The Blu Spot

The Show: When writer Brad Ingelsby last graced our television screens back in 2021, he brought us the remarkably compelling miniseries "Mare of Easttown," a fascinating murder mystery that garnered him a WGA Award and an Emmy nomination (which he most definitely should have won). The show was an amazing success and resulted in an extended deal with HBO, which leads us to his next television effort known as "Task," another series that takes us to a small & remote town where t

The Film: Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson has given us a number of classics throughout his illustrious career, including "Rain Man" (winner of the Best Picture Oscar), "Good Morning Vietnam," "Diner," and "Bugsy," but one of his surprise hits that doesn't seem to get mentioned all that much from his impressive filmography is a little film called "Sleepers," which is celebrating its remarkable 30th anniversary this year. The film didn't have that much success wit

The Show: Back in 2014, a small, curious animated outing called "Over the Garden Wall" appeared on Cartoon Network from creator Patrick McHale ("Adventure Time") that utilized the rather simple premise of two young brothers trying to get home in order to take the viewer on quite a strange adventure. Told in ten episodes of about 11 minutes each, the miniseries was not only popular with audiences, but was a major critical success as well, a wave that it rode all the way to the

The Film: Throughout cinematic history, there have been few monumental epics that have achieved the standing of William Wyler's 1959 masterpiece "Ben-Hur." To this day, its sheer size & scope are still marveled at by all who see it, putting to shame films that now have to cheat with CGI to achieve the same scale. At the time of its making, if you wanted to see significant portions of Rome, it had to be built. If you needed to have a scene featuring thousands of people, you ha

The Film: There have been many films about investigative journalism over the course of cinematic history, including "The Post," "The Insider," "She Said," and, of course, "Spotlight," which garnered the Oscar for Best Picture a decade ago. However, none of these have been quite as revered as Alan J. Pakula's 1976 classic "All the President's Men," which tells the timeless story of the two reporters who put their lives on the line to investigate the infamous break-in at the Wa

The Film: Ever since it premiered way back in 1959, Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" has been a much-beloved program that is often cited as one of the greatest shows ever made. Over the course of five seasons, it told fascinating moral tales that often had endings you weren't quite expecting, delighting & entertaining audiences of all ages. This made it no surprise that, 20 years later, the idea was brought up to bring the concept to theaters, with four big directors (John L

The Film: Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson is certainly no stranger to massive critical acclaim, with each of his features having garnered a fair share of positive reviews. Have they always been deserved? Well, it's more than fair to say that some of his films are a little overrated, including "Inherent Vice," "Punch-Drunk Love," and "Licorice Pizza," but this hasn't stopped him from amassing a rather impressive 11 Oscar nominations over the course of his incredible caree

The Film: After the 2013 "Evil Dead" reboot failed to impress both critics & audiences alike with its pointless, gratuitous bloodbath, it was decided that it was time to put the idea of another film on the back burner for a little while, and instead attempt the series' first television iteration (with original star Bruce Campbell in the lead, no less). "Ash vs. Evil Dead" was well-received, but after three all-too-brief seasons, it was cancelled due to low viewership (basical

The Film: As writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson quickly approaches 30 years of making theatrical features, it really is quite something to look over what a strange & eccentric filmography he's created along the way, one that has thus far earned him a remarkable 11 Oscar nominations (though curiously no wins). In a career that's included some misses like "Inherent Vice" and "Licorice Pizza," to much stronger work like "There Will Be Blood" and "Magnolia," it's been truly fas

The Film: "The Conjuring" series has been a somewhat unusual roller coaster ride over the course of its 12-year existence. It started off pretty shaky with a surprisingly dull entry that didn't do much to elicit scares, but came back pretty strong with a sequel that fixed many problems that plagued the original. However, the third film (the poorly-titled "The Devil Made Me Do It") fell back on the same tired cliches & issues that held back the first entry. Now we come to what