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Lesley SmithFeaturesAn Admirable Account of HimselfGregory Peck was enthralled with the process of becoming someone else, and worked at perfecting it until the very end of his motion picture career. [17 June 2003] ReviewsWhite CollarIn White Collar's premiere episode, the crime-to-be-solved-in-50-minutes is intertwined with sufficient long-term storylines to craft an appealing emotional texture. [23 October 2009] 
NCIS: Los AngelesFrom opening credits to closing clichés, NCIS: Los Angeles perpetuates the dominance of men as protagonists in primetime action drama. [6 October 2009] 
Three Rivers: Series PremiereIn Three Rivers, a transplant surgical genius and his team save bodies and soothe souls, amidst glistening transparent walls (so much for patient privacy) and high-tech 3D projections of ailing organs. [4 October 2009] 
Fringe: Season Two PremiereUnlike her TV predecessors, Olivia is not moved by transcendent belief or duty. Uncertainty hurts her. [24 September 2009] 
Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsWhile the plotting runs on autopilot, with a few parent-friendly references to disaster movies of the past, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs also taps repeatedly into appealingly childish fantasies. [18 September 2009] 
All About SteveAll About Steve achieves only one success, in its illustration of the plight of the talented comedienne in Hollywood today. [4 September 2009] GleeGlee is an exhilarating hour satirizing American socialization processes, with a wicked soundtrack. [19 May 2009] 
Southland: Series PremiereIf visuals are not mundane in Southland, neither is the dialogue, especially the incidental repartee that oils coexistence in a high-stress profession. [9 April 2009] 
The Last House on the LeftNeither a glimmer of satire nor gram of wit animates Dennis Illiadis’ 109 minutes beside the lake. [13 March 2009] Mistresses: Series PremiereMistresses represents the 21st century version of the BBC’s “provocative” quality programming. [19 February 2009] 
InkheartThe screenplay follows a listless episodic structure, in which one barely connected segment follows another without cumulatively charging the overarching story. [26 January 2009] 
IgorIgor fences Eva into a very old-fashioned position: literally a man’s creation, she helps to "civilize" the all-male society. [19 September 2008] 
Death RaceAnderson dilutes Roger Corman’s satire by locating Death Race among society’s transgressors, depicting their dysfunctions with gory relish, and confining the race safely behind the walls of an isolated prison. [22 August 2008] 
Star Wars: The Clone WarsIn Clone Wars, one battle seems exactly like the last (and the next): the 'droids shoot like amateurs and the Republican troops always prevail, whatever the odds. [15 August 2008] The Inspector Lynley MysteriesThe Inspector Lynley Mysteries reinforces author Elizabeth George's idealistic vision of the British upper classes as the last bastions of decency against an encroaching barbaric proletariat. [8 August 2008] 
Sex and the City: The MovieThere’s more than a hint of disinterment about this movie, as if everyone involved were reinhabiting old skins and discarded personalities, and unable to shake the lassitude of the grave. [30 May 2008] 
College Road TripCollege Road Trip' real focus is the treacherous, slippery ground of middle school girldom, where BFFs rule and even the coolest parents are a social liability. [7 March 2008] Cashmere MafiaWith the premiere of Cashmere Mafia last week, ABC added another title to its catalogue of "up-market series," showcasing the absurd antics of the rich and privileged. [16 January 2008] Womens Murder ClubWomen's Murder Club represents network television production at its most cynical and most dismissive of viewers' intelligence. [15 October 2007] Friday Night LightsThe series abjures the usual primetime penchant for suburban gloss or metropolitan grit. Instead, it claimed as its territory lower middle class life in the America of vanishing jobs and diminishing horizons. [8 October 2007] 
