Warning: This blog post contains Spoilers for Season Three of The Crown and Season Four of The Good Place Two of my Thanksgiving week television delights have been watching the most recent Season Four episode of The Good Place and binge watching Season Three of The Crown. I love both shows. However, because of my academic background, it’s much harder for me to watch TV without my feminist theory perspective affecting the way I perceive the characters. As a critical viewer, I found myself intrigued with how the two shows portrayed women differently. Is a historical drama more indicative of the time it portrays, or the time in which it is produced? Perhaps some of both, but if that’s the case,

In recent years, Ben Affleck has received deserved praise for his work as a director. He found box office success in 2010 with the skillfully directed heist drama The Town, which also earned Jeremy Renner a Best Supporting Oscar nomination. Affleck was robbed of at least a nomination for Best Director for his exemplary work on 2012’s Best Picture, Argo. The film may have played fast and loose with the facts, but no one can deny the way Director Affleck ratcheted up the tension to create a truly breath-taking thriller. He took a bit of a step back with the underwhelming Live By Night but there is no denying his skill as a filmmaker and I can see him having a long, sustained career not unlike

Despite a prolific career in both TV and film, I’m not sure that Albert Brooks gets his due. His resume as a performer includes voiceover work (“The Simpsons,” Finding Nemo), comedic relief (Unfaithfully Yours, Critical Care), effective villains (Out of Sight, Drive), award-worthy support (Concussion) and even an Oscar nomination (Broadcast News). But on top of this, he is also a gifted filmmaker. After getting his start in the very first season of SNL with a series of satiric short films (my favorite being “Show Us Your Guns”), he found notoriety with 1979’s Real Life. In the film, he plays a version of himself as a fledgling documentarian trying to chronicle a year in the life of an averag

"Best of" lists are an odd beast. Some picks are obvious, some surprising, and some are, frankly, indefensible. And the omissions, by virtue of there being more of them, fall into those categories to a higher degree. But, what I find interesting about making them is the way they show both who you were at the time you encountered your picks, and who you are now, reflecting back on them. For as unexpected as some of my choices were, for me, the ten films listed below create a pretty accurate view of who I am, overall. 2010 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World I knew from the moment Matthew Patel floated into the air alongside his goth cheerleaders during his battle with Scott that this was a movie I

Before he retired in 2004, Gene Hackman built an estimable cinematic career based on two concepts: 1) he was a consummate actor dedicated to honing and perfecting the craft of performing on film and 2) he really would act in anything. Hence, the same career that includes Academy Award winning performances in The French Connection and Unforgiven, as well as equally remarkable work in The Conversation, Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning and Young Frankenstein (arguably the film’s funniest five minutes) also includes schlock like Full Moon in Blue Water, Loose Cannons and Company Business. He may not have been discerning in his choice of projects, but he was always Gene Hackman and he never phoned i

I’m an introvert and, to paraphrase Susan Cain’s best-seller The Quiet, have done my darndest to survive in a world that can’t stop talking. I grew up in a family full of extroverts and even when I wanted to speak and express myself, I could never get anyone’s attention: they were too busy talking. This isn’t an indictment about my upbringing; it’s just how I was raised and who I am today. It was a lonely way to exist and I do wish I had the guts to be more outgoing and outspoken but alas it was “the quiet life” for me. It wasn’t until I saw 1990’s Pump Up The Volume that I had found my cinematic kindred spirit in Mark Hunter, played touchingly and charismatically by Christian Slater. The fi