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

 
 
2015
Jan
24
 
 
Sissy Spacek plays country singer Loretta Lynn in this 1980 biography – and, at the time, impressed critics by singing the songs herself, rather than lip-synching to Lynn’s recordings. Academy Award voters were impressed, too – and awarded Spacek the Best Actress Oscar. Costars include Tommy Lee Jones and, stepping out from behind his drum kit in The Band, Levon Helm.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
24
 
 
One of several vintage movies shown tonight, this one, from 1984, began a franchise that’s just about to be rebooted, with its original star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as a key part of the mix again.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
24
 
 
Very young TV viewers may recognize this as the musical in which Lea Michele’s Rachel, on Glee, was starring in a Broadway revival.  But no, this is the 1968 movie version of the musical which, like this film, showcased Barbra Streisand as Ziegfeld comedy star Fanny Brice. Co-stars include Omar Sharif, Anne Francis and, as Mrs. Strakosh, Mae Questel. I note that because, though her name may not be familiar, her voice certainly is: in vintage cartoons, she provided the voices of two fe
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
24
 
 
On tonight’s new edition, Blake Shelton is the host and the musical guest. Take that, Adam Levine…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
23
 
 
Eight years ago, this sweet little musical comedy Disney film imagined what it would be like if a Disney-style animated princess would pop in, fully three-dimensional, in the modern world, in New York City but with her idealism and innocence intact. The film gave Amy Adams her first starring role – and, quite rightly, led to an impressive string of movie roles. In Enchanted, she’s enchanting. And so, I suppose, is this film’s modern-day Prince Charming: Patrick Dempsey from Gre
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
23
 
 
In this 2008 comedy, Seth Rogen and James Franco co-star, creating devastation in their wake as they stumble aimlessly through a series of silly situations. And yet, seven years ago, this movie was released without causing any international incidents.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
23
 
 
SEASON PREMIERE: This is the first new American Masters of the season – and it’s Season 29, if you’re counting, which is damned impressive (the number of seasons, not that you’re counting). It’s devoted to Ricky Jay, and it’s the first time this series has profiled a magician. That means Ricky Jay is getting his American Masters moment in the spotlight before, say, Harry Houdini – but there’s a good story to tell here, and the vintage clips go back
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
23
 
 
In tonight’s episode, the second installment of this series, time-traveling Cole (Aaron Stanford) finds himself in the year 2015. I can’t say I’m particularly impressed – these days, I do that all the time.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
23
 
 
One of tonight’s guests on this new outing is politician Howard Dean. Another is comedian Bill Burr (pictured), whose name may be less familiar – but who, on Monday’s premiere installment of Comedy Central’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, provided the strongest laughs at the discuss-the-issues roundtable. And now, on a different coast, here he is, sitting in on his second talk-show roundtable of the week.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2015
Jan
22
 
 
One of the very best movie musicals ever made – and a spoof history of the cinema’s shift from silents to sound to boot. And, in the title number in this 1952 film, Gene Kelly sings and dances with pure, unbridled joy – in a sequence still a joy to behold 63 years later. Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and the unfairly underappreciated comic actress Jean Hagen co-star.