DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2014
Jun
22
 
 
ABC and ESPN divide today’s World Cup games, with the last and biggest of them (for stateside viewers, anyway) earmarked for cable. Meanwhile, on ABC, all four Group H teams are in play, and playing one another. At noon ET, it’s Belgium (shown here, the only Group H team with a win) vs. Russia, followed at 3 p.m. ET by Korea Republic vs. Algeria. Algeria is at the very bottom of this group, and Russia and Korea Republic occupying the middle – and hoping to climb out with a vict
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
22
 
 
This, though, is the big one today: Group G’s United States vs. Portugal. The U.S. surprised just about everyone, maybe even themselves, by beating Ghana in its first game, and now shares the Group G lead with Germany, which has much more secure footing at the top because, in its initial game, it trounced Portugal and emerged with a plus-four goal differential, a key factor in tiebreakers. (The U.S., after its first game, has a goal differential of plus-one.) So Portugal, which didn’
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
22
 
 
This is the 1956 American version of the 1954 Japanese monster movie Gojira – released by the same Japanese studio for the American market, with many of its best scenes cut, and with many scenes added featuring an American actor, Raymond Burr, as a reporter, whose inserted scenes made it an “acceptable” story line for U.S. moviegoers. It’s interesting to watch, but only in the context of realizing how much better the original movie is – a movie that, by the way, is
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
22
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is the final season for True Blood, and it begins with an instant bloodbath that redefines the rules, and the various allegiances, for the remaining episodes. The early hours are mostly setup for what’s to come – but they do serve as reminders of how enjoyable many of these characters, and performers, are. Anna Paquin stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
22
 
 
John Oliver showed up this week for a sparkling, smart, very funny interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She likes his show for the same reasons I do – its extended single-subject focus on its lead feature, and Oliver’s defiant outsider way of looking at… almost everything. See his newest installment tonight, and see if you agree.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
21
 
 
Writer Adrian Hodges says the 10-episode BBC America series The Musketeers, which already has been renewed for a second season, is not an adaptation of the book. “This is a series of new adventures," he explains...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
21
 
 
Today’s three games include all four teams in Group F, and half of Group G. The first Group F game, beginning at noon ET on ESPN, is between Argentina (shown here) and Iran. To this point, Argentina is the only Group F team with a win, and Iran is one of two teams to have emerged with a draw. The second Group F game, at 6 p.m. ET, is Nigeria vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina: Nigeria, too, earned a draw, while the remaining team has shown up only in the loss column, and needs a win desperately to
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
21
 
 
This 2013 movie continued to expand the Marvel Comics movie franchise, giving Hugh Jackman’s title character a chance to go off on his own again, after already successfully anchoring his own origin-story film in 2009. Here, he travels to Japan and gets caught up dealing with a whole new roster of villains, including one named Viper (pictured here, with Jackman’s Logan), played by Svetlana Khodchenkova. That last name wasn’t easy to spell – but I can’t tell you how h
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
21
 
 
SEASON FINALE: It’s the end of Season 2 for Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) and all her clones – and perhaps the end of Sarah, too, as she officially surrenders to those hunting her in this season finale episode. But she has a good reason, and even though her daughter Kira is in the hands of evil Rachel (another of many roles played by Maslany), don’t count Sarah out. Having to watch from behind a one-way mirror as Rachel talks to, and gets closer to, Kira is more than enough motivatio
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
21
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: This new BBC America series is like an Anglophile’s answer to Borat. It takes two quick-witted British actors impersonating young British royalty, sends them across the United States with a film crew, and captures them interacting with everyday Americans, acting posh and clueless in equal measure. Ed Gamble plays Georgie, and Amy Hoggart steals the spotlight as Poppy. As fake descendants of the Royal family, you might say they’re putting on heirs – but they&rsq