Aw, what a great time.
Category: Blog
A Welcome Shift in Perspective for Orange is the New Black
Orange is the New Black is like a pirate broadcast from a happier, matriarchal universe where women dominate the airwaves, and we just happened to get one of their prison dramas.
Season two wasn’t perfect, and that’s OK. This show doesn’t need a handicap. It’s not the kind of show where we have to wave away great swaths of imperfection (LOST) or the kind of great show where we have to overlook one (or more) weak performances (January Jones on Mad Men). Nope, this show is mostly fantastic from bow to stern. Let me try to break down why:
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Review: Edge of Tomorrow
Doug Liman calls on perennial tough guy Tom Cruise to play a wimp in the opening reels of his crackerjack-entertaining sci-fi action flick Edge of Tomorrow, and Cruise is up for the challenge. The movie falls into the same proud tradition of time-loop head-spinners like Groundhog Day, as well as some other memorable episodes from the annals of TV sci-fi. I’ll get to those in a moment, but first I wanted to touch briefly on Cruise’s performance and the relationship between “character” actors and leading men.
Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Bryan Singer’s sprightly Days of Future Past jettisons most of the youngsters from the 2011 reboot in favor of the series’ new leading men, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. It’s the right call, but the filmmakers commit one small blunder: They make Wolverine the hero.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Review: Jodorowsky’s DUNE
Frank Pavich’s documentary, Jodorowsky’s Dune, looks at the fantasy of an ultimate, unlikely fanboy and asks what might’ve been. At the risk of committing geek heresy, I suspect we might be better off not knowing.
Thoughts on Mad Men: ‘Waterloo’
I never knew the moon landing happened at night.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Review: Godzilla 2014
Godzilla director Gareth Edwards made the wise choice to go old-school with his 2014 reboot, tapping into the venerable franchise’s most potent power source: our shared dread of disaster, both natural and man-made.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Thoughts on Mad Men’s Last Season So Far
I’ve got the funny feeling that Mad Men might just end on a happy note.
Haunting Endurance Cinema: Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers
I can’t in good conscience recommend Harmony Korine’s haunting Trash Humpers to everyone. But there’s a certain subset of our audience who’ll find it irresistible.
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Author Interview: Andi Cumbo-Floyd
Bob here. I met Andi Cumbo-Floyd through Twitter, where she holds weekly discussion with other writers. She’s one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I’ve interacted with, and her writing reflects that. Besides her ongoing pursuit of creative nonfiction, Andi is also a teacher and editor. She recently launched a new online community for writers, and she maintains an artistic commune of sorts on her 10-acre farm in Virginia. I’m delighted to feature her on my blog.
Robert J. Peterson, Author 