This 1999 movie, moodily directed by David Fincher, is an odd film to have risen to the status of cult classic, but it certainly has. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton stars – and so does Helena Bonham Carter, proving that she doesn’t need Tim Burton to cast her in movies to make some very lasting cinematic impressions.

2012

Jul

A FACE IN THE CROWD By David Bianculli

Tonight, TCM presents a four-movie salute to the late Andy Griffith, starting with his 1957 electrifying role as a prickly drifter who rides an unexpected ticket to fame and fortune – only to risk both because of his horrid treatment of those around him. This movie, written by Budd Schulberg and directed by Elia Kazan, doesn’t present the Griffith we know from Mayberry – but a vain, snarling, libidinous, greedy bastard. It’s a great role, a great performance, and a movie

2012

Jul

DAMAGES By David Bianculli

Well, the first episode of this final season of Damages certainly set the stage for one wild last ride. It’s going to be Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) vs. Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne) in court – and three months later, thanks to a flash-forward glimpse, it’s going to be Patty in handcuffs, and Ellen on the ground, looking all the worse for wear, in an alley (pictured). Whets the appetite for more? Absolutely. And what happened to the whistleblower played by Jenna Elfman in the premie

2012

Jul

HIT & MISS By David Bianculli

Chloe Sevigny won me over by the time last week’s premiere episode was through. Now there are five more installments in this miniseries (which may or may not continue into a second season) in which Sevigny, as a transgender assassin, tackles one of the most unusual and unprecedented TV roles of the season. And the scene that won me over? The scene where she taught her young son, whom she’s only recently learned existed, to box. This series import is much more into character than cari

2012

Jul

NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS By David Bianculli

This 1958 movie is the second of four Andy Griffith movies shown tonight, and shows him in the role in which he starred – on stage and TV as well as film. In fact, TV came first: a 1955 U.S. Steel Hour production, televised live, with a script written by Ira Levin, later of Rosemary’s Baby fame. Griffith stars as a drawling, smiling, good ole country boy drafted into the Air Force, and bedeviling his sergeant – an early prototype for the Andy Griffith Show spinoff, Gomer Pyle,

2012

Jul

BEFORE WILL MCAVOY... By Eric Gould

...there was Bill Moyers. If the idea of journalism as a critical part of democracy is important to you, the HBO series The Newsroom, and the Jeff Daniels character Will McAvoy, are going deep into that subject each week. And Bill Moyers has been doing it for real, for decades...

2012

Jul

CABLE SITCOMS GET SHARP By Diane Werts

These days, cable's got the comedy mojo, with sitcoms such as Sullivan & Son, Baby Daddy and The Soul Man...

2012

Jul

BATMAN BEGINS By David Bianculli

The opening of the newest Batman movie is just around the corner, with director Christopher Nolan completing his Dark Knight trilogy. Here’s where this particular reboot started, in 2005, with Christian Bale as Batman, Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s loyal manservant – and Katie Holmes, now in the news anew, as the female lead.

2012

Jul

HISTORY DETECTIVES By David Bianculli

So is this Bob Dylan’s guitar, from the night he “went electric,” or isn’t it? It’d be nice to say this was an electrifying hour of History Detectives – but as Tom Brinkmoeller points out in his incisive Raised on MTM report, there are a few dots that don’t quite connect, at least not on camera. Read his full story, and his interview with the show’s producer, HERE. Check local listings.

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