Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 19
October 6, 2023
TV Room: 10 Best ‘Community’ Episodes
So what were the ten best episodes of Community? Glad you asked! I made a stab at ranking them for Slant: The most common criticism levied against NBC’s Community during its chaotic and generally acclaimed six-season run was that it was all snark and no heart. It’s a complaint that’s been levied at many self-aware, pop culture-literate …
October 5, 2023
Screening Room: ‘The Burial’
My review of The Burial, which opens tomorrow, is at Slant: There’s a story of thrillingly righteous indignation sitting at the core of Maggie Betts’s The Burial. This flashy legal melodrama is fitfully stirring but too flabby to deliver the walloping blow that it needs. The high points are delivered primarily by Jamie Foxx and Tommy …
October 4, 2023
Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Six Seasons and a Movie’ is on Sale!
So it’s official, the latest book that I threw words at is in bookstores and on all your better Internet-y sites. Co-written with my Monty Python FAQ fellow travelers, Six Seasons and a Movie: How Community Broke Television is an episode-by-episode trawl through one of the greatest sitcoms too many people have never heard of. …
Continue reading Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Six Seasons and a Movie’ is on Sale!
October 3, 2023
Screening Room: ‘El Conde’ Dilutes the Horror of Pinochet
The new movie from Pablo Larrain (Ema, Spencer) has a decidedly different take on the horrors perpetrated by Augusto Pinochet during his reign of power in Chile. My review is at PopMatters: El Conde, an alternately ambitious and maddening attempt to reckon with one of the 20th century’s ugliest villains, does not take Pinochet at …
Continue reading Screening Room: ‘El Conde’ Dilutes the Horror of Pinochet
October 1, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Keep Showing Up
According to Isabel Allende, writing is hard work until it’s not. She told The Writer that the process can be a slog at first, but the important thing is to just keep doing it: Showing up and being patient. I can hit my head against the wall, because it’s not happening. But just keep going. …
September 24, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Push Back the Darkness
Here is what Kate DiCamillo (Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tale of Despereaux) told the New Yorker about writing books which, emotionally if not factually, draw on dark episodes and feelings from her own life, particularly childhood: I can never make my peace with suffering, but holding on to things doesn’t make my stories any better, …
September 17, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Be Happy with Just Creating
Like a lot of celebrities, David Byrne has given a commencement address. Unlike a lot of celebrities, he had a lot to say beyond empty “you can do it!” exhortations. Per Rachel Arons, Byrne’s 2013 address to the graduating class of the Columbia University School of the Arts was in many ways, a downer. He …
September 13, 2023
Screening Room: ‘Radical Wolfe’
My review of the new documentary Radical Wolfe ran at The Playlist: You wouldn’t want a documentary about Tom Wolfe to mimic his style. That could be challenging (just imagine all the on-screen exclamation marks!!!!!!!, idioSYNcratic CAPITALIZATION, and onomatopoeic spelling) not to mention possibly embarrassing. But it would have been gratifying to see Richard Dewey’s ‘Radical Wolfe’ show …
September 10, 2023
Writer’s Desk: Don’t Be an Artist
How seriously can writers take themselves? The answer, clearly, is extremely seriously. Maybe the real question is: How seriously should writers take themselves? The unsatisfying answer? It depends. H.G. Wells had a definitive view on the subject. A spouting font of words, he produced everything from his still-beloved science fiction work to biographies, comedies, essays, …
September 7, 2023
TV Room: ‘The Afterparty’
The second season of The Afterparty ran its last episode this week. I wrote about the show as an example of the maybe-soon-to-disappear peak streaming show for PopMatters: Shows like The Afterparty will probably not even get greenlit in a few years. Once the streaming services start merging and slashing production schedules, things are more likely to …
