The Tangential

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Movie review: "Train Dreams" turns petro-masculinity on its head - The Tangential Writer/director Clint Bentley's sweeping frontier drama is romantic, but not regarding trains. (Planes fare better.)

Empire Builder: not a good thing!

Movie review: "Sentimental Value" explores the healing power of art - The Tangential For a movie with so much to chew on, Joachim Trier's feature moves with efficiency, finding moment after moment of gentle emotional truth.

For a movie with so much to chew on, Joachim Trier’s feature moves with efficiency, finding moment after moment of gentle emotional truth.

Movie review: "Little Trouble Girls," a subtle struggle between church and corpus - The Tangential "Little Trouble Girls" understands the power of a few days away when you're young and hopeful, even when that hope is bound to be dashed.

These characters will surprise you and make you think.

Review: 2025 British Arrows inspire laughter and tears - The Tangential Amid a numbing drumbeat of discouraging news, this year's ads arrive as a welcome reminder that it is still possible to actually feel things.

If you found #TheNakedGun to be a healing experience, the British Arrows will give you another dose of what’s good for you: sharing a giggle with strangers.

Movie review: Revenge is sour in "The French Italian" - The Tangential Writer-director Rachel Wolther bets big on an implausible premise that "The French Italian" strains to sustain.

If nothing else, pro-urbanists can take heart at "The French Italian," which argues that even living above an unstable couple with a karaoke machine is better than taking the New Haven Line home to dead silence.

Three Star Wars retcons Kenner kids can't accept - The Tangential Those of us who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy and collected the Kenner toy line remember how real those action figures felt compared to the images we caught only occasionally onscreen. N...

Max Rebo plays keyboard with his...feet?!

"My Sunshine" has a lo-fi appeal: cozy, yet yearning.

Movie review: "Twinless" stretches an implausible premise - The Tangential The story touches on grief, sexuality and male loneliness, but writer-director James Sweeney does those themes short shrift.

The film’s continual need to serve its twisty plot distracts from the themes it points to.

Movie review: "Swiped," a Bumble biopic - The Tangential It's a good thing the story is true, because, sadly, this triumph over toxic masculinity would beggar belief if presented as fiction.

If nothing else, "Swiped" serves as a look-into-the-camera moment in the face of Mark Zuckerberg declaring that corporate America needs more “masculine energy.”

Movie review: "The Luckiest Man in America" hits a whammy - The Tangential For all this movie's missed opportunities, it remains a watchable, often engaging movie about a guy who decided to make his own luck.

If Dario Argento had become a CBS journeyman, daytime TV might have looked like this.

Movie review: "Hot Milk" is sour - The Tangential Would this film ever have been made if it was about homely people in Rochester, Minnesota?

What is it about Emma Mackey that makes directors think her eyebrows will take care of any required character development?

Movie review: Don't let "Oh, Hi!" in - The Tangential The premise has potential, if the movie could build a world and stay there, but it's as if director Sophie Brooks and co-writer Molly Gordon keep getting distracted.

Is OH, HI! meant to be a dark character study? A goofy rom-com? A surprise thriller? It just burbles along for an hour and a half, never resolving the disconnect between the affable characters and their ludicrous situation.

Movie review: Beatrice Grannò is Henry Golding's dream girl in "Daniela Forever" - The Tangential The frustration of "Daniela Forever" is that writer/director Nacho Vigalondo favors style over substance, failing to ground his characters.

We’ve been here before — and by “here,” we mean in a lucid dream in Madrid.

Film review: "C.S. Lewis On Stage: Further Up & Further In" arrives on video - The Tangential The film brings one of the 20th century's most beloved figures, as portrayed by Max McLean, into living rooms wanting to welcome him.

80-plus minutes of one guy talking about theology: more interesting than you'd expect!

Book review: "501 Essential Albums of the '80s" - The Tangential The '80s still have surprising delights to be unearthed by curious listeners. Now, those listeners have one more guide to steer their ears.

How many Billy Joel albums would you include? (This book has three.)

TV review: "Andor" final season is heart-stopping, jaw-dropping - The Tangential The season is a relentless suspense machine, with more tension than fans have experienced since Darth Vader was freezing Han Solo.

The final season of Andor is a relentless suspense machine, with more tension than fans have experienced since Darth Vader was lowering Han Solo into the carbon freeze chamber.

Audiobook review: Colwill Brown's "We Pretty Pieces of Flesh" - The Tangential Authentic Yorkshire language is foundational, establishing the girls' world and serving as a measure of how far they have traveled from it.

Whether three women can effectively support each other, in a world that only sees them all as pretty pieces of flesh, is this unforgettable novel’s unanswered question. @jaygabler.com reviews Colwill Brown’s debut:

Theater review: "Mean Girls," at the Ordway, plumbs perennial teen angst - The Tangential "You can’t provide what you don’t offer, so because Cady was being fake, she lost friends because she wasn’t being her real self.”

💅 @jaygabler.com’s mom and niece agree: “Mean Girls” is relevant.

Audiobook review: "All Better Now" is a creepy chronicle of a feel-good pandemic - The Tangential Shusterman leverages the unsettling sense amid pandemic precautions, some people were downright eager to let COVID romp.

For @thetangential.bsky.social, @jaygabler.com reviewed Neal Shusterman's "All Better Now":

Audiobook review: "All Better Now" is a creepy chronicle of a feel-good pandemic - The Tangential Shusterman leverages the unsettling sense amid pandemic precautions, some people were downright eager to let COVID romp.

Neal Shusterman, already established as a blockbuster talent in YA speculative fiction, imagines the coming of a second virus — this one instilling the belief that it’s morally wrong to deny others the benefits of infection.

Theater review: "Come From Away" is a reminder of human decency - The Tangential Canadians accommodated thousands of stranded airline passengers on 9/11. How did we thank them? With...this Tony-winning musical!

Oh, Canada. 🥲

Audiobook review: Heeeeeeere's "Carson the Magnificent"! - The Tangential Johnny Carson was a born showman, we learn, but a calculating one: he had the discipline and charisma of a magician.

The hold Johnny Carson had on the nation’s attention in the late-night hours, most weeknights for 30 years, is difficult now to imagine. Tonight’s late-night hosts only pull a fraction of his numbers, even while following a formula he set in stone.

TV review: "Skeleton Crew" lets Star Wars be for kids again - The Tangential Think "The Goonies" in space, and if you think, they already did that and it was called "Explorers," you're going to appreciate this show.

Today’s kids may or may not appreciate the more meta aspects of a show in which kids within the Star Wars universe play with Star Wars action figures…but never mind, Skeleton Crew is fun.

Do we hate children? - The Tangential It's increasingly difficult and expensive to raise a child in this country. Have our attitudes towards children fundamentally changed?

Kids in America today are having a rough time of it. Do we just...not like them all that much?

Is Liquor Lyle's on Bluesky yet?