Canceled Too Soon and Linoleum Knife: "It Happened One Christmas" and "A Christmas Prince"

It's Christmas in July! This year, our very own Canceled Too Soon podcast is teaming up with the amazing folks at Linoleum Knife to review two cult Christmas TV movies, one you've heard of and one you might not even believe is real.

Here at Canceled Too Soon, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold invite Dave White and Alonso Duralde to review "It Happened One Christmas," a 1977 television remake of "It's a Wonderful Life," starring Marlo Thomas ("That Girl") in the James Stewart role, Cloris Leachman as the angel, and Orson Welles as the dastardly Mr. Potter. It's one of the weirder footnotes in Christmas TV movie history!

Listen to the "It Happened One Christmas" episode now!

Over at Linoleum Knife, Dave White and Alonso Duralde invite Bibbs and Witney over to review Netflix's unexpected cult hit "A Christmas Prince," starring Rose McIver ("iZombie"), Ben Lamb ("The White Queen"), Sarah Douglas ("Superman II") and Alice Krige ("Star Trek: First Contact"). It's one of many TV movies about American girls falling in love with fictional European princes, and surprise! Almost all of them are directed by the same guy.

Listen to the "A Christmas Prince" episode now!

These episodes are PATREON EXCLUSIVE, so to listen to both of them you'll have to subscribe to both Canceled Too Soon and Linoleum Knife. But you'll be glad you did! They both have fantastic content!

Top Photos: ABC / Netflix

William Bibbiani Reviews 'The Darkest Minds'

Amandla Stenberg stars in "The Darkest Minds" as Ruby, a young woman with telepathic powers, in a world where 90% of the world's children have been killed by a mysterious virus. Now, adults look at the surviving, superpowered children with terror, and a group of mismatched teens have to go on the run to survive. Harris Dickinson ("Trust"), Skylan Brooks ("The Get Down"), Mandy Moore ("47 Meters Down"), Gwendolyn Christie ("Game of Thrones") and Bradley Whitford ("Get Out") co-star in the live-action debut of director Jennifer Yuh Nelson ("Kung Fu Panda 3").

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani praises "The Darkest Minds" for being "fierce" and "a clarion call to arms" for young, burgeoning activists, but critiques the film's "efficient" direction for making it feel "more like a manifesto than a sci-fi thriller."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "The Darkest Minds" at The Wrap

Top Photo: 20th Century Fox

Critically Acclaimed #38: The Films of Tim Burton

Tim Burton spent his career giving a voice to outsiders, only to become a mass-marketed corporate institution. It's a strange and ironic arc to a strange and sometimes ironic career, and it's the subject of this week's episode of Critically Acclaimed podcast!

Film critics William Bibbiani review every single feature film directed by Tim Burton, and one film he didn't direct (and two shorts), to delve into the filmmaker's specific recurring themes, and his sometimes glaring storytelling weaknesses. They even stand up for some of his most commonly maligned motion pictures!

Plus, reviews of the new releases "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" and "Puzzle!"

Give it a listen below!

William Bibbiani Picks The 10 Best Action Movies of the 1980s

The 1980s are often celebrated as a heyday for "badass cinema," in which violence was frequently used to an outrageous extent to tell exciting, crowd-pleasing stories. Indeed, many of the best action movies ever made hail from the 1980s, and narrowing them down to only ten was a difficult feat.

But, film critic William Bibbiani did it! You can read his picks for the best action movies of the 1980s - featuring films from Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and more - in his latest article at IGN.

Read: William Bibbiani Picks The 10 Best '80s Action Movies at IGN

Top Photo: Film Workshop

William Bibbiani Highlights Movie Franchises That Got Better, Not Worse

The time-honored credo that "sequels suck" doesn't seem to apply anymore, if it ever did. Many movie franchises get better over time - or at least, get worse and then get better again - and William Bibbiani highlights many of them in his latest article at IGN.

Action movies, horror movies, romances, westerns and more. There's a franchise that healed itself for just about everybody! And here they are...

Read: William Bibbiani Highlights Movie Franchises That Got Better Over Time at IGN

Top Photo: Paramount Pictures

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Puzzle'

A stifled housewife rekindles her passion for life with a new love, jigsaw puzzles, in Marc Turteltaub's new drama "Puzzle." Kelly MacDonald ("T2 Trainspotting") plays Agnes, who lies to her family in order to join a national puzzle tournament with an unlikely partner, a rich inventor played by Irrfan Khan ("Life of Pi"), and has to decide how much she wants to change her life.

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says that "Puzzle" is "undeniably satisfying," praising the film's "quiet, zen-like" storytelling and, in particular, Kelly MacDonald's "superb" performance.

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Puzzle" at The Wrap

Top Photo: Sony Pictures Classics

William Bibbiani Ranks the 'National Lampoon' Movies

This week marks the 40th anniversary of "National Lampoon's Animal House," AND the 35th anniversary of "National Lampoon's Vacation." For better or worse, these films had an indelible impact on the comedy genre, and left behind them scores of imitators... many of them made by National Lampoon!

In his latest article for The Wrap, film critic William Bibbiani ranks all the major National Lampoon comedies from worst to best, with commentary on films ranging from the "Vacation" franchise to the "Van Wilder" movies, as well as National Lampoon obscurities like "Movie Madness" and "Senior Trip!"

Read: William Bibbiani Ranks the National Lampoon Movies at The Wrap

Top Photo: Warner Bros.

