Like an overcrowded nest of vipers, everyone yearns for the top chair without realizing they are the prey in the feature-length series finale of “Succession.” The HBO hit has become a pop…
Los Angeles is like a microcosm of so many of this country’s contradictions. The immensely wealthy live in close proximity to the struggling working class. Take public transportation and you face Dantenean images…
It has been 42 years since Mel Brooks released “History of the World: Part I.” Since then an entire medium has been catching up to him. When the comedic genius released his hilarious…
Netflix’s “You” returns as another example of a series that has settled into a comfortable enough format to please its longtime fans, while possibly attracting a few new viewers. By now all…
America’s colonial history continues to cast long and unnerving shadows into our own time. The plight of missing and murdered Native American women is a glaring example of a need to reckon with…
Nostalgia in media can depend a lot on newness and familiarity dancing together. We like to look back at eras we might have missed, while considering the similarities to our own. One key…
The “auteur theory” has recently been transformed by the arthouse crowd into cult adoration of directors known more for their visual polish than stories. Danish enfant terrible Nicolas Winding Refn has developed…
The Addams Family is endearing because they are so aloof to their own strangeness. Being dark-clad ghouls is simply their way of life, so our own “normal” customs don’t register. No wonder Netflix…