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Three Star Wars retcons Kenner kids can't accept - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Sep 26

Max Rebo plays keyboard with his...feet?!

Those of us who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy and collected the Kenner toy line remember how real those action figures felt compared to the images we caught only occasionally onscreen. N...

Movie review: "My Sunshine" is a low-key charmer - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Sep 19

"My Sunshine" has a lo-fi appeal: cozy, yet yearning.

"My Sunshine" is a beautiful film. There's more below the surface, but writer/director Hiroshi Okuyama doesn't spell it out.

Movie review: "Twinless" stretches an implausible premise - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Sep 13

The film’s continual need to serve its twisty plot distracts from the themes it points to.

The story touches on grief, sexuality and male loneliness, but writer-director James Sweeney does those themes short shrift.

Movie review: "Swiped," a Bumble biopic - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Sep 10

If nothing else, "Swiped" serves as a look-into-the-camera moment in the face of Mark Zuckerberg declaring that corporate America needs more “masculine energy.”

It's a good thing the story is true, because, sadly, this triumph over toxic masculinity would beggar belief if presented as fiction.

Movie review: "The Luckiest Man in America" hits a whammy - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Sep 4

If Dario Argento had become a CBS journeyman, daytime TV might have looked like this.

For all this movie's missed opportunities, it remains a watchable, often engaging movie about a guy who decided to make his own luck.

Movie review: "Hot Milk" is sour - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Aug 26

What is it about Emma Mackey that makes directors think her eyebrows will take care of any required character development?

Would this film ever have been made if it was about homely people in Rochester, Minnesota?

Movie review: Don't let "Oh, Hi!" in - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Jul 17

Is OH, HI! meant to be a dark character study? A goofy rom-com? A surprise thriller? It just burbles along for an hour and a half, never resolving the disconnect between the affable characters and their ludicrous situation.

The premise has potential, if the movie could build a world and stay there, but it's as if director Sophie Brooks and co-writer Molly Gordon keep getting distracted.

Movie review: Beatrice Grannò is Henry Golding's dream girl in "Daniela Forever" - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Jul 11

We’ve been here before — and by “here,” we mean in a lucid dream in Madrid.

The frustration of "Daniela Forever" is that writer/director Nacho Vigalondo favors style over substance, failing to ground his characters.

Film review: "C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up & Further In" arrives on video - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Jun 26

80-plus minutes of one guy talking about theology: more interesting than you'd expect!

The film brings one of the 20th century's most beloved figures, as portrayed by Max McLean, into living rooms wanting to welcome him.

Book review: "501 Essential Albums of the '80s" - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · May 2

How many Billy Joel albums would you include? (This book has three.)

The '80s still have surprising delights to be unearthed by curious listeners. Now, those listeners have one more guide to steer their ears.

TV review: "Andor" final season is heart-stopping, jaw-dropping - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Apr 21

The final season of Andor is a relentless suspense machine, with more tension than fans have experienced since Darth Vader was lowering Han Solo into the carbon freeze chamber.

The season is a relentless suspense machine, with more tension than fans have experienced since Darth Vader was freezing Han Solo.

Audiobook review: Colwill Brown's "We Pretty Pieces of Flesh" - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Apr 17

Whether three women can effectively support each other, in a world that only sees them all as pretty pieces of flesh, is this unforgettable novel’s unanswered question. @jaygabler.com reviews Colwill Brown’s debut:

Authentic Yorkshire language is foundational, establishing the girls' world and serving as a measure of how far they have traveled from it.

Theater review: "Mean Girls," at the Ordway, plumbs perennial teen angst - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Apr 10

💅 @jaygabler.com’s mom and niece agree: “Mean Girls” is relevant.

"You can’t provide what you don’t offer, so because Cady was being fake, she lost friends because she wasn’t being her real self.”

Audiobook review: "All Better Now" is a creepy chronicle of a feel-good pandemic - The Tangential

Reposted by The Tangential

National Book Critics Circle @bookcritics.bsky.social · Apr 3

For @thetangential.bsky.social, @jaygabler.com reviewed Neal Shusterman's "All Better Now":

Shusterman leverages the unsettling sense amid pandemic precautions, some people were downright eager to let COVID romp.

Audiobook review: "All Better Now" is a creepy chronicle of a feel-good pandemic - The Tangential

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Reposted by The Tangential

Jay Gabler @jaygabler.com · Mar 25

Neal Shusterman, already established as a blockbuster talent in YA speculative fiction, imagines the coming of a second virus — this one instilling the belief that it’s morally wrong to deny others the benefits of infection.

Shusterman leverages the unsettling sense amid pandemic precautions, some people were downright eager to let COVID romp.

Theater review: "Come From Away" is a reminder of human decency - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Mar 7

Oh, Canada. 🥲

Canadians accommodated thousands of stranded airline passengers on 9/11. How did we thank them? With...this Tony-winning musical!

Audiobook review: Heeeeeeere's "Carson the Magnificent"! - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Dec 18

The hold Johnny Carson had on the nation’s attention in the late-night hours, most weeknights for 30 years, is difficult now to imagine. Tonight’s late-night hosts only pull a fraction of his numbers, even while following a formula he set in stone.

Johnny Carson was a born showman, we learn, but a calculating one: he had the discipline and charisma of a magician.

TV review: "Skeleton Crew" lets Star Wars be for kids again - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Dec 3

Today’s kids may or may not appreciate the more meta aspects of a show in which kids within the Star Wars universe play with Star Wars action figures…but never mind, Skeleton Crew is fun.

Think "The Goonies" in space, and if you think, they already did that and it was called "Explorers," you're going to appreciate this show.

Do we hate children? - The Tangential

The Tangential @thetangential.bsky.social · Nov 22

Kids in America today are having a rough time of it. Do we just...not like them all that much?

It's increasingly difficult and expensive to raise a child in this country. Have our attitudes towards children fundamentally changed?