In Gosford Park (2002), Robert Altman brings his gift for big, sprawling dramas knit with a fine weave of characters and a massive cast up to the task of filling them up with lives to the Merchant Ivory idiom of the manners and manors of Britain’s upper crust of yesteryear, 1932 to be specific. The […]
V For Vendetta (2005) – “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. The government should be afraid of the people.” His name is nowhere to be seen in the credits but this futuristic thriller about an authoritarian government out of 1984 and a lone revolutionary who takes them on comes from Alan Moore’s acclaimed graphic […]
Bones (2005-2017) came to an end in early 2017 after twelve years and 245 episodes: an impressive run by any measure. The high concept crime show was never hailed as the best or most original show on TV—it was one of the better of the myriad of procedurals built around the unique talents of a […]
Last Chance to See (2009) – In the late 1980s, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams took a year off to travel the globe with zoologist Mark Carwardine to search out some of the most endangered species on Earth, a project he turned into a non-fiction radio series and book to promote awareness […]
Whit Stillman directs and scripts Love & Friendship (2016), a satirical, witty, and wickedly funny period piece adapted from the Jane Austen novella “Lady Susan.” It turns out Austen and Stillman are a great match; he’s been making comedies of manners in an American vein since Metropolitan and his dry wit and sharp observations of […]
