Then there’s this 1994 documentary, about the eccentric underground comic artist R. Crumb. His story, too, figures in part of another artistic offshoot: Crumb turns out to be instrumental in inspiring the career of even more eccentric underground comic writer Harvey Pekar, whose story was told so brilliantly in 2003’s American Splendor, with Paul Giamatti as Pekar and James Urbaniak as Crumb.

2016

Nov

BURDEN OF DREAMS By David Bianculli

And finally, one final set of eccentrics: actor Klaus Kinski and director Werner Herzog, who clashed famously and formidably while making Herzog’s epic 1982 movie Fitzcarraldo. That movie was a based-on-fact film about an obsessed megalomaniac intent on bringing opera to the jungles of Brazil. This documentary, by Les Blank, is about the equally obsessed megalomania behind the making of that film. It features short but telling appearances by Mick Jagger and Jason Robards, the movie’s

2016

Nov

THE WIZARD OF OZ By David Bianculli

If it’s still considered the holiday weekend, and even if it’s not, here’s a Sunday night movie ready-made to have you gather the entire family and enjoy. Or, if circumstances warrant, for you to watch alone and enjoy, also. This 1939 classic children’s movie is not just for children – but, like The Princess Bride, its enduring popularity proves that.

2016

Nov

THE WALKING DEAD By David Bianculli

So now we’re seeing a new division in the ranks: Those who, for the moment, are accepting the demands of the brutal regime ruling Alexandria, and those who are working covertly, like an underground resistance, to make their move and reclaim their independence. One of the resistance leaders, though even his more subservient dad doesn’t know it yet? Carl.

2016

Nov

WESTWORLD By David Bianculli

This is episode nine of Westworld, so we’re getting near the end of the first season. Don’t expect more answers than cliffhangers as this show approaches its hiatus point, however. That’s not HBO’s way.

2016

Nov

SHAMELESS By David Bianculli

Only the central characters on The Walking Dead have had as much awful stuff thrown at them, on a regular basis, as the ones on Shameless – but the characters here are even more worthy of the term survivors. If for no other reason, I argue, than the inescapable fact that more of them, in their own arduous personal journeys confronting all manner of imposing obstacles, have survived.

2016

Nov

INSECURE By David Bianculli

SEASON FINALE: This is the Season 1 finale of this series – and it ends not with a bang, or a whimper, but a little of both: with a sexually charged party that, for some attendees at least, doesn’t go as hoped. Not even close.

2016

Nov

TOOTSIE By David Bianculli

TCM is saluting Dustin Hoffman this evening, with a lineup that includes three movies that, individually, would be called career highlights – but, in Hoffman’s case, are merely three great movies in a truly stellar career. First up, from 1982: Tootsie, which earned Hoffman his fifth Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. It also gave a prominent supporting role to Bill Murray, signaling some of the meatier cinematic roles he would get in the future. Also undervalued at the time, but

2016

Nov

48 HOURS By David Bianculli

Tonight’s special hour-long report is called Live to Tell: The Long Road Home, and tells the story of Sebastien Bellin, the Brazilian-born former international basketball player, living with his wife and daughters in Michigan, who was one of the victims of the March 2016 terrorist bombings at the Brussels airport. The story is told, in part, by Bellin himself, who survived to tell his tale, and tells it in memorably honest and emotional fashion. We also hear from his wife, and the photogra

2016

Nov

RAIN MAN By David Bianculli

Here’s another Dustin Hoffman triumph – one of two movies for which he’s won a Best Actor Oscar. And his performance in this 1988 drama, as an autistic and formerly overlooked man named Raymond, the older brother of a self-absorbed schemer played by Tom Cruise, is award-worthy for sure. But so is Cruise’s, the less showy but equally crucial and difficult role, so enjoy them both.

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