‘Minx’ Is a Prurient, Big-Hearted Story of Feminism and Porn: TV Review

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticPete Holmes is a fairly cerebral comic, a presence whose jokes consistently feel carefully thought through. His recent HBO sitcom “Crashing,” which ended in 2019, took a subject that is easy to lampoon — a comedian’s quest for recognition and success — and took it seriously, treating it with real sensitivity.There’s something particularly dispiriting, then, about “How We Roll,” a new sitcom starring Holmes that’s lacking any semblance of his voice or his wit.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticOf all this season’s limited series based on high-profile incidents of chicanery, “The Dropout” stands out. More than Showtime’s Uber show, Apple’s WeWork show, or Netflix’s Anna Delvey show, Hulu’s look at the life and career of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes feels as though it has a certain point-of-view on its subject.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticLast year, Marvel made a serious run at using streaming TV to do something qualitatively different than what it does on the big screen. With “WandaVision,” the first of its series to stream on Disney Plus, the studio used familiar characters to animate a story that, in its early going, was substantially more pliable and strange than what they were willing to attempt in a heavily leveraged movie.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“Plaza Suite” practically demands to be played straight.Neil Simon’s look at three romantic couples facing down the passage of time is sharp and knowing, but it is, crucially, earnest. Each character gives direct and explicit voice to what’s on their mind; relationship dynamics are explored with an openness of heart that isn’t remotely trying to be cool or distanced.

“Cuz I Love You” — her Grammy-winning major-label debut album — Lizzo proved that she was 100 percent that body-positive bitch.And the “Truth Hurts” singer-rapper, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, is not about to pull an Adele and go skinny on us. In fact, she’s looking for more thick chicks to join her twerking troupe on “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls,” her new reality show that premiered Friday (March 25) on Prime Video.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticThere’s a beautifully drawn moment in the fourth episode of “Pachinko,” Apple TV Plus’ new cross-generational epic, in which a young woman (Minha Kim) is served white rice as a final meal in Korea before setting out to the unknown. It’s moving on its merits — this character, Sunja, has already been through a great deal, and a meal lovingly prepared by her mother (Inji Jeong) has a certain symbolic weight all its own.

We have confirmed that "West Side Story" star Rachel Zegler has been invited to the Oscars after all.There’s word out there that the Academy has invited her to be a presenter, however, they won’t confirm. What is clear is that the actress’ production schedule in London on the Disney movie "Snow White" has loosened up so that she can head to Los Angeles and watch the show live instead of in sweatpants and her boyfriend’s flannel from her couch, as she indicated on Instagram over the weekend to her followers who were enraged to hear that the actress be a no-show.  Rachel Zegler initially told fans on social media that she wasn't invited to this year's Academy Awards despite her film being nominated.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic“I just kept thinking, why isn’t anyone stopping us? Why didn’t anyone stop us?”Amber (Laura Dreyfuss) is addressing her wife (Jamie Neumann), deep into a scheme that has spiraled beyond either one of these two white women’s control. On their way to the madness of this moment, they’ve demonstrated both a powerful and shocking inhumanity and the grim whimsicality of racism – the manner in which new rules can be created by the people in charge breezily, as if for their own amusement.This is, and is not, “Atlanta.” The show, returning to the air for the first time since 2018, has jettisoned its cast for this installment, stepping outside the plot to tell a story of startling power.

(“Mickey Mouse in the Gurs Internment Camp”), a 15-page booklet that shows Mickey in the camps alongside other Jewish prisoners under threat of being Jewish himself. The piece ends with Mickey deciding not to be Jewish, redrawing himself as escaping the camp, and walking back to America. In the documentary, this is framed as “Mickey disappears.” (Horst, on the other hand, was executed.)Though “Mickey” is not interested in the redemption (or renewal) of Walt Disney, neither does it suggest that Mickey himself needs any type of rehabilitation.

Joe Leydon Film CriticLet’s not mince words: “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story” is a high-stepping, hand-waving, spirit-lifting gas. Co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, with the invaluable assistance of editor Martin Singer, have fashioned an infectiously exuberant overview of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Big Easy’s unique and enormous celebration of its music, cuisine and multiculturalism, by combining their own footage of performances and interviews at the 50th iteration of the star-studded annual event — the last before COVID-19 forced cancelation of the 2000 and 2001 editions — and archival footage dating back to the festival’s earliest days.Those days might have begun earlier, fest co-founder George Wein reveals during an interview conducted before his 2021 passing, if he had accepted a 1962 invitation by locals to establish the New Orleans equivalent of his Newport Jazz Festival.

No American city is as steeped in native musical lore and legacy as is New Orleans and you get a good feeling for how that came about in Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story. It’s a documentary overflowing with performers and music that still barely begins to scratch the surface of what’s gone on musically for ages in the fabled, oft-distressed city. Music fans of assorted persuasions will be delighted with the samples served up here, although the subject is so vast and varied that something like a six or ten-hour miniseries would be required to begin to do it justice. With Sony Pictures Classics handling the U.S. release starting May 13 after it SXSW bow, the film is certain to get a nice lift-off and extensive exposure on home tubes is assured.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIt’s not hard to see why a story about a U.S. at war with itself might have seemed especially piquant to producers over the past several years.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticNetflix has once again found a criminal case whose oddity, extremity, and seeming delusion make for an interesting story. “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud.

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that its feature documentary Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, co-directed by five-time Oscar nominee Frank Marshall (The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart) and Ryan Suffern (Mr. A & Mr. M: The Story of A&M Records), will hit theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 13, before expanding to additional markets in the following weeks. It will open against IFC Films’ horror-thriller The Innocents, Roadside Attractions’ comedy Family Camp and Universal’s horror-thriller Firestarter starring Zac Efron and more.

Caroline Framke Chief TV CriticAs TV expands beyond its traditional borders and attracts talent that would otherwise typically stick to films, the troubling trend of people describing their shows as “a [x]-hour movie” refuses to die. It’s never quite clear what they mean, but for whatever reason, this inherent snobbery about the medium of television persists from some of the most prominent people making it.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticHulu’s new limited series “The Girl From Plainville,” which premiered at the SXSW festival on March 12, faces, and surmounts, an interesting challenge: Its two lead characters have a relationship based almost entirely on text messages. The sight of someone with their face buried in a phone is hardly novel, nor is it compelling — at least not enough to sustain an eight-episode drama.The question of whether “The Girl From Plainville,” based on the real-life manslaughter trial of Michelle Carter after she encouraged her boyfriend over text to kill himself in 2014, really needed all of those episodes to tell its story is a fair one.

Zoe Hewitt Earning recognition for hard work feels good and earning it from your peers in your chosen career path is even more special. This year’s nominees for the Costume Designers Guild Awards, which takes place on March 9 at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, are reaping acknowledgement directly from fellow designers who understand better than anyone what goes into the process.Salvador Perez, president of the CDG, is busy planning the 24th annual awards, hosted by Andrew Rannells and Casey Wilson, with multiple contingencies in place, from forging ahead with a live event to streaming the evening online.“Since [audiences] aren’t doing anything, they’re actually paying more attention [to our work],” says Perez.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticIn the new documentary series “The Andy Warhol Diaries,” the late pop artist’s re-created voice sounds eerie and uncanny — human but not. It’s aesthetically jarring, and a fitting tribute.Director Andrew Rossi, with the permission of Warhol’s estate, used an artificial-intelligence program to reproduce his speaking voice, so that “Warhol” can read aloud from the diaries he kept.