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
2
 
 
In tonight’s episode, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) and Kate (Yvonne Strahovski) finally work together, rather than at odds, in hopes of following a trail to the terrorists who are controlling the overridden drones. But Jack’s idea of “working together” is a little extreme: first thing he does is turn Kate over to the enemy.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
2
 
 
Tom Hanks stars in the title role in this intense, fact-based thriller, about a U.S. cargo ship captain whose vessel, in 2009, was overtaken by pirates from Somalia. And while Hanks is really good, the extra voltage in this 2013 movie is provided by Barkhad Abdi, the Somalian native whose performance is both riveting and unforgettable.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
2
 
 
Here’s a real rarity, as part of TCM’s celebration tonight of the “Swingin’ Sixties.” It’s a 1965 compilation of what might be viewed as pre-MTV music videos from Britain: a collection of studio performances, lip-synched to original recordings and filmed in color, by such just-breaking groups as The Animals (“House of the Rising Sun”), Herman’s Hermits (“I’m Into Something Good”), and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (“
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
2
 
 
This season, I’ve been absolutely amazed by the high level of acting presented on, and demanded by, this series. Louis C.K. is as daring and honest an actor as he is a comic, and I mean that as high praise indeed. And he’s written scenes this year for his TV daughters, and for recurring guest star Ellen Burstyn as a neighbor, that are intense two-handers requiring, and getting, perfectly pitched performances from Louie and his co-stars.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
2
 
 

PITTSBURGH, PA – LeVar Burton, with his current Kickstarter campaign to revive Reading Rainbow, is doing more than rebooting that brilliant children’s literacy series for a new generation, though that would be plenty. He’s also rebooting the spirit of Fred Rogers…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
1
 
 
In this new episode, host Neil DeGrasse Tyson takes on the infuriatingly controversial issue of climate change (infuriating precisely because it shouldn’t be controversial). Tyson tackles the issue of fluctuating weather (it was colder this winter where I lived) versus long-term climate change (oceans are rising, glaciers are melting) by taking his dog on a walk on the beach. The dog, with its unpredictable meanderings on its leash, he explains, is weather. Tyson, walking in a much more pr
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
1
 
 
This new episode is called “The Mountain and the Viper,” a title which refers to the duel to decide the future of Tyrion – as in, if he’ll have one. His champion, representing him in a duel to the death, is Oberyn Martell, also known as the Red Viper. The Viper faces the formidable Gregor Clegand, known, for obvious reasons, as “The Mountain.” Expect an epic duel of Princess Bride proportions…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
1
 
 
SERIES PREMIERE: AMC, in its quest to replicate its amazing string of early successes (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead), has given up too early on one possible contender (Rubicon), been too patient with others (Hell on Wheels), let some go off the rails (The Killing), and approved some baffling series ideas in the first place – like Turn and, now, Halt and Catch Fire. Lee Pace, as a computer visionary in the early 1980s, plays a man who’s less prodigy than pirate, and the sin
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
1
 
 
SEASON FINALE: This final episode of Season 1 takes place at TechCrunch Disrupt, a San Francisco gathering of programming wizards who compete to become the next big thing with their new idea for an app. All season, we’ve watched things grow, then explode, for our team of computer misfits – but tonight’s events, set at TechCrunch (actually a real event), are not the end of the story. Silicon Valley has been renewed for Season 2, so Mike Judge’s silicon saga will live on.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2014
Jun
1
 
 
Each week, this series pulls off something that makes me love it all the more. Episode one, it was the very premise. Episode two, the séance, and the sudden, gruesome entrance of Frankenstein’s original monster. Last week: the nod to the original Sweeney Todd in the London theatre’s grand guignol scene. And tonight? No idea. But I’m counting on Penny Dreadful for something… wonderfully creepy.