-
Will Streaming TV Evolve to a Network TV Model?
A few weeks ago, my wife started watching “Brothers and Sisters,” the family drama/comedy that ran on ABC from 2006 to 2011. It stars Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Matthew Rhys, Rachel Griffiths, Rob Lowe, and Dave Annable. Like much of network TV I didn’t watch at the time, I kinda remembered it as “that show with Sally Field and Ally McBeal.” But I sat down to watch a few episodes with her and it’s quite enjoyable. Having Rob Lowe speak political words (like he did so well in “The West Wing”) is something I always enjoy. And now that I’ve watched both seasons of HBO’s “Perry Mason,” I now know…
-
Time: You Don’t Know How Much You Have So Use It Wisely
The text arrived on Monday night: I’ve got some bad news. Turned out, a good friend from my undergrad years, a guy only a year older than my fifty-four years, passed away. His name was John and his smile lit up several rooms. So did his laugh. We were in Longhorn Band together and he was drum major two of my five years. He expected all of us to maintain a high standard, a standard he modeled, so if there was ever any doubt about how to march and perform, just try to be like John. The news came as a shock to everyone that knew John: how could such…
-
The Great “Friends” Rewatch: How Does It Hold Up?
Like many a GenX-er, I watched “Friends” in real time and had multiple discussions as to which Friend we were most like. Also like many folks my age, I rewatched one of the quintessential 1990s sitcoms because my son wanted to see it. So, how does it hold up? The Early Years We started the show in February 2022 via HBOMax, watching an episode a night over dinner. My son continued watching after he moved out of the house last July. He completed the show’s run this past February. My wife and I finished that last episode this past weekend. Ten years of “Friends” condensed down to a year and…
-
Drowning by T.J. Newman is the Best Movie You’ll Read This Summer
From the opening, harrowing moments of the first three chapters to the last 30 minutes of the audiobook, this book did not let up. A few weeks ago, I finished T. J. Newman’s debut, FALLING and eagerly jumped into her brand-new book, DROWNING. In the book, a plane suffers mechanical failure two minutes after takeoff from Honolulu and crashes into the ocean. Unlike those famous airplane disaster movies from the 1970s that takes a quarter of the movie to introduce the characters and get the plane in the air, Newman puts you on the plane just after takeoff from the first sentence. By Chapter 3, the plane is down. And…
-
Is It Really That Bad? A Reevaluation of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls
Let’s not bury the lead: given the five Indiana Jones films, Crystal Skulls still ranks last. But a “bad” Indiana Jones movie is still better than a lot of other films. And you know what? It’s not as bad as you remember. The Connection With the Dial of Destiny When it came time to write the final Indy film, the screenwriters could go one of two ways: acknowledge the events of Crystal Skull or retcon them. Thankfully for all of us, they took the former route. And the end results in the new movie are ultimately quite moving. In fact, there is one scene in the new movie that reminds…
-
A Brooding, Darker Hero: A Review of Indiana Jones and the Philosopher’s Stone
Leading up to the final Indiana Jones movie, The Dial of Destiny, I knew I would be in an Indiana Jones mood. As a result, I reached back to the 1990s and the novels written by a trio of writers: Rob MacGregor, Martin Caidin, and Max McCoy. I had read the first novel, The Peril at Delphi, back when it was released in 1991. But that Indy was younger and, for whatever reason, I kept buying the books but not reading them. After a cursory bit of research in 2023, I discovered that McCoy was hired to write stories more like the Indy we meet in the original trilogy and…
-
Growing Up and Older With Indiana Jones: A Dial of Destiny Review
Indiana Jones and the Dial of destiny is a chance to reconnect with an old friend for one last adventure before we have to say good-bye. In that framework, the new film works quite well.