The Splits: "Splitsville," reviewed.

My Washington Post review is the new polygamy comedy from Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Martin, the cowriters/costars behind The Climb, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Jaws"

Having done the dirty work of surveying all three Jaws sequels for the Paper of Record earlier this summer, it’s only right that three-fourths of the original PCHH cast had me back to talk about the titanic original. Which I’ve seen on the big screen twice this summer.

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.

Ed McBain, Akiria Kurosawa, and Spike: "Highest 2 Lowest," reviewed.

The great Jeffrey Wright in Highest 2 Lowest. (Apple/A24)

My Washington City Paper review of Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee’s loose present-day adaptation of the 1959 Ed McBain novel King’s Ransom, which was previously the basis for Akira Kursoawa’s 1963 High and Low, is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Alien: Earth"

Babou Ceesay as Morrow, the cybernetic Inspector Javert figure of Alien: Earth. (F/X)

On today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour I had a gay old time (double) jawin’ with Glen Weldon and Joelle Monique about Alien: Earth, an attempt by Legion and Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley to implant a feature-film embryo into a prestige-TV host body.

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.