TV: Casual (Season 4)
Casual, Hulu’s quirky saga of a dysfunctional Southern California family, ends with its fourth and best season, providing uncommonly satisfying closure for its quirky, unhappy protagonists. After three seasons of …
TV: Casual (Season 3)
Moving into its third cringe-filled season, Casual continues on its awkward, darkly comic way. While the increasingly unlikable behavior of its core trio still keeps the viewer at an arm’s …
TV: Casual (Season 2)
To a degree, there’s an element of schadenfreude to the appeal of Hulu’s Casual: the romantic and emotional struggles of an effortlessly rich family in Southern California, whose behavior is often self-serving …
TV: Casual (Season 1)
In retrospect, the first season of Hulu’s Casual may be best viewed as a mystery. Stylistically reminiscent of Transparent, it’s a dramedy about a dysfunctional LA family, and like Transparent …
Film: Afternoon Delight
It’s hard not to look at Jill Soloway’s Afternoon Delight (2013) as a warmup for her series Transparent. Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) is a profoundly bored mother in Los Angeles whose …
TV: Transparent (Season 1)
Normally when describing a new show, I’ll just compare it to similar shows. Jill Soloway’s Transparent defies that easy strategy; it’s simply too different. With the deft hand of a …
Film: In a World…
Over the weekend, Jenn and I caught In a World… (2013) at the local Laemmle, and I found it a thoroughly entertaining indie about the trailer voiceover industry. Lake Bell, …
Film: Wanderlust
I put Wanderlust (2012) on for background noise while I was eating lunch the other day, and unexpectedly ended up watching it through. I must have missed that The State …