Big ShotsIt's as if the last half of the 20th century had achieved nothing more than television's tolerance of the word "penis" (a word repeated ad nauseam on Big Shots). [4 October 2007] JourneymanNo amount of philosophical study or science fiction reading would enable a viewer to disentangle the existential questions raised by its cavalier treatment of time, so Journeyman simply pretends they do not exist. [24 September 2007] The Nine: Series PremiereIt is less an indictment of American social breakdowns than pabulum for suburban narcissists. [11 October 2006] 
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (2004)Mountain Patrol: Kekexili charts one local moment in the global clash between capitalism and conservation. [19 April 2006] 
The Chorus (Les Choristes) (2004)Christophe Barratier's Les Choristes demonstrates that French directors can challenge America's best in the saccharine stakes. [15 August 2005] 
The CloserThe premiere of The Closer was a very good moment for women who watch women on the small screen. [13 July 2005] 
Into the WestInto the West is honest about the role of women, both Caucasian and Native American. [7 July 2005] 
The 4400The storyline pitches The 4400 deep into schlock sci-fi-horror territory: absolute power applied absolutely and also illogically, to maximize sensation. [27 June 2005] 
Flame Trees of Thika (1981)The filming oscillates uneasily between Masterpiece Theater lushness and National Geographic-style ethno-voyeurism. [26 May 2005] 
The Partisans of Vilna (1986) - PopMatters Film Review )The Partisans of Vilna allows viewers to enter the Vilna ghetto and the lives of its youthful defenders. [12 May 2005] 
DeadwoodDeadwood is possibly the most coruscating indictment of American capitalism ever aired in primetime. [21 March 2005] 
Law & Order: Trial by JuryAlthough a curly hairdo can't quite erase the shade of Frasier's Lilith from Tracy Kibre, Neuwirth slips authoritatively into the role of a powerful mid-career prosecutor. [10 March 2005] 
Dear Frankie (2005)Dear Frankie uses humor to acknowledge and, temporarily, transcend the fragility of human survival. [4 March 2005] 
Voyage in Time (1983)Voyage in Time, a one-hour television film, snatches a fragment of Tarkovsky's working life. [7 February 2005] 
National Treasure (2004)Popular propaganda at its best -- high quality creative work allied to a resounding endorsement of a status quo the American electorate seems determined to maintain. [19 November 2004] 
The West WingThe West Wing has locked itself into philosophical stasis, determined to air its liberal credentials via Bartlett and his staff yet equally determined never to challenge the status quo. [1 November 2004] 
Boston LegalThe first episode of David E. Kelley's Boston Legal bubbled like vintage pink champagne. 
dr. vegasdr. vegas burdened by a shaky premise (is it a comedy? is it a drama?) and some of the limpest lines penned this side of Coldplay's lyrics. [11 October 2004] 
Law & Order / Law & Order: Special Victims Unit / Law & Order: Criminal IntentD'Onofrio plays Goren superbly, as a jittery autodidact so deeply aware of his own psychological fragility that he has simply abandoned any emotional life outside his own insights into the motivations of major criminals. [4 October 2004] 
From Jesus to Christ (2004) - PopMatters Film Review )This passionate intellectual journey through the first two centuries of Christianity is the perfect antidote to The Passion of the Christ. [15 September 2004] 
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)Martin Ritt coaxes a performance from Richard Burton that reveals Leamas as a full-fledged existential hero. [12 July 2004] 
The Winds of WarPerhaps a new generation might learn something of the substance behind the headlines by following the Henrys around the world of 65 years ago. [7 June 2004] 
Das Boot (The Original Uncut Version) (1981)It is a landmark event for connoisseurs of war movies, thrill-seekers, and lovers of consummate filmmaking. 
