Sameer Pandya’s ‘Our Beautiful Boys’ Is Vulnerable and Powerful
Sameer Pandya mines the pain of immigrant parents wrestling with America’s existential crises in Our Beautiful Boys .
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Pee-wee Herman: The Existentialist at Play
Pee-wee Herman forever lives in a cosmos without a supernatural giver of laws. In such an existentialist world, Nietzsche says, we must be like children and invent a world of meaning, lest we be consumed by the great void.
3D ‘Robot Monster’ Boasts Sex, Destruction and Space Apes
Robot Monster‘s reputation as a best/worst movie might be challenged in this 3-D format showcasing a boy’s libidinous dreams.
How Would Depression-Era Family-Centric Show ‘The Waltons’ Fare in These Times?
In its first season, The Waltons addressed—and took a stand against—sexism, anti-Semitism, religious fanaticism, book burning, xenophobia, and intolerance, and it conveyed the importance of environmental consciousness.
Why Disney’s Splash Mountain Has Finally Gone South
The Disney Theme Parks are dismantling the decades-long ride Splash Mountain. It will be resurrected as Tiana’s Bijour Adventure. Why has the Song of the South-inspired ride finally gone South?
The Death Labyrinth in ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio gives lessons in mortality from death creatures possibly more unsettling than those in Hellboy II and Pan’s Labyrinth.
‘The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet’ and the Nerve-Wracking Nature of Nothingness in 1950s White America
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet impresses me not for its alleged blandness but for its ingenious minimalism, its meta-structure, and its nerve-wracking nature of nothingness.
Why We Still Love Lucy After All These Years
The I Love Lucy cast insisted that the show didn’t intend to take on world-changing progressive issues, but it was far more subversive than they let on.
‘The Railway Children’ Shows the World Needn’t Be Beastly
Lionel Jeffries’ film version of Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children is rich with a charm rooted in a bedrock of social awareness as hard as Charles Dickens.
We Need a Reality Check on Unreal Christmas Rom-Coms
It's time Christmas rom-coms move beyond the twin swaps, the dead spouse who comes back as an angel, the bad blind date, etc., and instead, turn to real-life stories for healthy models of lasting love forged in the fires of the holiday.
Robert Altman’s Quirky ‘Popeye’ Boasts a Can Full of Geniuses
Robert Altman's busy, mobile style perfectly captures and mirrors E.C. Segar's rowdy, rambunctious Popeye comic.
‘The Baby-Sitters Club’ Can Help Children Cope with COVID-era Death
As the COVID-19 pandemic upends our families, communities, and way of life, children, especially, struggle with loss. Rachel Shukert's Netflix series, The Baby-Sitters Club can help.