Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)–***1/2 TV Review In France, he’s desired, and in America, he’s wanted. Roman Polanski’s films were often about the forces of corruption going up against justice and winning. It wasn’t hard to find a similar narrative in the story of Polanski’s high-profile 1977 trial, one where the charge of raping [...]

Recount (2008)–***1/2 TV Review With equal parts The West Wing and The Queen, HBO’s Jay Roach-directed telefilm Recount rivetingly chronicles the chaos surrounding the disputed 2000 Florida presidential election. There’s a necessary sense of seriousness around the subject, but the polished-scripting from actor-turned-writer Danny Strong and Roach’s comic sensibilities perfectly capture the ups and downs [...]

Bernard and Doris (2008)–** TV Review While watching Bernard and Doris I waited for the other shoe to drop. Hell, I was even waiting for a glass to be thrown. I was waiting for any hint of drama, but there was no drama to be had. Thus is the problem with Bob Balaban’s telefilm about [...]

Starz has a long way to go before it attains the quality of HBO or Showtime. The cable channel’s original shows just aren’t all that original. I guess that comment pertains more to the unfortunate airing of the home makeover parody Hollywood Residential than it does to Head Case. Both shows premiere on Wednesday, Jan. [...]

I grew up in the same city as Justin Fatica, a Catholic youth minister who infuses his religious program with a touch of Scared Straight. It’s a small city with a predominantly Catholic citizenry. Fatica, a Catholic, attended the region’s most notable Catholic high school (one that is still boys only). The HBO documentary Hard [...]

Late in the documentary I Am an Animal, PETA co-founder Alex Pacheco says that PETA founder and president Ingrid Newkirk believes there’s no such thing as bad publicity. If that’s the case, PETA could have used a scathing indictment and not this boring, balanced portrait. I Am an Animal is at once a profile of [...]

To Die in Jerusalem (2007)–*** To Die in Jerusalem, a documentary account of two mothers in mourning after an 18-year-old Palestinian girl’s martyrdom operation kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, leaves the viewer with two questions in the end: who will lay down their arms first and who should lay them down? It’s not surprising, the [...]