James’ Journey to Jerusalem (2003)Fashions a satire that skewers not only the hypocrisy of global capitalism but also the mores of contemporary Israel. [26 March 2004] 
Lost Boys of Sudan (2003)Revealing the stark choices faced by so many refugees who receive the casual beneficence of the West, the documentary also shows reactions of Americans to the unknown in human form. [18 March 2004] 
Calendar Girls (2003)A roll call of Britain's prime acting talent renders this movie watchable but cannot lift it beyond the forgettable. [18 December 2003] 
The HandlerOffers the traditional CBS fantasy that nothing really bad happens to people who work on the side of the angels. [4 November 2003] 
Cromwell (1970)Ken Hughes' portrait of Cromwell allows him to recast the military, particularly its leaders, as betrayed by politicians of all stripes. [7 October 2003] 
Las VegasIf one sequestered a gang of adolescent males long enough without female company, they'd sooner or later produce a script for Las Vegas. [6 October 2003] 
Rana’s Wedding (2002)The movie's power lies in its portrayal of the relentless ingenuity by which the inhabitants of the West Bank subvert the political 'realities' of Israeli military government. [11 September 2003] 
Black and White in Color (Noirs et blancs en couleur) (1976)Jean-Jacques Annaud's first, and most eloquent, movie has lost none of its bite since it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Picture 26 years ago. [25 August 2003] 
The Man on the Train (L’Homme du train) (2003)Achieves yet another consummation of intellectual France's romance with American popular culture. [19 June 2003] 
Assassination Tango (2003)Even the most generous viewer is hit by the absence of rationales, however bizarre or slender, for the film's plot turns. [3 April 2003] 
Chicago (2002)Watching Chicago is rather like watching a shot-for-TV music video by a neophyte director projected without thought or re-cutting straight to a movie screen. [26 December 2002] 
Two Women (1998)Tahmineh Milani charts the tragedy of stunted aspiration and the social subjugation faced by female participants. [10 December 2002] 
HackIt's life-changing redemption all the way, at the hands of a flawed saint who can instruct us all. [30 September 2002] 
The SopranosWhile reality hounds might say that this is exactly how banal contemporary mob life is, they might also remember that a stamped certificate of authenticity doesn't inoculate drama against tedium. [23 September 2002] 
Gaza Strip (2002) - PopMatters Film Review )Longley neither pretends to be impartial nor apologizes for his sympathies, and pays his potential audience the compliment of confidence in their intelligence and reason. [12 September 2002] 
Married in AmericaDocumentarian Michael Apted doesn't allow any sequence to run long enough for good manners to disappear and feelings (rather than public rationalizations of feelings) to emerge. [26 June 2002] 
Path to WarIt attempts to rehabilitate Johnson (Michael Gambon) as a President whose considerable political and social policy achievements have been forever overshadowed by his escalation of the Vietnam War. [10 June 2002] 
Alberto Giacometti (2001) - PopMatters Film Review )They form a chilling glimpse into the indifference of the universe against which Giacometti worked. [23 May 2002] 
WitIn the end, 'Wit' may be remarkable not for what it is but merely for the fact of its existence -- a serious, quasi-intellectual drama filmed by two Oscar-winners miraculously commissioned by and shown on TV. [1 January 1995] 
Sex and the CityUnderneath its slinky-gown allure, 'Sex and the City' is starting to resemble a bare-assed 'Friends' sliding into the flabby ennui of a post-millennial 'thirtysomething'. 
First MondayIn 'First Monday', even more than in 'The West Wing', religious belief functions as a dramatic (and heavy-handed) shortcut. 
DeadlineIn 'Deadline', Dick Wolf's new show for NBC, no one, least of all the self-satisfied Wallace Benton (played with plumy waspishness by Oliver Platt), seems to care a fig for the story. 
Crossing Jordan / PhillyHere are two shows that lift their premises, plotlines, and even their personality quirks from tv past and present, fritter away the skills of good actors, and lock skilled writers and producers into tired formulae. 
Titanic Town (1998)The most important questions are framed as the contradictions facing the characters, not the rights and wrongs of any cause, thanks in part to the filmmaking team's attention to irony and nuance. 
Nurse Betty (2000)Perhaps LaBute's willingness to let the audience close enough to his characters, both psychologically and physically, to appreciate such minor-key modulations, is the movie's biggest surprise. 
Mifune (1999)When Kersten (Anders W. Berthelsen) courts material success in Copenhagen, he also captures his wealthy boss's daughter, Claire (Sofie Grabol). 
Miss Congeniality (2000)Any director who imagines the slender acting talent of Benjamin Bratt (late of TV's 'Law & Order') can sustain the male lead, FBI agent and atavistic prig Eric Matthews (particularly opposite the gloriously charismatic Bullock) requires instant re-immersion in Casting 101. 
A Beautiful Mind (2001)A Beautiful Mind idealizes mental illness as spectacle, a feel-good gladiatorial games of the psyche where the human spirits always triumphs and love always blooms. 
Beautiful People (1999)In language, the gulf between seeing and knowing gapes. The phlegmatic British attempts to be polite and their ardent struggle to keep conversation going, however meaningless its content, become a powerful vehicle for both the pusillanimity of language and the soothing power of its white noise. |
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