John Hansen

First episode impressions: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Season 4 (TV review)

As if to not overwhelm “Star Wars” fans who were also picking up the Blu-ray release of the films on Friday, the fourth season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (7 p.m. Central Fridays on Cartoon Network) starts with a one-hour technical showcase that has very little story and character. It’s basically just a big underwater battle […]

Joss Whedon and ‘Buffy’ Season 9 get back to basics … basically (Comic book review)

Since the beginning of “Buffy,” I’ve found myself liking the characters more and more and the world they live in — the “mythology,” in geek-speak — less and less. (I’m talking in generalities; obviously, Angel’s backstory in Season 2 was a great addition to the mythology, for example.) It puts me in a weird position […]

First episode impressions: ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Season 7 (TV review)

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (9 p.m. Central Thursdays) is getting so crazy that even the FX network seems jittery about it, running so many “mature content” advisories that you’d think it was screening “Hobo with a Shotgun” instead of a half-hour comedy. Not that I blame them; Thursday’s Season 7 premiere, “Frank’s Pretty Woman” — the first […]

First episode impressions: ‘Parenthood’ Season 3 (TV review)

I detest the phrase “something for everyone” because 95 percent of the time when an event claims to offer “something for everyone,” it doesn’t interest me in the least bit. “Parenthood” (9 p.m. Central Tuesdays on NBC) is very much a “something for everyone” show, and indeed it doesn’t have a singular, definable hook (other than what’s […]

First episode impressions: ‘New Girl’ (TV review)

With Zooey Deschanel in the title role, I expect “New Girl” (8 p.m. Central Tuesdays starting Sept. 20 on Fox, but the first episode is already on Hulu) to be a notch above a standard sitcom. Her presence puts the stamp of passion-project quality on an endeavor, as seen in “Almost Famous,” “(500) Days of Summer” […]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1

All 12 episodes of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Season 1 (1997), ranked

TV review: Joss Whedon’s high-school-is-hell epic begins in promising fashion with the 12-episode first season of “Buffy.”

Fall TV 2011: 6 new shows and 6 returning shows to watch (Commentary)

Believe it or not, the fall TV season is less than a week away. Fittingly, one of the best-looking new shows and one of the best returning shows will throw out the first pitches of the season when they premiere on Tuesday. Here’s a closer look at those shows and more — my top six […]

‘Blue Valentine,’ ‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story,’ ‘Cedar Rapids,’ ‘Hobo with a Shotgun,’ ‘Hall Pass,’ ‘Skateland’ (Movie reviews)

With a few days off from work and a couple weeks to go before the fall TV season, I took the opportunity to rent some movies that I’d wanted to see for a while that didn’t play at my local theater or that I’d missed. First up are two movies that retroactively make my top […]

3 of the best ‘Star Wars’ documentaries were made by a fan (Movie commentary)

I don’t mean to rain on the parade of fans who are excited for the Sept. 16 release of the “Star Wars” saga on Blu-ray, but I’m not getting too worked up about it. As readers of my blog know, I am a technological laggard despite being a TV and movie geek; I just got […]

‘X-Files’ flashback: I want to believe the 2008 film is great, but it’s probably just OK (Movie review)

I think the second “X-Files” movie, 2008’s “I Want to Believe,” is a nice thank-you letter to fans, who are given one last chance to follow Mulder and Scully into the darkness (plus: Hey, there’s Skinner!). It certainly has its detractors, though: The film scores a 5.9 on the IMDB ratings (compared to an 8.9 for the […]