A Reflection on "The Tale"

By Spencer Coile 

I intended for this to be a formal review of Jennifer Fox’s autobiographical HBO film, The Tale. I was going to dive into the Sundance darling and discuss it, celebrate it, and critique it the way we do most movies. I was going to conclude with the film’s Emmy chances, where it will no doubt be a worthy contender for Best Made for TV Movie and Laura Dern in Leading Actress. And it’s no wonder – it was critically lauded as a timely reflection of the #MeToo movement.  

But a "review" would be doing Fox’s story a disservice. This is, first and foremost, a personal story about Fox's reconciliation with the past as a means of understanding her present and future. The Tale was acclaimed coming out of Sundance, and was quickly scooped up by HBO. Gone were Dern’s Oscar chances, but this decision ensured that the film would reach an audience, which according to Fox, was the point all along.

Dern plays Jennifer Fox at 48-years-old – a documentarian, a professor, engaged. On the surface, she seems to be living a completely fulfilling life. But when her mother (Ellen Burstyn) finds a story that Jennifer wrote at 13, her world begins to crumble...

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HBO Pays Up

By Spencer Coile 

In addition to its already anticipated second season, the impacts of Big Little Lies are reaching far and wide – in this case, from the pocketbooks of its network. HBO executive Casey Bloys explains that in light of the Times Up Movement, as well as insistence from series star Reese Witherspoon, the network went through a process to ensure equal pay for each of its stars… from every single series. Bloys explains:

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Mother Meryl in Big Little Lies 2

by Chris Feil.

The family that watches together stays together. Or maybe not in Monterey.

Tidbits of the second season of Big Little Lies are steadily arriving now that filming is underway. Now we have what we've really been craving: a glimpse of Meryl as Perry's mother. This docile family moment doesn't look like the fireworks we'd been promised by her arrival, but maybe this is just a decoy of sorts dropped by Nicole Kidman on her Instagram (a gift that keeps on giving). But what is the family watching? Are they rewatching season one like the rest of us surely will? Observing good parenting and indoctrinately these kids to The Hours as soon as possible? Reading our Months of Meryl as a bedtime story? Hmmm....

Meryl in Monterey

Chris here. HBO sees your Big Little Lies season two skepticism and raises you a legend. There's no sense in holding out the news: Meryl Streep has joined Big Little Lies! A 21st Oscar nomination and major casting coup in the span of two days?! How's your week going?

The Andrea Arnold-directed season will feature Meryl donning her birth name as Mary Louise Wright, the mother of Alexander Skarsgård departed abusive husband Perry. Mary Louise comes to Monterey looking for answers after Perry's demise, so expect some fireworks between her and Nicole Kidman. Call it a The Hours reunion...

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A First Look at HBO's "Deuce"

Chris here. David Simon is something of an HBO perennial, delivering the likes of The Wire, Treme, and the Oscar Isaac-led mini Show Me A Hero to much acclaim. He's back (along with his frequent collaborator George Pelecanos) this fall for another round of prestige grit with crime series The Deuce, an NYC-set look at the rise of the porn industry and its violent underbelly.

Now before you go calling this HBO's next Vinyl, consider that it also gives us twin James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal in several wigs. There is a lot to take in for a seemingly familiar series: a logo that looks like it belongs in an Atlantic City lounge, campy period detail, dialogue that feels intentionally cheesy. I'm not sure if the tone is supposed to be slightly off-kilter, but there are enough bizarre elements to make The Deuce more intriguing than another severe Goodfellas retread. While the first look below features a lot of the expected plots points for such material, it also hints that we could be getting some peak form Gyllenhaal among its glossy production value. The Deuce debuts September 10.