Food of Love: "Play On!", reviewed.

Jalisa Williams and Awa Sal Secka play reimagined versions of Viola and Olivia, respectively, in a riff on Twelfth Night set in the Cotton Club in 1930s Harlem. (Christopher Mueller)

I generally don’t care for jukebox musicals, but Twelfth Night is my favorite Shakespeare, and adding 22 Duke Ellington compositions don’t hurt it any. My Washington Post review of Signature Theatre’s Play On! is here.

Unpacking the lore of "Alien: Earth" in the Paper of Record

Timothy Olyphant plays a synthetic named Kirsh in Alien: Earth. (FX)

That advanced degree in xenobiology I’ll be paying off for the rest of my life was an adolescence well spent. My Washington Post essay unpacking the lore of Noah Hawley’s FX spinoff series Alien: Earth is here.

Resistance is Futile: "Ne Zha II," reviewed.

Ne Zha is part boy, part demon, all movie star. (CMC/A24)

 I’m well aware that many an enthusiastic plus-one has endured a similar cycle of befuddlement / intermittent exhilaration / ultimate exhaustion during a quarter-century where in the entire American industry has remade itself in the service of lore-dense, 2.5-hour-plus “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” and superhero sagas. No one who can easily tell Mr. Terrific from Mr. Fantastic should complain that a film that has brought so much delight to so many people is too confusing. And yet, I must confess I spent most of the very bright Ne Zha II in the figurative dark.

My Washington Post review of what is currently the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time is here.

Instinct Trumps Imagination: How "South Park" and "King of the Hill" Are Taking on American Fascism

I was asked this week for a piece examining how King of the Hill, a beloved animated series that just returned after a 16-year hiatus, and South Park, one that appeared a few months after King of he Hill’s debut in 1997 and has never gone away, are confronting the sociopolitical milieu of the Trump era. I didn’t have a lot of time, and I hadn’t watched or thought about South Park in more than 20 years. I’d never been a habitual King of the Hill viewer, though I enjoyed it whenever I happened to see it.

I’m pleased enough with how the piece turned out, though I lament my observation that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone scoring their highest ratings in 25 years with their Trump-trolling episodes parallels Charlie Chaplin’s career-rejuvenating success with The Great Dictator in 1940 had to go. Chaplin’s relevance had been in decline since sound came to the movies. But when he became one of the few artists brave enough to mock the Axis Powers in a time of fascist aggression, his audience rewarded his courage. There’s a lot more to this — the CBS 60 minutes settlement and the Paramount-Skydance merger of it all. I did what I could in the time and space I had. Here’s the piece.

Who asked for "Nobody 2"? The answer is right in front of you.

Bob Odenkirk, a Very Good Boy, and Connie Nielsen in Nobody 2. (Universal Pictures)

Bob Odenkirk is be the only guy headline an action franchise more than 30 years after being an off-camera writer on Saturday Night Live, and the only guy to headline an action sequel the same year he was nominated for a Tony. Nobody director Ilya Naishuller moved on to the not-bad John Cena / Idris Elba buddy comedy Heads of State (which inspired this list of asskickin’ screen presidents), but we’ve got Nobody 2 anyway. My Washington Post review is here.

Fourth Time's the Charm: "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," reviewed.

When it comes to putting First Family of Marvel Comics in the movies, the fourth time’s the charm. My Washington Post review of Fantastic Four: First Steps is here.

Hail to the Chiefs: Ranking the Ten Most Two-Fisted Action Movie Presidents

“A reunion of the blue-chip screenwriting-and-directing duo of Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg, and a showcare for the generational acting skills of Daniel Day-Lewis — sorry, that was 2012’s other Lincoln movie, which in focusing on the final three months of our most-revered president’s life omitted every one the Illinois statesman’s totally sick vampire kills.’”

So many jokes had to come out of my Washington Post ranking of the ten most two-fisted action-movie presidents.

Stations of the Boss: "Tracks II: The Lost Albums," reviewed.

The only Boss I listen to. (Danny Clinch)

Bruce Springsteen’s curation of his own catalog has always been as beguiling as it is obsessive. Why, during the protracted sessions for his 1980 double album The River, did he pass over the many worthy songs that remained locked away until being compiled on the original Tracks almost 20 years later? While giving the nod to the turgid 8.5-minute ballad “Drive All Night”? And “Crush on You,” a D-list rocker I saw him introduce at a concert in Richmond in 2008 as “the worst song we ever wrote.” How did he decide to bury most of the 83 songs included on the new Tracks II: The Lost Albums for decades while determining that, say, clunkers from 2009’s Workin on a Dream like “Outlaw Pete" and “Queen of the Supermarket” needed to be delivered to his public immediately?

These questions are perhaps unanswerable, but Tracks II provides some clues. My Washington Post review is here.