“‘Rock and Roll Queen’, the ninth and penultimate episode of Season One, is largely a gathering together of ongoing plot threads and weaving them into a runway on which the entire season will land next week, and that’s fine.”
A Column on Action Films by Dylan Moses Griffin
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
A Column by Jordan Brooks
“It’s hard to tell from the show what exactly Alexander and Karaszewski believe about Simpson’s guilt, but that doesn’t keep them from being any less interested in him as a human being.”
“Perhaps he is finding a way to explore the realm of the fantastic in a new way, a more honest way. Honest, but even more horrifying.”
“In a camp performance, female sexuality can be turned back around to reveal that these traditionally patriarchal ideals aren’t always as attractive as imagined.”
“Considering how little ‘Winter’s War’ really has to do with its predecessor and subject, they might as well just make her the lead for a third film.”
“If the director’s approach to the material isn’t to your liking — say he’s too harsh to his characters or revels in gore for gore’s sake — a new direction, even within the confines of the broad horror genre, is just around the corner.”
“Jeff Nichols remains one of the greatest working American directors, and no studio interference can ever dilute that.”
“Girls is so fucking good this year.”
“Because, man, when Vinyl sucks, it really sucks. But when it doesn’t suck… it doesn’t suck. Read that back as early 70s Iggy Pop, it’s a better line that way.”
“As Bridget Gregory in ‘The Last Seduction,’ Linda Fiorentino is like the shock of hearing a gunshot in the dead of night. She embodies, more than any other character, the ethos of the modern femme fatale.”
“Budreau is smart enough to illuminate the non-existent divide between the master performer and the man who sticks a needle in his arms, as Baker knows that he needs to stay clean to keep working, but only heroin can numb the pain.”
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
“However much we’ve laughed at the characters in the preceding episodes, ‘Manna from Heaven’ focuses on understanding why they act as they do.”
“It is rare for a film to look objectively at war’s after effects and the violence it instills on its participants, and yet Alice Winocour’s Disorder is not concerned with pity or ferocity.”
“From the safe, warm college campus scenarios that unfold in bathrooms, bus stops and classrooms, we see fringes of an increasingly conservative religious movement nipping at the edges of the screen.”
“‘The Panic in Central Park’ is a richly realized half hour of television, maybe the best episode in the history of a show that’s had some awfully good ones.”
“Is there any point to Richie being an asshole? Is Richie even a character? What is it about Richie Finestra as a protagonist that requires this story be set in the early 70s?”