Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mid-December is usually the sweet spot for releasing high-caliber films in cinemas before awards season kicks off. This year most cinemas may be closed, but that won’t stop prestige dramas from hitting the small screens in 2020. Roaring onto the scene is Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Directed by George C. Wolfe, adapted from August Wilson’s play by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this film features powerhouse performances by Viola Davis at Ma Rainey and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final film performance as trumpeter Levee. Continue Reading →
BoJack Horseman
As TV’s best series about mental illness and addiction comes to an end, our hero BoJack doesn’t get closure, exactly (because there’s really no such thing), but is further down the road to self-awareness and real insight than he ever was. He may end up making yet another bad decision based both on self-loathing and selfishness, but there has to be some reason he keeps getting another chance, another hit at the reset button. If you’ve ever struggled with depression and/or addiction, then you know how both wonderful and absolutely terrifying that feels. Though the final season stumbles a bit with extended bits on cancel culture and open relationships, it ends on a subtle, melancholy note: “Life’s a bitch, and then you go on living.” [Gena Radcliffe] Continue Reading →
Tiny Pretty Things
SimilarBand of Brothers, Cigarette Girl, Dark Winds, Fatal Vision, Nero Wolfe i Archie Goodwin,
Roswell Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan,
When I saw that Netflix made all ten hour-long episodes of its new ballet show, Tiny Pretty Things, available to review, I was intimidated. Even during a global pandemic, ten hours of uninterrupted solo TV time can be hard to come by on short notice. Luckily, Tiny Pretty Things was built to be binged. Fast-paced and drama-filled, the story whisks viewers away from their own lives and plunges them into a grim, seedy world of backroom dealings, sexual blackmail, Machiavellian schemes, and, finally, ballet. Continue Reading →