Fame: The Complete First Season (review)

It’s kinda the TV version of those cheerfully cornball old-fashioned movies in which someone chirps, “Hey, kids, let’s build a stage in the barn and put on a show!” Here the kids are students at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts, so they’ve already got the stage, but they’re constantly organizing themselves to … more…

The Outer Limits: Season One (review)

Science fiction in the visual realms — film and TV — frequently bears little resemblance to its bookish cousin, which makes this new incarnation of the 1960s anthology show a particular joy. The 21 episodes here, from the series’ 1995 first season on the Showtime cable network, are intelligent, literate, even provocative: just what science … more…

Love, Ludlow (review)

Perhaps if this Sundance Film Festival selection weren’t so intent on establishing its indie bona fides, it could relax enough to be truly engaging. But the self-conscious quirkiness of both the script — by David L. Paterson, based on his play Finger Painting in a Murphy Bed — and the direction, by Adrienne Weiss, puts … more…

Kidnapped (review)

Sure, Robert Louis Stevenson’s unforgettable tale of David Balfour’s adventurous coming of age takes place at a specific — and much storied — time and place, but this sublime, riveting 2005 British TV adaptation brings to the screen a grand sense of timelessness that makes the novel such an enduring classic. The high seas of … more…

Once Upon a Mattress (review)

This made-for-TV update of the classic Broadway show may be the original fractured fairy tale: The Princess and the Pea gets a kooky, musical, feminist spin that is just as fun and fresh today as it must have been when it made its Broadway debut in 1959. Comic queen Carol Burnett reigns as the royal … more…

Family Bonds (review)

There’s a gritty authenticity to this rough-edged reality show: instead of letting viewers rubberneck on the bizarre personal disasters of the rich or the weird (or the rich and the weird), here we’re voyeurs peeking in on an ordinary American family behind the typical closed doors — actual and metaphoric — that protect us all … more…

totally quotable! 2005 final

Here they are, the most quotable movie lines of the year 2005. No ranking — newer quotes are posted at the top. [Warning: May contain spoilers.]

say what? 2005 final

It had to be done: all in one place, the very best bad dialogue of the year 2005. No ranking — newer quotes are posted at the top. [Warning: May contain spoilers.]