The Series
You've all heard of "The Seinfeld Curse", the plague that struck all cast members of the iconic series and prohibited them from finding success after the show ended in 1998. With the likes of Veep and Old Christine, the gang has Julia Louis-Dreyfus to thank for breaking the curse (hey, I actually liked Watching Ellie!), but it's Prognosis: Negative for the fellas. Jerry isn't even trying (and really, why should he?), while Jason Alexander has languished in forgettable blink-or-you-missed 'em sitcoms like Bob Patterson and Listen Up! As for Michael Richards...um, yeeeeeah...Read the entire review

The Movie
Unlike Peter Griffin, I'm always a little leery of scripts that blatantly highlight their movie title in the dialogue. It comes pretty early in this thriller ("We're just a few citizens who are...Seeking Justice!"), and I have to admit it immediately put me on guard. Ultimately, the script is what lets this modest effort down (more on that later), although the direction and some of the performances save it enough to keep you interested. That comes as no surprise considering helmer Roger Donaldson has given us the likes of The Bank Job and No Way Out--and considering the film gives us ...Read the entire review

The Movie
Every time I hear someone whine that "the book was so much better than the movie!" I want to slap them. Is it really fair to compare such different artistic mediums? Don't you have to accept that screenplays can't realistically accommodate every aspect of an entire novel, and that they should be judged separately on their own terms? It probably doesn't help that I don't actually read books (really, who has time?), but back in the day when I did, Dean Koontz novels were a frequent source of enjoyment. And while I never actually read his 1980 hit Whispers, after watching this 1990 adaptation I can undoubtedly say that...sigh...the book was without question infinitely better than the movie.

...Read the entire review

The Series
I know, Designing Women fans...I know. I've feared this moment, too: Season 5, the beginning of the end, the last great hurrah before everything changed following the departures of Jean Smart (an amicable split, the actress would appear in the double-episode premiere of Season 6) and Delta Burke (a not-so-amicable split, she was gone for good after this season). At least now we have the benefit of hindsight, and can enjoy and appreciate these episodes and a...Read the entire review

The Series
My dad is pretty set in his ways. Changes in opinion come slow (or never). But I was pleasantly surprised by a recent admission that proved the old man was more than willing to change his tune should the evidence prove too strong. "You know, I've never been a fan of Martin Short or Lily Tomlin," he confided. "But they are really good in Damages."

Look at my dad! Growing, learning and changing his views, open to new experiences! And you know what? He's right: They are really good in the third season of Damages, which returns for 13 episodes filled with legal intrigue and enough double, triple and quadruple crosses to make your head spin. As usual with reviews for this show, the less said about the st...Read the entire review

The Series
In the annals of primetime network television, it remains etched in stone tablets as one of the most memorably audacious events to ever grace (disgrace?) the small screen--tablets that are also stained with blood from the likes of such esteemed stars as Joan Collins, John Forsythe, Diahann Carroll and the Academy Award-nominated Ali MacGraw, whose bullet-riddled bodies draped over each other at the end of Dynasty's 1985 cliffhanger. The "Moldavian Massacre" epitomized what had made the series so po...Read the entire review

The Movie
No, that's not an official advertisement you see in the opening seconds of Violet Tendencies--just some good ol' fashioned product placement to smack you in the face as an ample woman proudly addresses her homo friends with a shout-out: "I want to thank Manhunt.net for sponsoring my wedding reception!" Probably not the wisest introduction for a movie, the first impression one of aggressive cyber commercialism (don't you want to try and be at least a little subtle?!). What's even more frustrating is that the ad is for the sexually charged social networking site, one that counts people like "PassAroundPartyBottom69" and "BreedMeRaw" among its members. Not that there's anything wrong with...Read the entire review

The Series
Really, AMC? That's your plan for maintaining the momentum of a hot new series? Leaving viewers annoyed and angered after a season-long mystery was left completely unsolved by the end of its 13-episode run on June 19? So now, viewers--at least those who return--will have to wait perhaps close to a year before the mystery of who killed Rosie Larsen continues. Will they remember all the clues and characters? Will they even care? It's a dangerous game AMC is playing, and could ultimately result in lower ratings. The backlash began just seconds after cliffhanger "Orpheus Descending" aired--an entry I can only describe as unsatisfying. My buzz? Mellowed. My excitement? Subdued. My gushing ...Read the entire review

