PBS wants its own hit drama, but ‘Mercy Street’ lacks more than just a British accent

14/01/2016

Josh Radnor stars in “Mercy Street,” a new Civil War-era drama from PBS. (Antony Platt/PBS)

The slight sense of longing that runs through the six episodes of PBS’s utterly average Civil War drama “Mercy Street” is not about the characters’ wants and desires or the ample metaphors evident in a tale of disunion. All a viewer can feel here is that PBS wants to be dealt into the high-stakes game of Peak TV, but on its own terms.

Continue reading PBS wants its own hit drama, but ‘Mercy Street’ lacks more than just a British accent

Hallmark Review: Christmas Land (2015, dir. Sam Irvin)

24/12/2015

IMG_5321I’m going to go ahead and quote The Cinema Snob review of Ghosts Can’t Do It (1989): Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wibble Wobble Wazzle Woodle What The Fuck?

Oh, this is bad.

The movie opens up by showing us some Christmas decorations before cutting to the front of a private residence. Inside there are six kids sitting at a table when a woman played by Maureen McCormick of Brady Bunch fame walks in with a picture of herself looking down on everyone from the background.

Continue reading Hallmark Review: Christmas Land (2015, dir. Sam Irvin)