Saturday Night and the Real History of SNL: What Is True and What’s Invented?

Saturday Night Live is so old that it predates being called “Saturday Night Live.” Originally, the show was known simply as Saturday Night. That’s a half-forgotten factoid which Jason Reitman’s new film—also simply Saturday Night—leans into when a young and sharply dressed antihero named Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) tells an incredulous NBC security guard that … Read more

The Apprentice Ties Donald Trump to an Ancient Rot in the American Right

This article contains spoilers for The Apprentice. Before we ever see Sebastian Stan in a slicked back blond wig and long red tie, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice reveals its hand by focusing on an entirely different Republican president—and the only other who was seriously threatened with impeachment. In infamous archival footage, a sweaty and defensive … Read more

Ranking the Mike Flanagan Netflix Horror Shows

Mike Flanagan has become one of the best horror writer/directors of the last decade thanks, in part, to his multi-series deal with Netflix. The five shows he created for Netflix have allowed him to hone his style and craft in different ways, each telling unique and spooky stories that, above all, are human. While he … Read more