Articles written by the author
Review: 'The Boys' Deconstructs the Superhero, With a Light Touch
The team of Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (producers) and Garth Ennis (comics writer) has given us AMC’s “Preacher,” the most inventive, audacious and purely entertaining comics-based series of the past few years. With “Preacher” on the way out — its final season begins Aug. 4 — the three are getting right back in the game, with a new show based on an Ennis comic, “The Boys,” coming to Amazon Prime Video on Friday.'South Side' and 'Sherman's Showcase': Two Flavors of Nostalgia
(Critic's Notebook)'Veronica Mars' and the One-Great-Season Debate
(Critic’s Pick)'Veronica Mars' and the One-Great-Season Debate
(Critic’s Pick)Review: Welcome back, sitcom high school
With his new series, “Mr. Iglesias,” arriving three months after the contentious cancellation of “One Day at a Time,” comedian Gabriel Iglesias will inevitably be seen as picking up the cause of Latino representation on Netflix. That’s a lot of pressure for someone who’s really just trying to remake “Welcome Back, Kotter.”
Review: Rebooting 'Das Boot,' on land and sea
Granted, you’d have to be pretty fearless to set eight hours of TV aboard a submarine, in the manner of Wolfgang Petersen’s film, which took place almost entirely within the confines of the ill-fated U-96.
'Luther,' back from the dead
The show lives off the tension between Cross’ grand-guignol theatrics — the latest killer wears not only a creepy Guy Fawkes mask but a halo of halogen lights, like a self-contained circus sideshow — and Elba’s immensely world-weary, endearing performance as Luther.
Review: Good Cop, Bad Cop, Crazy Cop in 'Line of Duty'
(Critic’s Pick)Review: Can this marriage be saved (at the local pub)?
What’s new about the series “State of the Union” is its 10-minute episodes. What’s interesting about it is its formidable concentration of talent: writer Nick Hornby, director Stephen Frears and actors Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd. There are TV shows with more famous names in the credits, but it’s hard to think of a cast and crew with greater potential.
Review: 'Chernobyl,' the Disaster Movie
How do you dramatize a great big mess? The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is a subject full of gripping detail and historical and scientific import. But as a story, it’s hard to get your arms around — sprawling and repetitious, dependent on arcane particulars of physics and engineering, marked by failures to act and by large-scale action that accomplishes nothing.Review: In 'Dead to Me' on Netflix, Widows Make the Best BFFs
This week’s case study in the anxieties of contemporary television: “Dead to Me,” a new series on Netflix starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as widows who meet cute at a grief support group.Review: Essential History in 'Reconstruction' on PBS
(Critic's Pick)Review: 'The Chi' returns to the south side of Chicago
The first season of “The Chi,” on Showtime, pulled a solid audience for a premium-cable prestige drama — about 700,000 an episode, enough to bring it back for a second season that starts Sunday.
Review: 'Warrior,' pitched by Bruce Lee and made by cinemax
The story behind “Warrior” is irresistible.
Review: In 'Mrs. Wilson,' an actress uncovers her grandfather's lies
Alexander Wilson lived an improbable, deceitful, destructive but undeniably intriguing life. An author of popular spy novels and a British secret agent himself in World War II, he married four women from the 1920s through the ‘50s without bothering to divorce any of them.
Review: Amazon's 'Hanna,' Genetically Modified for Streaming Video
“Hanna,” released in 2011, was not a film that called out for a remake or a sequel. It had a singular style, and a delicacy — despite its frequent beatdowns and gunbattles — that would suffer from duplication. Bookended by parallel killings, it was a self-contained chronicle of an obsessive and successful quest for revenge that left no important questions unanswered.In 'Turn Up Charlie,' the Manny Isn't Just a Man, He's Idris Elba
The new Netflix series “Turn Up Charlie” gets to the heart of Idris Elba, sitting at the intersection of his two passions: being a DJ and making heartwarming dramedies that reflect his working-class London origins.5 new international series visit 5 far-flung crime scenes
Expanding the borders of the true-crime documentary, this chilling two-part series re-examines the disappearance of 43 young men in southern Mexico in 2014.
For 'Crashing,' the third season was the charm, also the end
<em xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the final episode of “Crashing.”</em>
John Mulaney and Seth Meyers Fondly Send Up Sondheim and He's Amused
Elaine Stritch melting down as she sings “The Ladies Who Lunch” over and over again, into the night. Record producer Thomas Z. Shepard telling her, “It’s just flaccid.” Stephen Sondheim, with elaborate patience, coaching a singer in the proper pronunciation of “bubi.”
