Laurie Ulster
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
If you love the idea of an old-fashioned Star Trek that lives up to today’s standards of inclusion and diversity (so, minus the ‘60s sexism), this is going to be right up your alley.
Watching Star Trek: Picard? Binge These Q and Guinan Episodes First
Q (John de Lancie) and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) are back in S2 of Star Trek: Picard, so let’s revisit the memorable TNG episodes featuring these two fan-favorite characters.
Abbott Elementary
Abbott Elementary will catch you off guard and surprise you. It captures the balance between comedy and heart, much like its mockumentary predecessors—but with a new spin, because the work these characters are doing truly matters.
The Center Seat
A combination of a deep dive and a crash course into Star Trek from its inception up through the early 2000s, covering the shows, movies, and the phenomenon itself.
Star Trek: Prodigy
The values of Star Trek, and then some: unity, diversity, individuality, optimism, idealism and hope. What more could you ask for? How about the return of Captain Janeway? Yeah, it’s got that too.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
An action-packed sci-fi comedy set in a Star Trek universe that it both reveres and lovingly mocks.
Why Star Trek: Picard Works Better as a Binge
To understand the power of the Star Trek franchise, binge watch Picard. The time is right.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, a Musical About Grief, Is Perfect for Our Time
At its heart, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is a musical about navigating grief. Because of that, it makes a beeline through the clutter of my thoughts and reaches straight into my heart.
Laurie Ulster
A Watercooler Watch: Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything
Before social media and podcasts, there was one undeniable truth about news-making interviews: if a story mattered, Barbara Walters would be the one to tell it. Landing a one-on-one with her didn’t just mean publicity, it meant you had become part of a national conversation. But while the interview signified that you had made it,
A Need-to-Know Guide to The Buccaneers
Was life in the Gilded Age all that gilded? In the HBO Max series, penned by Downton Abbey’s creator Julian Fellowes, the focus is on the class divide between America’s old money aristocrats and new money industrialists, and the often exhausting rules of “society.” Apple TV’s The Buccaneers, which just returned for its second season,
A Watercooler Guide to The Phoenician Scheme: Wes Anderson’s Oil-Baron Fever Dream
Wes Anderson films are easy to spot, but not always easy to describe. Watching them feels like stepping inside a handcrafted diorama of history: symmetrical, stylized, and slightly sentimental. From the wry narration and sharp color palettes to his signature whip pans and deadpan dialogue, Anderson crafts cinematic worlds where emotions are bottled then uncorked
A Need-to-Know Guide to And Just Like That…
It’s been a two year wait, but Carrie Bradshaw and her tribe of fabulous fifty-somethings are finally back with their third season. You’d be forgiven if you lost track of the Sex and the City sequel and its storylines. But with summer’s planes, trains, and automobiles and rained-in weekends, And Just Like That might be
Bring Her Back
A psychological horror film with standout performances, Bring Her Back isn’t just about summoning the dead, it’s about confronting the parts of ourselves we lose in the process. The Philippou brothers have crafted a film that dares to ask whether the true horror lies in what we’re willing to do in the name of love.
The Something for Everyone Show: Poker Face is Back
Can’t agree on what to watch together? Consider putting on your Poker Face. Peacock’s acclaimed mystery-of-the-week series created by Rian Johnson (best known for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and, most relevant here, the Glass Onion films) and starring Natasha Lyonne, is finally back for another season after two long years. That’s great news for
It’s not HBO, it’s The Pitt: How streamers are embracing old TV network models
“It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Remember that old tagline? For nearly all of its history, broadcast television has been fighting against the perception that it’s subordinate to film as a storytelling medium. Television was just media for the masses, as opposed to the more erudite aficionados of cinema (who, by the way, poured into theaters
Boyhood
Boyhood captures the importance of moments in time as people grow up and contests the idea that any singular moment is defining to your childhood. It’s a film filled with the full breadth of the emotions of childhood, conveying each one delicately to leave you reflecting on its many pensive conversations.
A Royal Drama to Fill the Meghan and Harry Void: Corsage
Harry and Meghan drama might be waning, but our fixation with all things royalty has not. An Oscar Shortlist for Best International Film, Corsage looks at the first royal celebrity with depth and imagination.
The Oscar Contenders for Best International Film
In recent years, Oscar Nominees Best International Film, the Motion Picture Academy has made a concerted effort to represent more diverse and international perspectives, and the expansion of its membership has put “subtitled films” on the radars of voters — and, in some cases, in contention for the biggest awards. The turning point came just
The Seven Faces of Jane
A original take on both anthologies and road trip movies, The Seven Faces of Jane experiments with the “roads not taken” concept by tapping eight different directors, each one using a different genre and a different “Jane.”
Fleishman is in Trouble
A smartly-written, often funny marriage drama, Fleishman is in Trouble will resonate with its honest, sometimes brutal, sometimes subtle portrayal of the ways that a connection can break down.
Vikings Valhalla S2
An emotionally intense coming-of-age story underlies Vikings Valhalla, which tackles the tumultuous High Middle Ages and power shift across Europe with all the heroics, gore, and sex of its predecessor.
Triangle of Sadness
With so many awards-caliber movies taking us into very dark places, Triangle of Sadness brings laughter and sunshine to its biting indictment of influencers, wealth and class divides. Stick around for the third act.
Black Bird
One of the best dramas of 2022, the Golden Globe-nominated Black Bird rises above other true crime shows as a psychological drama that peels away the layers to get to the moral questions beneath.
The Great Sleazy Sports Movies
The sporting life, when properly lived, is always a little bit sleazy: sweaty, smelly, bloody, and profane. What we require is not merely a list of great sports films, but of great sleazy sports movies.