Tony Sokol
‘Brian and Charles’ Is as Delightfully Quirky as the Robot at Its Center
Brian and Charles • Published on June 2022
“Can birds do what they like?” robot Charles Petrescu (Chris Hayward) asks his friend, housemate and creator, Brian Gittins (David Earl), at the midway point of “Brian and Charles.” Written…
‘Jerry and Marge Go Large’ Gives Tips for a Caper So Clean, You’ll Want to Try It at Home
Annette Bening • Published on June 2022
You gotta be in it to win it, and “Jerry and Marge Go Large” proves the biggest payouts come when more are merrier. While most lotteries favor the house to win, the…
‘Good Luck to You, Leo Grande’ Gives Emma Thompson Emotional Relief in a Coming-of-Age-With-Interest Story
Daryl McCormack • Published on June 2022
Embracing all the stereotypes, “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” is a British sex comedy, meaning it has a lot of comedy and very little sex. Even oral gratification is performed with…
‘Dashcam’ Unmasks Horrors of the Pandemic Era in a Livestream Shot From the Right
Dashcam • Published on June 2022
It’s never been so easy to root for the monsters as it is in writer-director Rob Savage’s iPhone livestream footage film, “Dashcam.” Even when they’re bleeding and worse in the back…
Amazon’s ‘Kids in the Hall’ Breaks the Curse, Crushes Heads in a Reunion of the Comedy Punks
Amazon • Published on May 2022
If we’d only known how unprotected the earth is in this galaxy, we never would have unplugged the last fax machine. The resuscitated “Kids in the Hall” series comes as a new…
‘Firebird’ Goes Behind the Iron Curtain for a Steamy Cold War Romance
Features • Published on April 2022
The cold war has never been so hot as in the steamy soldier story “Firebird,” an adaptation of “The Story of Roman,” a memoir by Russian actor and former Soviet soldier Sergey…
‘The Offer’ Tells How ‘The Godfather’ Was Made, but It’s Also a Tribute to ’70s Filmmaking
Dan Fogler • Published on April 2022
The new Paramount Plus series, “The Offer,” is supposed to be about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s (Dan Fogler) adaptation of Mario Puzo’s (Patrick Gallo) best-selling novel “The Godfather,” as…
‘The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes’ Offers a Mystifying Bio, but Few New Revelations
Features • Published on April 2022
Marilyn Monroe’s premature death spawned as many conspiracy theories as the movies she made in her career. Did the most famous blonde bombshell of the 20th Century die of an unintentional barbiturate overdose,…
Céline Sciamma’s ‘Petite Maman’ Is Hauntingly Hopeful and Perilously Poignant
Céline Sciamma • Published on April 2022
French filmmaker Céline Sciamma is as mischievously playful as an eight-year-old child. The writer-director knows everyone coming into “Petite Maman” is expecting a different kind of horror movie, so she tosses…
‘We’re All Going to the World’s Fair’ Dives Deep Into the Wormhole of Identity for Sad Scares
Alex G • Published on April 2022
It is oddly fitting that Jane Schoenbrun’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” includes its ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) credits, done by Slight Sounds, in the opening sequence. This…
Amazon’s ‘Outer Range’ Tosses a Supernatural Western Omelet Down a Black Hole
Amazon Prime Video • Published on April 2022
Amazon’s “Outer Range,” is a multi-hyphenate and open-ended series. Its genres include science fiction, western, soap opera, multigenerational family drama, and murder mystery. It is equal parts an Ingmar Bergman film, adding…
AMC’s ‘61st Street’ Drops a Heavy Burden of Proof, but Barely Tips the Scales of Justice
61st Street • Published on April 2022
Everyone is a hero in their own story, even the villains and victims. AMC’s “61st Street” takes the time to blend social, street, and criminal justice in far more equal terms than…
Richard Linklater’s ‘Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood’ Is a Nostalgic Blast From the Past
Apollo 10 1/2 • Published on April 2022
Even NASA scientists forget to carry the 1 every now and then. In this way, director Richard Linklater’s animated adventure, “Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood,” is the polar opposite to the…
‘The Thing About Pam’: Renée Zellweger Channels a Killer for Highly Stylized Suburban Crime Spoof
Features • Published on March 2022
Desperate housewives can find solace in “The Thing About Pam,” NBC’s fictionalized account of the real-life murderer, Pamela Hupp. Played by Renée Zellweger as a suburban soufflé of social tics and…
In Starz’s ‘Shining Vale,’ Courtney Cox Finds a Ghost Writer Can Make All the Difference
Courtney Cox • Published on March 2022
The living can be so annoying. They are judgmental, distracting, and ask far too many questions. The dead are the same, but their questions are more impertinent in Starz’s haunted house spin “…
‘Worst Roommate Ever’ Turns an Interesting Premise Into a Tired Formula
Blumhouse • Published on March 2022
Sharing an apartment, house, or floor with a stranger is always a potentially frightening situation. Cohabitation of any kind can become claustrophobic in the wrong situations. The unstable landscape of real estate over…
Netflix’s ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Sequel Is Just Another Hackneyed Slasher
Features • Published on February 2022
Tobe Hooper’s original “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” worked because it had a low-budget, no-frills, documentary feel. The film billed itself as being based on a true story, and the actors looked like…
‘Murderville’ Brings Cookie-Cutter Comedy to a Police Procedural
Conan O' Brien • Published on February 2022
Netflix books a new culprit and flogs it to death. The premise of “Murderville” is simple: Venerated and decorated Senior Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) is the only murder cop on…
‘The Novice’: Isabelle Fuhrman Tortures the Team, and Herself, in Lauren Hadaway’s Subversive Sports Drama
Features • Published on December 2021
It’s only rowing, for Christ’s sake. The misery Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman) puts herself through to be the best at what she’s worst at makes for a mesmerizing performance which is often…
‘Anne Boleyn’: A Good Concept Loses Its Head
AMC Plus • Published on December 2021
AMC+’s “Anne Boleyn” is based on the “truth and lies,” which become facts in history. The three-part miniseries boasts about it in its opening explanatory disclaimer. It is a reimagining of the…