Author – The Durango Herald

The second season of ‘The Crown’ feels as restricted as the monarch herself

Thanks to Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s engagement, 2017 was a gift to Americans who treat the British royal family like a particularly delicious soap opera. Netflix, of course, has the...

DATE: Dec 29, 2017 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

‘Billboards’ didn’t need racist officer

When I saw it, I didn’t expect the year-end debates about “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” to become so vehement, in part because it didn’t occur to me that the movie would arouse...

DATE: Dec 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

It took Ken Burns 10 years to unbury Vietnam War’s secrets

When you make plans to watch a Ken Burns documentary, you often have to clear out a lot of DVR space: 11 hours for “The Civil War,” 14 hours for “The Roosevelts” and, starting on Sept. 17, 1...

DATE: Sep 18, 2017 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

The only way for ‘Game of Thrones’ to be true to itself is to end as tragically as possible

After Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) set triumphant sail for Westeros at the end of the sixth season of “Game of Thrones,” and after a rather talky beginning to the seventh season of the...

DATE: Jul 30, 2017 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

‘GLOW’ is a comedy about female wrestlers – watching it will make you smarter

There are a lot of things I loved about “GLOW,” a Netflix series about a fledgling women’s professional wrestling league so glorious that I watched it all in two sittings. It has magnificent...

DATE: Jul 2, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

Worried about your favorite TV show?

The recent cancellations of series such as WGN’s “Underground,” Netflix’s “Sense8” and “The Get Down,” as well as network series including “American Crime” led me to ponder last week whether...

DATE: Jun 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and the power of dystopian fiction in the Trump era

In an introduction to a new paperback edition of the novel, Margaret Atwood herself described The Handmaid’s Tale as an “antiprediction,” made in the hope that “If this future can be describ...

DATE: Apr 29, 2017 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

‘Hidden Figures’ is terrific

One of the many reasons I’m so grateful for “Hidden Figures,” Theodore Melfi’s terrific movie about three African-American women who made integral contributions to the U.S. space program, is...

DATE: Jan 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

In Georgia, Hollywood proved that it's liberal - but only when it's convenient

DATE: Mar 29, 2016 | CATEGORY: Arts and Entertainment

'House of Cards' is a fraud; we should stop treating it like it's good

A couple of weeks ago, I argued that our relationship with television has become dysfunctional: We’re dragging ourselves through shows that we don’t like or that aren’t actually any good at ...

DATE: Mar 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming

It's time for J.K. Rowling to let other people write Harry Potter books

Since “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was published in 2007 and the second of the two-part movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter novels was released in 2011, the autho...

DATE: Mar 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Books

'Downton Abbey' captured the real - if frustrating - pace of social change

As “Downton Abbey” came to a close over the weekend, I’ve been re-watching the series from the beginning and considering one of the strongest criticisms of it: that change always seems to be...

DATE: Mar 7, 2016 | CATEGORY: Film, TV and Streaming