TV #9 of 2020: Better Call Saul, season 4 My original review from 2018: “I’ve mentioned this before, but one reason that I prefer Better Call Saul to its parent show is that Walter White has always struck me as being evil right from the start – Breaking Bad could be exciting and horrifying, but …
Tag Archives: rewatch
TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 3
TV #7 of 2020: Better Call Saul, season 3 My original review from 2018: “At this point, I’m almost ready to declare Better Call Saul the superior program to its parent show Breaking Bad. (It helps that there doesn’t seem to be the same toxic fandom around it, with people mistaking a critique of harmful …
TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 2
TV #2 of 2020: Better Call Saul, season 2 My original review from 2016: “The unexpected Breaking Bad spinoff continues to be a fascinating character study, and this season really embraces the aspect of a Shakespearean tragedy that comes from its audience knowing, at least in broad strokes, how the story ends. I’m not sure …
Movie Review: Midnight Run (1988)
Movie #2 of 2020: Midnight Run (1988) Another old favorite, and one which my family has seen so many times over the years that some of its choicest dialogue has long since entered our regular vernacular. (We even used to have a dog named after one of the characters.) This movie’s comedic rhythms are so …
Movie Review: Hopscotch (1980)
Movie #1 of 2020: Hopscotch (1980) This film is an old family favorite, which we rewatched in honor of my grandfather who recently passed away. It’s still fun, although decidedly of its era, with minimal time for its female characters outside of their relationships to men, use of a homophobic slur and affected lisp, and …
Movie Review: Veronica Mars (2014)
Movie #13 of 2019: Veronica Mars (2014) I still haven’t seen the new Hulu revival of Veronica Mars, but my rewatch has finally reached this equally-unexpected reunion movie that came out in 2014, seven years after the original show went off the air. I think I’m a little more charitable towards the project than I …
TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 3
TV #37 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 3 Aging a television setting up from high school to college is a tricky prospect, with inevitable cast turnover, different plot beats to work out, and more mature storytelling possibilities. And for the most part, Veronica Mars manages that transition well. The heroine herself is recognizable yet played …
TV Review: Better Call Saul, season 1
TV #36 of 2019: Better Call Saul, season 1 This is my first time rewatching this program from the beginning, on the heels of my first time going back through its parent show. And overall, I really think I prefer this one. Breaking Bad is an amazing piece of television storytelling on any number of …
TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 2
TV #34 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 2 Let’s start at the ending. This season is so much more serialized than the first, with major storylines unfolding over multiple episodes and a lighter focus on the cases of the week — and although a few of those sub-plots peter out before the end, they mostly …
TV Review: Veronica Mars, season 1
TV #31 of 2019: Veronica Mars, season 1 What an incredibly satisfying and well-crafted season of television. The high school noir tone is pitch-perfect, the title figure is layered far beyond her initial feisty appeal, and subtle clues to the ultimate answer of who killed the teenage sleuth’s best friend are threaded brilliantly throughout the …
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