With his feature directorial debut EX MACHINA, British novelist, screenwriter, and game writer Alex Garland exploded even further onto a scene in which he had been participating since the 1990s with his first novel THE BEACH (1996). Indeed, since 2014, Garland has seemed to focus on his writing-directing film work…

Hey, did you know that Seth MacFarlane, the guy that created FAMILY GUY (1999-present), AMERICAN DAD! (2005-present), THE ORVILLE (2017-present), TED (2012), and a whole lot more, has been recording full-throated, earnest evocations of 1950s swing-jazz-pop in the style of his obvious idol Frank Sinatra? Well, he has, in the…

The Lonely Island emerged from the early years of the 2000s as a trio of childhood friends making videos for the internet to become SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1975-present) innovators and some of the biggest names in comedy. Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer have moved into a universe, simultaneous…

I remember seeing Arcade Fire on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (1975-present) in 2013, for what I now realize was part of the press tour for their fourth album REFLEKTOR, and thinking I greatly disliked the Canadian art/indie/alt rock band. In fact, I got into a whole “argument” with my high school…

Bloc Party is a very important band to me. With their debut record SILENT ALARM (which of course I’ll say more about soon enough), the British indie rock group cemented itself as a favorite of mine for all time. Their subsequent releases (there are six studio albums over the 17…

I’ve found the Action Bronson “universe” to be pretty absorbing. The Albanian rapper from Queens developed a dedicated fanbase as early as 2011 with his first mixtape, which flourished into Vice-driven territory and expanded success through TV hosting gigs fueled by a generally fun (and funny) persona. Well, from my…

I remember seeing THE WITCH in 2015 and thinking this Robert Eggers guy is pretty good. When I discovered it was only his first feature, I was blown away, as it had the restrained hand of someone who had been at it for longer. But then, the guy had been…

I read the first four Harry Potter books more than a dozen times, the fifth a “mere” ten or so, the sixth several, and the final a couple. This was all by the time I was 11 or so (the HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS novel was released in…

Besides his great work with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, singer-songwriter and resident rock weirdo Jack White has created an impressive body of work under his own name since he began releasing solo albums in 2012. In the ten years and across four records since then…