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Thursday, December 08, 2022 — Houston, TX

Will Cover

A&E 9/27/22 11:54pm

Review: ‘Industry’ takes the leap with a poignant second season

By Will Cover

The finale of “Industry’s” stellar second season features a relatively cliché sports metaphor, so it’s only fitting to start this review with one of my own. There are a few universally satisfying moments in sports: the underdog who beats an obnoxious powerhouse, the aging star who has more left in the tank than we thought or the young talent who puts it all together and goes from promising to a superstar. This season, “Industry” took that leap. 

A&E 2/15/22 11:52pm

Review: ‘The Fallout’ provides a nuanced and empathetic examination of grief

By Will Cover

Last year, a St. Louis reporter tweeted a promo for a segment on where parents should look for hidden drugs in their child’s room. The tweet started with the sentence: “Looks like a normal teen’s bedroom, right?” — a grave mistake considering that the bedroom looked nothing like a normal teen’s bedroom (for starters, no teen has ever owned a three hold punch). There are two morals of this story. First, the news station needs to fire whoever their teen-bedroom correspondent is. Second, there’s a reason the common refrain is “write what you know.” It’s really hard to accurately portray something or someone you don’t have personal experience with. 

A&E 11/16/21 11:35pm

Review: ‘Passing’ is a must-see product of its actors’ skill and excellent direction

By Will Cover

Early in “Passing,” the movie’s protagonist Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) declares, “I have everything I’ve ever wanted.” This is a pretty good sign that Redfield, in fact, does not have everything she has ever wanted. At first glance, Redfield has a picturesque life: two children, an attractive doctor husband and a maid to tend to their beautiful house. But through a well-constructed slow burn plot, “Passing” reveals that Redfield has merely repressed her discontent. 

A&E 11/10/21 12:15am

Review: Marvel swings and misses with ‘Eternals’

By Will Cover

With a cast full of stars or soon-to-be stars and a director coming off of multiple Oscar wins (Chloé Zhao), “Eternals” was a movie brimming with promise. Unfortunately, audiences were delivered a congested and dissonant epic which struggles under the weight of its ambitions. “Eternals” is not without its strong moments, but this is a movie that got away from Zhao and Marvel. 

A&E 11/2/21 11:25pm

Review: ‘The French Dispatch’ is a solid but not stellar addition to Wes Anderson’s portfolio

By Will Cover

Wes Anderson’s movies exist between disagreement and divisiveness. He’s a filmmaker so distinct and unwavering in his style that you either love him or hate him, but his films aren’t likely to lead to spirited debate. Anderson clicks for some people, and for others he doesn’t. “The French Dispatch” is no different. As a solid but not stellar entry from Anderson, this movie should be enjoyable for fans of his work but an easy skip for his detractors. 

A&E 10/13/21 1:28am

Review: ‘What If…?’ is a worthy watch for Marvel fans

By Will Cover

At the heart of Marvel’s “What If…?” is, unsurprisingly, the question: “what if?” The series, which is the first animated entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is based on a popular comic book series of the same name. “What If...?” opts for a similar anthology format, with semi-standalone plots in each episode that eventually converge toward one storyline in the finale. Unlike the comic series, which has the expansive Marvel Comics’s canon at its disposal, the show opts for a smaller scope with only characters that have already appeared in the MCU. These creative guardrails on “What If...?” are the central problem of the show’s first season, which has flashes of immense storytelling potential amidst a more inconsistent affair. 

A&E 10/5/21 11:53pm

Review: ‘The Guilty’ disappoints in comparison to the original

By Will Cover

There’s been a much-maligned trend in movies lately where studios take old, beloved intellectual property and reboot it for modern audiences. “The Guilty” presents something of an interesting experiment from Netflix, then. Although it’s an almost exact remake of a Danish movie of the same name, the original is neither old (it was released just three years ago) or beloved (while it opened to critical acclaim, it made just 4.6 million dollars). Theoretically, this should simplify the path to success for an adaptation. Despite this, “The Guilty” comes nowhere near surpassing an excellent original. 

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