Play Review: “Skylight”
When David Hare’s Skylight premiered at the end of the Thatcher era in Britain, it surely struck a nerve with audiences. A play that intertwines politics and passion via two ex-lovers, the political ideology is still as sharp as ever even though the play has dated itself. In this first ever revival, Bill Nighy and…
Musical Review: “Fun Home”
One of the most satisfying experiences in musical theatre is when a composer taps into powerful and recognizable emotional moments, and against all odds, finds a way to set these revelations to music. The audience is left wondering: "how did they do that?". Sometimes it's a youth overwhelmed with love, as in 'On the Street…
Play Review: “Hand to God”
Plays as irreverent, profane, and wacky as Hand to God rarely make it to the big Broadway houses. So I raise a hallelujah to the theatre gods for giving us this outstanding play at the Booth Theatre. It's one of the best shows this season. Robert Askins has written an insanely funny dark comedy that you…
Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of the Summer
The days are long, the weather hot, and the movies big. That's right it's summer and that means that the winter freeze on movies is over and we can look forward to the popcorn flicks, raunchy comedies, and the first of the Oscar contenders in theaters. Last year we saw huge sleeper hits like Guardians of…
Scandal Review: “A Few Good Women” (4×21)
It wasn’t until after I had already watched this week’s episode of Scandal that I learned the episode was titled “A Few Good Women,” a play on, of course, Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men, an altogether superior tale of abuse in the military. Of course, Scandal is dealing with a different type of abuse—rape, here, as…
Shameless Review: “South Side Rules” (5×10)
There’s really no way to even begin talking about “South Side Rules” without mentioning that knockout of an ending. Looking back on it, it’s a classic bait-and-switch. Ian and Mickey are too happy—seriously, how adorable is their drunken “Love Is a Battlefield” sing along—and that should be the first sign that something is about to…
Shameless Review: “Drugs Actually” (5×11)
Well, wouldn’t you know it? It’s another great episode of Shameless! The show isn’t necessarily firing on all cylinders even now, but in all honesty, even at the heights of the fourth season there were still missteps here and there (and one pretty big misstep named Matty…). So while not everything in “Drugs Actually” is…
Scandal Season Finale Review: “You Can’t Take Command” (4×22)
“You Can’t Take Command” is the sort of finale that, as you’re watching it, is pretty damn entertaining. But the second it’s over (and, really, during any commercial break or even just a pause in the episode’s action), and you think about any of its components in any sort of detail, the whole thing threatens…
Scandal Review: “No More Blood” (4×13)
By the end of “No More Blood,” Olivia Pope is back in Washington where she belongs, and everything has changed. Or at least this is the note on which Scandal would like to leave us at the end of this long ordeal. “No More Blood” brings the kidnapping of Olivia Pope to a somewhat natural,…
Scandal Review: “Gladiators Don’t Run” (4×12)
It could just be that I watched Scandal late this week, and after a stellar night for HBO’s dramas, but color me underwhelmed by “Gladiators Don’t Run,” which is a scattered, confusing mess of an episode, one that twists and contorts the plots into braided pretzels so intricate that even the writers themselves seem to…