TEST1 2018

NEW “STAR WARS: TFA” TRAILER PACKS ENOUGH PUNCH TO CRASH TICKET SITES AND FREAK OUT RACIST DARK SIDE   As it turns out, the newest trailer for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS hews remarkably close to what appeared (and didn’t appear) in the poster art released Sunday. Indeed, it looks like the left hand knows what the right hand is doing at Disney/Lucasfilm marketing. That means shot after shot of eye-popping battle action, Stormtroopers up the ying yang, more Han, more Chewie, a “blink and you miss it” Leia reveal…and not so much as a glimpse of Luke. Let the conspiracy theories (and whining) begin!   Featured prominently throughout are Daisy Ridley (playing a scrappy scavenger named Rey) and John Boyega (as Finn, a Stormtrooper experiencing a crisis of conscience). Ridley shows she can handle a blaster with the best of them, continuing a long tradition of director JJ Abrams rightly favoring female characters who don’t need a man to complete them (or fight their battle...

WITH SNAGGLE-FANGS BARED, DEBDUSA UNLEASHES HER INNER KRAKEN. WHERE’S PERSEUS WHEN WE NEED HIM? When you stockpile Toni Home Perm solution and use it as often as meth-heads suck on a glass pipe, all those noxious fumes are bound to cloud your judgment and reasoning. In the case of DNC Chair DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ , the damage goes much deeper than a fry job on her poorly coiffed rat’s nest. Debdusa has always been viewed as an evil monster by those on the right. It’s something she’s well aware of and openly relishes. She feeds on their hate like a feral cat set loose at a buffet station of poached Evangelical canary. Debdusa is also an equal opportunity political beastie with a reputation for going Gorgon on anyone who questions her authority. Just ask DNC Vice Chair Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), the latest Democrat to draw the ire of this power-mad harpy. Gabbard is a decorated combat veteran and rising star within the party. She’s also two things Wasserman-Schultz is not: respected ...

NBC CAN CLAIM BRAGGING RIGHTS TO THE BEST NEW DRAMA ON ANY BROADCAST NETWORK THIS FALL AIRS MONDAYS AT 10PM E/P ON NBC (NEXT-DAY STREAMING ON HULU) Over the course of the past few seasons, Comcast-owned NBC has amassed a spotty track record when it comes to scripted drama. In addition to the last vestiges of the venerable LAW & ORDER franchise , there have been numerous high profile flops like SMASH , ALLEGIANCE , CONSTANTINE and THE SLAP . The network is also home to inexplicably popular junk like THE BLACKLIST and inexplicably renewed howlers like MYSTERIES OF LAURA . That’s why my expectations for BLINDSPOT were set pretty low. Boy, was I wrong. This cracker jack thriller starts out firing on all cylinders and never stops. What makes BLINDSPOT such a pleasant surprise is how deftly each episode navigates a potential minefield of pitfalls and face plants. In less capable hands, this is one of those “high concept” hours that could have flown off the rails. Instead, creator ...

MEAGAN GOOD FIGHTS CRIME (WHILE STRUGGLING TO STEAL FOCUS FROM HER BREASTS) IN THE FIRST BOMB OF THE SEASON AIRS MONDAYS AT 9PM E/P ON FOX (NEXT-DAY STREAMING ON HULU) Back in 2002, Tom Cruise starred in MINORITY REPORT . Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film is set in a semi-dystopian future where perps are collared and convicted in advance of their criminal acts (known as PreCrimes) thanks to the predictive powers of a trio of genetic mutants (or PreCogs). It was a surprisingly decent big screen adaptation of a short story written in 1956 by Philip K. Dick . The same can’t be said for the too little, too late “continuation” that landed with a resounding thud on FOX this week. It’s so bad, I had to come up with a drinking game to dull the pain of the pilot. More on that later… Whenever a movie or TV series kicks off with a history lesson told in voice-over or by a disembodied head (see David Lynch’s disastrous take on DUNE for a classic example ) there’s a good chance that what f...

SYFY FINALLY KICKS OFF A NEW SEASON OF ONE OF TV’S SCARIEST SHOWS. DON’T WATCH ALONE…   EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS REVIEW OF “PARANORMAL WITNESS” FIRST APPEARED IN JUNE, 2013. SINCE THEN, IT HAS BECOME ONE OF OUR ALL-TIME MOST POPULAR POSTS. WHAT FOLLOWS IS A FULLY UPDATED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL, WRITTEN AND REFRESHED TO COINCIDE WITH THE SEASON FOUR PREMIERE ON AUGUST 26, 2015.   AIRS WEDNESDAYS AT 10PM E/P ON SYFY   There are plenty of shows that deal with ghosts, beasties from beyond and paranormal phenomena. Unfortunately, most are unscripted train wrecks, snoozy dramas like THE WHISPERS or dreadful re-makes of highly regarded foreign productions (A&E’s recently cancelled THE RETURNED , for example).  It’s a format that’s often sullied by cheap thrills, silly re-creations and endless night-vision camera sequences. Though the pickings are slim, every now and then you can find a really good bat flitting about the belfry.   One exceptional standout is P...

MAY 27, 1922 – JUNE 7, 2015   EDITOR’S NOTE: To ensure the integrity of this posthumous tribute, sponsored content and retail links are not included in our “Legacy” posts. We encourage you to discover and enjoy the work of this talented artist by conducting an online search for any of the titles cited.   In a world where words like “icon” and “legend” are overused and often misapplied, both superlatives only begin to convey the full scope of Christopher Lee’s cinematic legacy. Less that ten years after his big screen debut (CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS, 1948) Lee became the face of a gothic horror revival. He breathed new life into the genre with a revisionist take on classic movie monsters like Dracula and The Mummy. It’s an approach born of both raw talent and an actor’s desperation. Though casting Lee would give any film a shot of artistic gravitas, these gaudy and gory potboilers were typically low-budget second features with shaky production values and dime store dialogue. L...

EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS POST WAS UPDATED ON OCTOBER 31, 2015 HOUSE OF CARDS might get all the attention, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the variety of scripted drama series available on Netflix. We selected six of our favorites, each one a worthy addition to your streaming queue. It’s a mix of past hits you may have missed, previous seasons of current favorites and lesser known titles that deserve the spotlight. When you see the following icons in each series write-up, you can: CLICK TO WATCH ON NETFLIX CLICK TO BUY FROM AMAZON INSTANT VIDEO   BEING MARY JANE Gabrielle Union is always a bright spot in any film or TV show she appears in, even if the vehicle itself isn’t top flight. With BEING MARY JANE , she’s finally found a series worthy of her considerable talent. Never heard of it? Well, it’s on BET, the black entertainment network most black people don’t watch. That might explain how this gem flew below your radar were it not for the fact that seaso...