2025
You are browsing the archive for 2025.
Movie Review: The Naked Gun
4 stars out of 5The six episodes of Police Squad! that aired when I was 12-going-on-13 couldn’t have been a better bar mitzvah gift. Sure, I had loved the same filmmakers’ Airplane! when I was 11, but now I was a sophisticated tween (though the word hadn’t been coined yet). So, I understood more of […]
Aquarium Playlist, 8/5/25
EPISODE #653: ISLANDS The Surfaris w/ The Honeys — “I Want To Take a Trip to the Islands” [ALTERNATE THEME]The Millennium — “The Island”UV-TV — “Pale Blue Island” The Blue Jays — “Lover’s Island” The Buggles — “Island” The Garment District — “The Island of Stability”Rare Books — “Island” Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers — […]
Movie Review: Eddington
3.5 stars out of 5Dear Ari Aster: I promise I’ll attend your next movie while remembering that it is written and directed by you, the same guy who made Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid, all of which I liked. Hey, it’s partially your fault for putting your credit at the end, and for making […]
Aquarium Playlist, 7/29/25
EPISODE #652: STARS II Haim — “Lucky Stars” [ALTERNATE THEME]Allo Darlin’ — “Stars”Spit-take — “Stars Don’t” Matthew Sweet — “Stars Explode” The Cranberries — “Stars” Maggie Bjorklund — “Playground Stars”Peter Case — “Underneath the Stars” Chris Isaak — “Western Stars” Bruce Springsteen — “Western Stars” Rufus Wainwright — “Release the Stars”Carole King — “Under the […]
What I’ve Been Watching: Edition XXVIII
While we wait and wait and wait for the full release of the Epstein list, here’s a list of the shows I’ve checked out in the past several months. LOVED Say Nothing (Hulu) I learned an awful lot about Ireland’s “The Troubles” and the history of the IRA from this very well-rendered limited series, much […]
Movie Review: Jurassic World—Rebirth
4 stars out of 5 Hot take: Jurassic World is more entertaining than Superman. There, I said it. I chalk it up to filmmakers who really know what they’re doing. Director Gareth Edwards earned his sci-fi stripes with 2014’s Godzilla and Rogue One. And writer David Koepp not only did the screenplay for the original […]
Aquarium Playlist, 7/22/25
EPISODE #651: DREAMS VI Daryl Hall — “Dreamtime” [ALTERNATE THEME]Bruce Springsteen — “Follow That Dream”Renee Maskin — “Of Your Dreams” Terry McCarthy — “Subway Dreaming” Suzanne Vega — “Book of Dreams” The Cosmic Rays w/ Sun Ra — “Dreaming”Tender Trap — “Dreaming of Dreaming” Niall Connolly — “99-Cent Dream” Peter Perrett — “I Want Your […]
Movie Review: Superman
3.5 stars out of 5If you’re looking for a really well-made, well-performed film, this is not so super. But if you are a 12-year-old boy, or in charge of some 12-year-olds on a humid or rainy day, you could do a lot worse than seeing Superman. I will say, this is a better movie than […]
Aquarium Playlist, 7/15/25
EPISODE #650: DIRTY Prince — “Dirty Mind” [ALTERNATE THEME]Squeeze — “It’s So Dirty”Mississippi John Hurt — “Nobody’s Dirty Business” Neko Case — “Dirty Knife” The Just Joans — “Stuart’s Got a Dirty Book” Velvet Monkeys — “Bad/Dirty Blood”Rolling Stones — “Dirty Work” The Replacements — “Shooting Dirty Pool” Don Henley — “Dirty Laundry” Jennifer O’Connor […]
Movie Review: 28 Years Later
4.5 stars out of 5 28 Days Later came out 23 years ago and all I remember is that it was scary and very good, and also that a couple of years earlier, Sandra Bullock had starred in a movie called 28 Days so that was kind of funny. When I recently learned that director […]
Jack Silbert, curator