TV: "Succession" Course-Corrects With Third Episode of Final Season

By Christopher James

Some episodes of TV are above and beyond the show’s they’re housed in. Season four, episode three of Succession raised an already strong show to new heights. A twist early enough in the episode sets the final season in a new direction and gives Emmy-ready tapes for its crew of actors.

In full honesty, I was working on an article about Succession jumping the shark. A once dynamic series which captivated audiences and critics was just spinning its wheels tossing business jargon and curses into an incomprehensible word salad. Much of season three featured the Roy clan rehashing more of the same. However, episode three of the new season is flooring. 

SPOILERS TO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW...

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Programming Note - April

Did you have a good Easter weekend? Apologies that this weekend contained no "reader's choice" so we're pushed back one week in that regard. So we thought it time to share some things coming up to help keep us on track...

April 10th - Succession Season Four Review
April 12th - Antiviral (2013) 10th anniversary
April 13th - Cannes Lineup Announced
April 14th - Reader's Choice: Marnie (1964) on Netflix
April 17th - Monday's Stage Door series returns as the Broadway season heats up and Tony buzz rises
April 21st - Reader's Choice: Fatal Attraction (1987) 
April 28th - Reader's Choice: TBA
April 28th - Letters from an Unknown Woman (1947) 75th anniversary

Also this month: April Foolish Oscar Predictions, Interview with Joyland director Saim Saddiq, Interview with rising cinematography star Carolina Costa (Fancy Dance, Heroic), the Year in Queer Cinema thus far, Erotic Thrillers on Criterion Channel continues, Love & Death on HBO Max, Polite Society at the movies, the Evil Dead franchise, and more... 

Erotic Thrillers: Part 2 – "Body Double" is one sleazy masterstroke!

by Cláudio Alves

Our voyage through the Criterion Channel's Erotic Thrillers collection continues. Only this time, only one movie. Mind you, that wasn't the initial design, but plans were thwarted when confronted with what's bound to become a new favorite – Brian De Palma's 1984 Hitchcock homage sui generis, Body Double. The thing demanded full attention, a drill held low and ready to fuck to death whoever dared to ignore its call. So, it's time to kill morality where it stands, bury good taste while you're at it, and surrender to the wild ride. Let's go down the rabbit hole into Vioporn wonderland…

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Review: “Air” Taps into Nostalgic 80s Charm

by Eurocheese

'Air Jordan'
I dunno... Maybe it'll grow on me?

Throwbacks in film can be difficult to manage, especially to time periods we remember well. Air, which recounts the story of Nike's pursuit to sign future global superstar Michael Jordan, kicks off with a montage of 1984 pop culture references,  depicting the positive and sometimes corny images that we associate with life at the time. One of this movie’s greatest accomplishments is finding the heightened, breezy sheen that pervaded movies in that era and allowing itself to rest there. We all understand where this film is going, so we can relax and enjoy the ride along the way, soaking in all the fun details (remember green screen computers?). We can also watch the negotiations and lean in with the knowledge that Michael Jordan did, in fact, become the superstar marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) believed he would...

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The haunting beauty of "Kwaidan"

by Cláudio Alves

This month, in the Criterion Channel, there's a spotlight on Kwaidan, the Masaki Kobayashi classic that became the first significant example of Japanese horror to reach international audiences. You can find critic Grady Hendrix exploring the 1964 anthology on the streaming service, but that's far from the only reason you should check it out. Kwaidan collects four ghost stories that, together, form cinematic poetry of ravishing beauty. No wonder Kobayashi's film has entranced The Film Experience for years. Dancin' Dan once wrote about Kwaidan for the Oscar Horrors series, Nathaniel and Juan Carlos discussed it in podcast form, and I highlighted its costuming for an idealized Oscar ballot. 

Still, it's never a wrong time to re-consider Kwaidan, to get lost anew in its visual splendor...

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