Spectacular though they may be, there is some crucial element that is glaringly missing from most big, brash modern blockbusters – a beating heart, a real tangible sense that the action happening before you is happening to real people who suffer, feel loss, experience elation, just like you do. The Continue Reading
Movies
Awwww … what a wonderful Pokémon Detective Pikachu world (new trailer)
SNAPSHOT The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are Continue Reading
Easter festival #2: Yogi the Easter Bear
Yogi Bear, as we all know thanks to his constant recitation of the self-ascribed fact, is “smarter than the average bear.” But Yogi, who first made his appearance as an extra on The Huckleberry Hound Show in 1958, is not always as smart as he claims to be, at least Continue Reading
Easter festival #2: Easter Parade
Love has a great many homes in popular culture – chart-topping songs, poems, TV dramas and sitcoms, books of all genres; honestly, we could happily go on and on and on, so romantically omnipresent is love wherever you turn. But perhaps its most natural home, and the one in which Continue Reading
Friendship is a trip: Wine Country explores friends, wine and weekends away
SNAPSHOTIn honor of Rebecca’s (Rachel Dratch) 50th birthday, Abby (Amy Poehler) plans a scenic Napa getaway with their best, longtime friends. Workaholic Catherine (Ana Gasteyer), post-op Val (Paula Pell), homebody Jenny (Emily Spivey), and weary mom Naomi (Maya Rudolph) are equally sold on the chance to relax and reconnect. Yet Continue Reading
Easter festival #1: It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
You have to hand it to Linus (Stephen Shea) – in the face of all evidence to the contrary, he continues to believe, and believe with a capital “B”, even when sceptics such as Sally mock him gently, and let’s be fair, not-so-gently. For him Halloween, and the arrival of Continue Reading
Movie review: mid90s
Growing up is a monumental challenge at the best of times. Throw in a less than ideal home life, like the ones alluded to in Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, mid90s, and you have the kind of near impossible situation where simply getting through the day is a feat, never mind Continue Reading
What We Left Behind: The documentary that gives Deep Space Nine its well-deserved place in the Star Trek sun
SNAPSHOTDeep Space Nine is described as “dark”, “edgy”, and “the black sheep” of the Star Trek family – a show that did not fit in Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. 20 years after it left the airwaves, fans all over the world continue to watch Deep Space Nine with Continue Reading
Think your family is weird? Get ready for an all-new animated Addams Family
SNAPSHOTGet ready to snap your fingers! The Addams Family is back on the big screen in the first animated comedy about the kookiest family on the block. Funny, outlandish, and completely iconic, the Addams Family redefines what it means to be a good neighbor. The movie centers on the family Continue Reading
What if there’s not a villain? Wall-E as sociological storytelling (video essay)
2008’s WALL-E is on the surface a delightful film about two robots falling head over heels in garbage-strewn love. Pretty simple and straightforward, right? Well, yes … and no. As Pop Culture Detective aka Jonathan McIntosh (sponsor him on Patreon) explains, the film is actually considerably more complex than that, Continue Reading