The Tangential
@thetangential.bsky.social
Don't be boring. Don't suck.
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.
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.
thetangential.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:06 AM
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.
Max Rebo plays keyboard with his...feet?!
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...
thetangential.com
September 26, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Max Rebo plays keyboard with his...feet?!
"My Sunshine" has a lo-fi appeal: cozy, yet yearning.
Movie review: "My Sunshine" is a low-key charmer - The Tangential
"My Sunshine" is a beautiful film. There's more below the surface, but writer/director Hiroshi Okuyama doesn't spell it out.
thetangential.com
September 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
"My Sunshine" has a lo-fi appeal: cozy, yet yearning.
The film’s continual need to serve its twisty plot distracts from the themes it points to.
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.
thetangential.com
September 13, 2025 at 6:50 PM
The film’s continual need to serve its twisty plot distracts from the themes it points to.
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: "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.
thetangential.com
September 10, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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.”
If Dario Argento had become a CBS journeyman, daytime TV might have looked like this.
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.
thetangential.com
September 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
If Dario Argento had become a CBS journeyman, daytime TV might have looked like this.
What is it about Emma Mackey that makes directors think her eyebrows will take care of any required character development?
Movie review: "Hot Milk" is sour - The Tangential
Would this film ever have been made if it was about homely people in Rochester, Minnesota?
thetangential.com
August 26, 2025 at 6:57 PM
What is it about Emma Mackey that makes directors think her eyebrows will take care of any required character development?
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: 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.
thetangential.com
July 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
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.
We’ve been here before — and by “here,” we mean in a lucid dream in Madrid.
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.
thetangential.com
July 11, 2025 at 5:00 PM
We’ve been here before — and by “here,” we mean in a lucid dream in Madrid.
80-plus minutes of one guy talking about theology: more interesting than you'd expect!
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.
thetangential.com
June 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
80-plus minutes of one guy talking about theology: more interesting than you'd expect!
How many Billy Joel albums would you include? (This book has three.)
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.
thetangential.com
May 2, 2025 at 9:39 PM
How many Billy Joel albums would you include? (This book has three.)
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.
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.
thetangential.com
April 21, 2025 at 4:05 PM
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.
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:
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.
thetangential.com
April 17, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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:
💅 @jaygabler.com’s mom and niece agree: “Mean Girls” is relevant.
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.”
thetangential.com
April 10, 2025 at 3:24 AM
💅 @jaygabler.com’s mom and niece agree: “Mean Girls” is relevant.
Reposted by The Tangential
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.
thetangential.com
April 3, 2025 at 1:04 PM
For @thetangential.bsky.social, @jaygabler.com reviewed Neal Shusterman's "All Better Now":
Reposted by The Tangential
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.
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.
thetangential.com
March 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM
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.
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.
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.
thetangential.com
December 18, 2024 at 1:50 AM
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.
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.
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.
thetangential.com
December 3, 2024 at 2:13 AM
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.
Kids in America today are having a rough time of it. Do we just...not like them all that much?
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?
thetangential.com
November 22, 2024 at 8:26 PM
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?
November 22, 2024 at 8:26 PM
Is Liquor Lyle's on Bluesky yet?