‘Valerian and Laureline’ flashback (Comic book review): “Chatelet Station, Destination Cassiopeia,” “Brooklyn Line, Terminus Cosmos,”“The Ghosts of Inverloch,” “The Wrath of Hypsis.”
The Diablo Cody/Jason Reitman “Tully” – now available for home viewing – eventually won me over by being a quality film, but I was initially peeved that it uses the same title as one of the best pictures of 2002. But on the other hand, maybe this new “Tully” will draw fresh attention to the […]
After a mediocre start with “The Curse” and “Old Friends,” IDW’s “Angel” title picks up steam with “Spotlight” (2006), five issues that focus, respectively, on Doyle, Wesley, Gunn, Connor and Illyria. With the exception of the Season 1-set “Doyle,” they are set during Season 5. Rather than just throwbacks to the old days, they flesh […]
It’s easy to see why “Like Father” went straight to Netflix (the modern equivalent of straight-to-video) rather than getting a theatrical release, but fans of Kristen Bell and/or Kelsey Grammer will still find this light comedy to be mildly charming. The feature-length writing-directing debut from Lauren Miller Rogen, it portrays a workaholic woman, Rachel (Bell), […]
Movie review: The latest pseudo-documentary from Zak Bagans is awkwardly caught between being a true documentary and a horror flick.
“Unseen I: The Burning” (May 2001), the first of a “Buffy”/“Angel” crossover trilogy, is one of the more unusual Buffyverse books so far. It’s notably decompressed, features many different storylines, and –most strikingly – digs into themes that don’t seem to be in the wheelhouse of this saga. For instance, Buffy is going after Los […]
From “Juno” (2008) to “Young Adult” (2011) to this year’s “Tully,” writer Diablo Cody – with Jason Reitman directing – has put together a spiritual trilogy of films about transitional periods in life, and they are always jarring. Juno is a teenager who is about to have a baby, Mavis is an adult who clings […]
“Old Friends” (November 2005-March 2006), the second IDW “Angel” comic series where Jeff Mariotte is tasked with introducing us to “Season 6” – apparently without being allowed to address the cliffhanger at the end of Season 5 – is marginally more satisfying than “The Curse.” We get solid information about the fates of characters other […]
Ah, a tale of a kid who feels like an outsider. It’s not exactly untapped territory for a movie, yet comedian Bo Burnham, in his assured debut as a writer-director, approaches this material with tones and angles that haven’t been put together quite like this before. In “Eighth Grade,” Burnham writes from the heart about […]
I remember when “Tales of the Slayer Vol. 1” (October 2001) came out, it felt to me like for first time the Buffyverse had a sprawling Expanded Universe similar to what “Star Wars” had developed. Starting here, a character need not be peripherally linked to Buffy in order to have their story told.