“I found my voice now – a voice with murder as its means.” Something about the Irish experience has melded their idea of comedy with the darker side of life. (Note such films as Waking Ned Devine or last year’s Banshees of Inisherin.) That blend of humor and depressing may seem odd, but the two…
In 2017, a mosque was destroyed by fire in the South Texas city of Victoria. It became a national news story. There were obvious questions to be raised by those events—questions of racism, immigration, Islamophobia, and what it means to be an American. Lu Li’s A Town Called Victoria is a three episode series on…
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John Kennedy. November 23, 1963, is one of those dates that is unforgettable for Americans who lived through it. Comparable dates would be December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001—dates that are forever seared into our national collective memory. National Geographic is bringing out…
For people who love characters in books, discovering a films or a TV series that presents them in the flesh may be welcome or feared?or both. So it was with hope and a bit of anxiety that my wife and I started watching Three Pines, based on the series of books by Louise Penny that…
Faith and doubt struggle within a police detective investigating a brutal murder in Under the Banner of Heaven. The FX/Hulu series is a fictionalized version of a non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer about a 1984 double murder in Utah. It is steeped in the beliefs of the Church of Latter Day Saints (often referred to…
?He?s still the most popular athlete in Los Angeles, and that?s saying something.? There is just something about Earvin ?Magic? Johnson that make you want to like him. Maybe it?s the smile that lights the whole world. Maybe it?s the way he can either put the ball in the hoop or pass it off (without…
In Welcome to Earth, from National Geographic and streaming on Disney+, Will Smith tells us of some of the things he?s never done, then goes on to do some of them. Smith is our guide to experience our planet in new ways. The limited series has brought together various explorers (some who are differently-abled) who…
You could forgive me if I doubted. After years of hearing about the mythological ?Snyder Cut?, there was simply no way that this film could meet expectations. After all, the original film was such a tepid piece of fodder that there was simply no way that a few tweaks or additional scenes could self-correct a…
I?m always happy to promote short films as part of the entertainment landscape. Often the only chance people get to see shorts is at film festivals or during the Academy Awards season. But now Disney has created a program of live action shorts streaming on Disney+ called ?Launchpad?. Disney describes the goal of ?Launchpad? as…
The legacies that heroes leave behind are supposed to inspire people and give them something to look up to. But what if your own parent was one of these heroes? Talented ex-marvel writer Mark Miller?s comic book series ?Jupiter?s Legacy? uses the superhero setting to dive into the topic of family dynasties and the scars…
