Booksmart follows two academic superstars and high school best friends who, the night before graduation, suddenly realize that they should have worked less and played more. Major late-blooming FOMO!
Late Night–Women Do It Right
Late Night movie
In Late Night we see a notoriously, male-dominated world of late-night network TV in which a woman–Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson)– is the host of her own talk show. (Think “The Devil Wears Prada” and Meryl Streep as the “bitch-boss from hell”). The world of late-night television is even more turned upside down when Katherine hires her first and only female staff writer, Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) to tamp down criticism of the show’s lack of diversity– a “two-fer”:...
Tricky Dick–His Own Fantasy World
Narrated by Anderson Cooper, Tricky Dick is a four-part CNN documentary that presents the lesser-known story of Richard Nixon’s life and times. The rise, fall and almost unbelievable comeback and final self-sabotage of his political career are adroitly deconstructed. Through access to archival footage never before seen by the public, the backstory of Richard Nixon’s complex view of opportunity and ambition unfolds.
The story of Nixon’s aggressive strategy for political success, together with his resentment of the elite and his animus towards the press, minorities,...
Queen of the South (La Reina del Sur)–Reigning Supreme
Based on the global best-selling novel “La Reina Del Sur,” by internationally-acclaimed author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Queen of the South, a bilingual telenovela crime drama, has become one of the most popular series of all time for USA and its sister network, Telemundo. Queen of the South, now in its fifth season, is a winner. Thank you, USA, for continuing to add gritty, noir-ish series to your program roster!
A “Narcos”
or “El Chapo”-style
drama about the rise of drug lord Teresa Mendoza (played by the exceptional
Alice...
Joker–No Laughing Matter
Joker is a devastating portrait of a rapid descent into mental illness.
This Joker, nemesis to the comic book masked superhero Batman, takes center stage with only a tangential reference to Batman and for good reason. Now we see the masked Joker as few could have imagined. And it is no small feat to have a performance which overshadows the also remarkable previous Jokers played by Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito and Heath Ledger.
In Joker a marginally
employed and aspiring stand-up comedian, Arthur Fleck (played by the
astonishing Joaquin Phoenix), has a series...
Infamy–The Terror (Season 2)
The
Terror: Infamy is the second and
current season (ten episodes) of AMC’s historical drama/horror series. Infamy takes a dark and
infamous chapter in US history and attempts
to give this shameful period both a humanizing and ghostly touch.
The often overlooked or little-known story of Japanese
American internment is the historical centerpiece of Infamy and asks the question: What does it truly mean to identify as an
American? From 1942 to 1945, more than 145,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese
Canadians were forced from their homes by presidential...