‘Community’ Breakdown: ‘App Development and Condiments’
After last week’s less-than-stellar return, ‘Community’ revisits what it does best: high-concept episodes.
‘How I Met Your Mother’: ‘Vesuvius’
This episode had some funny moments, but the weariness of this season has fully set in.
‘The Walking Dead’ Breakdown: ‘Still’
This week’s ‘Walking Dead’ begins with a silly quest for booze, but ended up being one of the strongest episodes of the season.
‘Girls’ Breakdown: ‘Flo’
The more isolated, single-character-centric episodes of ‘Girls’ have been not only some of the best of this season, but the best of the entire series. Naturally, this week’s offering, “Flo,” is no exception.
‘Community’ Breakdown: ‘Bondage and Male Sexuality’
‘Community’ returns, following an Olympic hiatus, with a major snoozer of an episode.
Critical Coin Toss: Placing Bets on the 86th Academy Awards
Before placing your Oscar bets, check out this conversation between Stephen Mills and Mark Pursell. They provide their take on the awards, debating who will win, who should win, and who should have been nominated in the first place.
Critical Coin Toss: American Hustled? A Discussion About David O. Russell’s Hot Mess of Con Artists
Leading into the glitzy Oscar season, John Keith and Brice Ezell take a look at one of the most acclaimed films of 2013, ‘American Hustle.’ Don’t let the Metascore fool you: not everyone is in love with David O. Russell’s take on the mysterious ABSCAM scandal.
‘How I Met Your Mother’ Breakdown: ‘Rally’
With the Olympics (finally) over, ‘HIMYM’ kicks off its final run with this week’s ‘Rally.’
‘Girls’ Breakdown: ‘Incidentals’
The understated satisfaction of witnessing Adam accomplish something as truly boast-worthy as a Broadway role is brilliantly handled. The rest of the episode doesn’t quite live up to this triumph, but still offers plenty for which to stick around.
‘The Walking Dead’ Breakdown: ‘Claimed’
This week’s episode finished setting the stage for the rest of the season. We now have a clearer direction and new and interesting plot points, including a scientist with a mullet who claims he can save the world.
Scraping the Barrel: #92, ‘Dream Well’
This Hungarian disaster isn’t worth your time — or your $31.50 for a DVD copy.
Checkin’ ‘Em Twice: 10 Best ‘Twin Peaks’ Scenes
Since we’re in the spirit with all these ‘Twin Peaks’ rumors, here are the 10 best scenes from this surreal, thought-provoking, cancelled-far-too-soon series.
Checkin’ ‘Em Twice (Christmas Edition): 10 Left-of-Center Christmas Movies
For the misanthrope, the cynic, the atheist, the solitary, and the anti-consumerist among us, there are some “Christmas” movies which encapsulate the spirit of the season while not shying away from its dark underbelly.
Re-Reviews (Christmas / Pizza Edition): ‘Home Alone’
Our relationship with art changes over time. In our instantaneous iPhone age, we don’t live with albums or movies or TV shows or books like we used to. With Re-Reviews, we re-explore our relationship with a piece of pop culture — and how that relationship evolves over time. We dismiss some art unfairly — or […]
Scraping the Barrel: #93, ‘Battlefield Earth’
If you are in a position to egregiously waste 118 minutes of your existence, then I invite you to view ‘Battlefield Earth.’
Scraping the Barrel: #94: ‘3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain’
You might get a little kick out of the slapsticky ‘Home Alone’-type ninja action, but the lousy dialogue, ridiculous premise, and forgettable performances deserved to kill the ‘3 Ninjas’ franchise.
Back Off, Jerk: In Defense of ‘The Mexican’
Stephen Mills explores this action-adventure comedy, which subverted audience and critic expectations, avoiding the obvious Brad Pitt-Julia Roberts romance in favor of a more unusual plot.
Scraping the Barrel: #95, ‘Tees Maar Khan’
Mark Pursell takes a closer look at this schizophrenic Bollywood trainwreck.
Scraping the Barrel: #96, ‘It’s Pat’
Ryan Poynter takes a closer look at this often maligned ’90s gender-bender.
Scraping the Barrel: #97, ‘The Horror of Party Beach’
Ryan takes a closer look at the “horror monster musical” ‘The Horror of Party Beach.’