The Series
It's a memory I've briefly touched upon before, but one that bears repeating here. In the fall of 1994, my family was in the suburbs of Chicago for the Thanksgiving holiday. We took a day to visit my grandmother, who was now living in a nursing home as her health had dropped drastically. It was an emotional, painful visit--her memory and recognition was all but gone--and I will never forget the thought that entered my head as we left, looking back at the image of her sitting in a chair as I walked away: ...Read the entire review

The Movie
Asking an audience to sympathize with a cheating husband can be an extremely risky proposition, especially if the unknowing wife is so unaware and so likable. Did I mention the wife was also about to give birth to their first child? Yep, it's a fine mess we've walked into here. But it's a huge credit to writer/director Javier Fuentes-León--and to his outstanding cast--that everyone in his feature debut comes across as genuine and sincere, making it difficult to shun the lead character despite his less than admirable behavior. This is an intense film filled with emotional complexity, a thought-provoking work that clearly comes from the heart.

With Undertow (Contracorriente), Fuentes-León wastes no time p...Read the entire review

The Series
There are a few things you should know about Dr. Martin Ellingham, the former London surgeon who has now taken up a practice as a general practitioner in the small seaside village of Portwenn: He's efficient, logical and smart...yet insensitive, gruff and socially awkward. He hates being called "Doc Martin", hates patients who self-diagnose themselves using the internet and (in case you haven't figured it out by now) hates people in general--although not as much as he loathes dogs and children. And if you need a diagnosis, for the love of God you better make an appointment. Oh, one more thing...he's hemophobic, which means he gets all queasy at...Read the entire review

The Movie
After taking a semester off college for an internship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in the fall of 1995, I was elated to find out months later that I had secured a spot as an "information team member" at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. It didn't pay, but it was a free trip and the excitement of being at the Olympics was worth its weight in gold (heck, even bronze!). So it is with great shame that I have to admit that when I found out my assignment a week before my departure, my enthusiasm fizzled like that French swimmer in the 2008 men's 400 freestyle relay.

Despite my dreams of seeing track, swimming, diving or a bevy of other sports I loved to watch, my bubble burst when I learned that I would be working at t...Read the entire review

The Movie
As horror fans, we're used to it: head-scratching decisions by idiot teenagers that make us feel (maybe just a tiny bit) that they sort of deserve it when they get slaughtered. Nighttime skinny dipping in an isolated pond, visits to the cellar when there's no power and suspicious activity, staying in a house that's clearly haunted...all of them unbelievable actions that have no basis in reality. But we turn the other way and accept them because we need to get from Point A to Point H in a hurry, logic be damned.

In the case of Prowl--the latest from the After Dark Horrorfest, joining the very similarly structured Husk as the first DV...Read the entire review

The Movie
Having gotten his groove on with the campy Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives and the gay sex-centric R U Invited?, director Israel Luna pla...Read the entire review

The Movie
When it comes to autumn-themed horror, I'm a pretty easy sell. Throw in a pumpkin, some howling wind and rustling leaves and I'm good to go. And scarecrows? Peeing in my pants just thinking about 'em. (If you haven't acquainted yourself with Dark Night of the Scarecrow--one of my favorite fright flicks of all time--do yourself a favor and buy the disc now.) So it was with ample excitement that I sat down to watch Husk, one of the eight "films to die for" in the latest crop...Read the entire review

The Movie
True story: Two months ago, I joined nine friends on a weekend getaway for the New Year holiday. We headed to a semi-secluded cabin in the woods, nestled in the outskirts of the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. It was a destination I had no part in choosing, my reasoning made clear as I commented upon entering the rickety wooden house for the first time: "Which one of us gets slaughtered by a machete-wielding murderer first?"

It drew laughs from my friends, but I was actually half serious. My fear was personified at night when I had to sleep on a couch (my reward for being single), which faced the giant window by the pathetically "secured" front...Read the entire review

The Movie
When we first meet the hustler, he's barely visible. He's mysterious, our perception of him shaped by John--a muscular Russian who has brought our protagonist back to his apartment for sex. John is nervous and excited, the hustler representing an almost-untouchable object of affection that has shaken his already questionable confidence. This is John's first time with a man (that violent incident with his friend when he was young didn't really count, right?), and like a bolt of lightening the hustler h...Read the entire review

The Movie
If you have even a small amount of knowledge about the gay porn industry (and if you're still reading this sentence, I'm betting you do), I don't need to tell you that Bel Ami is not only the king of Europe, but one of a handful of strongly branded compan...Read the entire review