As HBO’s latest show puts the Penguin front and center, with Colin Farrell taking the reins of Gotham’s most devious bird, it’s easy to see why fans are excited. He’s iconic, of course—his grotesque figure, his crooked laugh, and his twisted mind make him a standout villain. We’ve seen plenty of portrayals of Oswald Cobblepot …
Author: Scott Bowles
Every once in a while, when I’m zombie-flipping TV stations, I’ll come across a channel playing Iron Man. Sometimes not far from my cameo about 45 minutes in. I can’t help but watch. Vanity, thy name is Bowles. I also can’t help but watch because it’s the moment comic book films proved their might to Hollywood …
Ask Google ”What are the greatest television shows of all time?”, and she’ll promptly display a horizontal bank of names, with corresponding photos. There’s no number to designate rank, but if one were to read left to right, the first ten would look as follows: The Sopranos; The Wire; Breaking Bad; Fargo; Oz; Mad Men; The Shield; Deadwood; True Detective; and Better Call Saul. …
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a flash bang of a film. One might even call it a big bang. You’re sitting in your dark, cool theater seat — the first you’ve taken since the pandemic — and Bang! The movie explodes in action and exposition, and doesn’t give a damn if you can keep up …
Dear Healthy People, My, how our knickers got into a twist after the Academy Awards Sunday, which may go down as the liveliest memorial service of the 21st Century. Funerals can get testy. But that’s not the takeaway from the slap-happy ceremony. This is: Enough with the bogus indignation over jokes about medical ailments. And …
The pandemic has become the Black Plague to film. But it sure does love good TV. Witness the latest television shows to dominate not only America’s nightly ratings, but its nightly chatter on social media (perhaps a more vital audience): Ted Lasso, Pam & Tommy and The Beatles: Get Back. They seem starkly unique in audience, tone and subject …
How Comic Book Movies Should Look
Paul Thomas Anderson is to the San Fernando Valley what Woody Allen is to Manhattan — without the creepiness. Sure, Quentin Tarantino grew up here. Chinatown is here. And Hollywood has one address. But Anderson represents the sprawling, tacky heart of the Valley. Half Stanley Kubrick, half strip shopping mall, Anderson is the avatar for …
Finch wants desperately to be a good boy. It learned all the movies it wanted to be. Rain Man; 2001: A Space Odyssey; E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. It had a beloved breed in Tom Hanks, who established his canine flick bonafides with Turner and Hooch. He won a couple Oscars, too. But Finch ultimately is a good argument for why the MPAA needs …
The Hollywood Bowles 