mike white – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE WHITE LOTUS Season 3 – Review by Susan Granger

March 31, 2025April 7, 2025 Susan Granger Carrie Coon, leslie bibb, michelle monaghan, mike white, natasha rothwell, Nicholas Duvernay, parker posey, series, The White Lotus: Season 3

Let’s be honest: Mike White’s The White Lotus: Season 3 isn’t as much fun as the previous two. The satirical anthology that began as a pandemic project on Maui in Hawaii has grown into a huge, Emmy Award-winning, globe-trotting franchise with a glamorous, exotic location and different cast of characters for each season. Epitomized by the menacing plethora of lizards and monkeys amid repetitive water imagery, Mike White’s dramatic narrative is darker and slower-paced, the multiple storylines and faked fantasies less compelling, the characters less empathetic, and the acerbic dialogue less biting about wealth and privilege

Reviews

THE WHITE LOTUS: Season 2 – Review by Susan Granger

November 21, 2022November 23, 2022 Susan Granger aubrey plaza, hbo, Jennifer Coolidge, mike white, series, The White Lotus: Season 2, Will Sharpe

For its Emmy-winning initial season The White Lotus was set at a luxurious Hawaiian resort. Now, The White Lotus: Season 2 moves to a deluxe Sicilian hotel, perched on the cliffs of Taormina overlooking the Ionian Sea. “It’s a different vibe,” clarifies series creator/writer/director Mike White. The first was focused on the guests vs. the employees – who has the money, who has the power – set against a colonialism backdrop. While still revolving around decadent, rich discontents, the second season is more about sexual politics with elements of a bedroom farce as people sneak in and out of hotel rooms.

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THE WHITE LOTUS – Review by Martha K Baker

August 23, 2021August 24, 2021 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) connie britton, Jennifer Coolidge, mike white, Murray Bartlett, natasha rothwell, Steve Zahn, The White Lotus

Set in a luxurious Hawaiian resort, The White Lotus is about entitlement, or “enwhitelment,” as a comedian labeled it, with people of color at the beck of white people as described by creator Mike White. But it’s also about political correctness, parenting, and complicity, about secrets and stealing and sex. The White Lotus satisfactorily delivers, just remember that “Aloha” means both “hello” and “goodbye.”

Reviews

THE WHITE LOTUS – Review by Susan Granger

July 22, 2021July 25, 2021 Susan Granger connie britton, hbo, Jennifer Coolidge, mike white, Murray Bartlett, natasha rothwell, Steve Zahn, The White Lotus

As the plot of Mike White’s new HBO series unfolds, it’s as if Fantasy Island merged with The Love Boat. In the opening shot, a casket is being loaded onto a plane. It’s a mysteriously ominous beginning that soon shifts to a tropical island where smiling Armond , the smarmy resort manager, and his newly hired assistant Lani prepare to welcome new guests as they arrive at the luxurious White Lotus Hotel.

Reviews

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN – Review by Susan Granger

September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 Susan Granger 0 Comments angelina jolie, disney, live-action/CGI, mike white, sam rockwell, the one and only ivan

Based on Katherine Applegate’s Newberry Medal 2012 best-seller, The One and Only Ivan is reminiscent of Charlotte’s Web. It’s family-friendly, filled with a poignant melancholy, a touching, tender tale for tiny tots.