). His various tactics and abuses are recounted, in turn, by a director, a writer, and a actress. They’re played, respectively and memorably, by Barry Sullivan, Dick Powell, and, sigh, Lana Turner.

2017

Sep

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE By David Bianculli

SEASON PREMIERE: It’s Season 43 for Saturday Night Live as a TV show – which means it’s also Season 43 for me as a TV critic, since this was the first series I ever reviewed as a columnist for a daily newspaper. Tonight’s guest host: Ryan Gosling. Tonight’s musical guest: Jay-Z. That’s a far cry, and 42 years, from opening night, when the guest host was George Carlin, and the musical guests were Billy Preston and Janis Ian. (Hi, buddy Janis, if you’re re

2017

Sep

ERASERHEAD By David Bianculli

If your head is still spinning about David Lynch’s latest creation, the recently concluded Twin Peaks: The Return series on Showtime, here’s a chance to spin that head some more, by watching some of Lynch’s earliest creations. TCM starts its late-night Lynch mob with 1977’s Eraserhead, written and directed by Lynch. It stars Jack Nance as Henry Spencer, a factory worker with a screaming girlfriend, a deformed baby, and a fairly warped sense of reality. Nance would go on t

2017

Sep

THE GRANDMOTHER By David Bianculli

And seven years before filming Eraserhead, David Lynch wrote and directed this even more surrealistic and disturbing 1970 short movie, called The Grandmother. It’s about a young boy with abusive parents who seeks, and finds, an unusual form of emotional refuge: He sprouts seeds which mature into a loving, supportive grandmother.

2017

Sep

'INHUMANS' IS INADEQUATE By David Hinckley

If you’re having trouble keeping up with the blizzard of Marvel TV shows, Inhumans is one you could skip...

2017

Sep

ABC'S MARVEL'S 'INHUMANS' IS C-GRADE DRAMA WITH A BETTER THAN AVERAGE VILLAIN By Ed Bark

As Game of Thrones’ thoroughly despised Ramsay Bolton, he finally received payback when his own ravenously hungry hounds made a meal of him. Marvel’s Inhumans...finds Rheon comfily back in dark leather as the conniving, power-hungry Maximus...

2017

Sep

GERALD'S GAME By David Bianculli

TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: It’s been quite a year for Stephen King. Not only has a new version of his clown thriller It been a hit at the cinema, but on television, David E. Kelley has crafted a devilishly clever miniseries adaptation of King’s Mr. Mercedes, And now, today on Netflix, comes another deft character study from a King novel. This one is directed by Mike Flanagan and co-adapted by Jeff Howard, who previously worked together on Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil. Those horror films

2017

Sep

OUR SOULS AT NIGHT By David Bianculli

TELEMOVIE PREMIERE: Jane Fonda, who’s already starring on Netflix in the comedy series Grace and Frankie (opposite Lily Tomlin), is paired in this new Netflix movie with another veteran former screen partner. This time it’s Robert Redford, who starred with Fonda in 1979’s The Electric Horseman. And this time, they play long-time platonic neighbors, who begin to know each other a bit more intimately when she suggests they sleep together. Just sleep, to stave off nighttime loneli

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