Female Film Critics 24/375
Back in 2021, HBO Max premiered Hacks, an audacious, five-season comedy series about two women: a boomer standup diva and a millennial joke writer who – through generational friction – eventually became artistic soulmates. Starring Jean Smart as droll, deadpan Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as bisexual, eco-conscious Ava Daniels, Hacks went on to win 12 Primetime Emmys, and – now – it’s come to an end.
So let’s look back.
Delightfully original, Hacks is a clever character study about writing and performing comedy, bridging the generation gap with smart show-business satire. For the first two seasons, legendary Boomer diva Deborah Vance (Emmy-winner Jean Smart) has been working in Las Vegas with Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), her combative Gen-Z comedy-writer protégé. Then they go their separate ways. As the third season begins, Deborah’s stand-up TV comeback special is wildly successful, and Ava has secured a prestigious new writing gig in Los Angeles. Problem is: Deborah misses her provocative young collaborator, and Ava cannot resist the creative challenge.
Read more
When a 15 year old boy on the autism spectrum, acting in his first movie, outshines his heavy hitting Hollywood co-stars, you know he’s something special. If only his film, Ezra, was just as exceptional. William A. Fitzgerald is Ezra. The teen was a mild mannered New Jersey school boy who liked acting when, on a whim, he auditioned for the film and won the part. He makes the movie watchable, stealing every scene he is in, which fortunately is a lot.
Read more
Plane is a good old fashioned 1970/80’s style disaster flick…short on cents and sense, but there’s a big budget for bullets to bombard the bad guys with. Those island rebels got blowed up real good, hence the R rating. Plane is meant to be seen in a theater, preferably a full one, for a first class seat to mayhem. Otherwise it’s just a plain old plane movie.
Read more