Canceled Too Soon #107: 'Where's Rodney?' (1990)

When Rodney Dangerfield wasn't starring in movies and doing standup, he was being teleported into the life of a teenaged boy named Rodney, who pestered the iconic comedian for relationship advice. That's the baffling premise of "Where's Rodney?", a sitcom that never made it past the pilot episode, for perhaps obvious reasons.

But was "Where's Rodney?" better than it sounds. Could it be that it was... Canceled Too Soon? William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold take a deep dive into this embarrassing chapter of television history in the latest episode of the podcast!

Give it a listen!

The Movie Trivia Schmoedown: Mark Donica vs. Mike Kalinowski (Innergeekdom Tournament)

William Bibbiani is back at The Movie Trivia Schmoedown, and this time he's sitting at the announcer's table, offering color commentary and his take on the controversial decision from Samm Levine to retire just before their long-awaited rematch.

On this episode of The Movie Trivia Schmoedown, Mark Donica takes on Mike Kalinowski in the middle of the Innergeekdom Tournament, and with Kalinowski making big moves behind the scenes, it feels like the state of the universe might be at stake.

Give it a watch below!

Critically Acclaimed #37: 'Movie 43' and 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail'

"Movie 43" stars Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Emma Stone, Terrence Howard, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dennis Quaid, Greg Kinnear, Chris Pratt, Anna Faris, Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, Gerard Butler and - believe it or not - even MORE big Hollywood stars. And yet, this sketch comedy film is often called one of the worst movies ever made. So why is it the perfect double feature with the timeless comedy classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail?"

Join William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold for the latest episode of Critically Acclaimed, as they tackle their latest good/bad double feature, and also review the new releases "The Equalizer 2," "Blindspotting," "Unfriended: Dark Web," and "Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle."

Give it a listen!

Only The Best #3: The Best Picture Nominees of 1928/1929

It's an all-new episode of Only The Best, the podcast where William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review every single nominee for Best Picture, in chronological order! 

In this Patreon-exclusive podcast, Bibbs and Witney look back at the second annual Academy Awards, and review the Oscar-nominated crime thriller "Alibi," the all-star concert movie "The Hollywood Revue of 1929," the singing cowboy western "In Old Arizona," and the Best Picture winner "The Broadway Melody," an all-singing, all-dancing backstage melodrama.

Plus, our hosts also delve into the history of "The Patriot," the last silent film nominated for Best Picture in the 20th Century, which has been lost to history. Bibbs and Witney tracked down as much footage as they could, and also review the classic Josef von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich epic "The Scarlet Empress," which incorporated footage from "The Patriot" into its montages.

Only The Best is a Patreon-exclusive podcast, but you can listen right now for a $10 monthly pledge! You'll also get more bonus podcasts, the chance to vote for future episodes and the power to assign articles to Witney Seibold and William Bibbiani!

Head on over to sign up, and to give Only The Best a listen!

Top Photo: MGM

Canceled Too Soon #106: 'Legend' (1995)

After Richard Dean Anderson was "MacGyver," but before he was "Stargate SG-1," he was a "Legend." In this short-lived UPN action/adventure series, Anderson played a cowardly and drunken author of dime-store western novels, who is forced to impersonate his greatest creation - the steampunk superhero Nicodemus Legend - and fight crime alongside a brilliant scientist, played by John De Lancie from "Star Trek."

"Legend" may have been overshadowed by the failure of UPN, and by the cult success of "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." (which beat "Legend" to the airwaves), but was it really... Canceled Too Soon?

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold explores the cult series in the latest episode of the podcast. 

Give it a listen!

Witney Seibold Reviews 'The Equalizer 2' and 'Eighth Grade' on 'Movie Review Talk With Scott Mantz'

Witney Seibold appears alongside Variety's chief film critic Peter Debruge on the latest episode of "Movie Review Talk with Scott Mantz," a new weekly web series on Collider!

This week's reviews include "Eighth Grade," "The Equalizer 2," "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," "Blindspotting" and the home video release "Blockers."

Give it a watch!

William Bibbiani Explains Why the Plot Holes in "The Dark Knight" Don't Matter

This week marks the ten year anniversary of Christopher Nolan's iconic, celebrated, Oscar-winning superhero classic "The Dark Knight." But while everyone else is singing the film's praises, film critic William Bibbiani takes the opportunity to explore some of the film's more notorious flaws: its plot holes.

But in his latest editorial for IGN, William Bibbiani argues that whatever gaps in storytelling logic "The Dark Knight" has, the majority of the film's plot holes are there for a reason, and solve other, more immediate problems from which the film might otherwise have suffered.

In other words, yes, practically ever movie has at least one plot hole. But the great ones are doing so many other things that the plot holes are either forgivable or, as Bibbiani argues, even necessary

Read: William Bibbiani Explains "Why the Plot Holes in The Dark Knight Don't Matter" at IGN

Top Photo: Warner Bros.

Witney Seibold Reviews 'The Equalizer 2'

Denzel Washington is back as Robert McCall, the ex-Black Ops agent who drives a Lyft, and dishes out vigilante justice whenever his passengers are in trouble. The sequel to the hit "The Equalizer," based on a popular 1980s television series, finds Washington fighting assassins, saving teenagers from gangs and recovering stolen paintings for Holocaust survivors.

In his review at IGN, Witney Seibold calls the film "a modest delight," but adds "for all its great fights, excellent acting from Washington, and tone of general righteousness, ["The Equalizer 2"] feels largely flimsy."

Read: Witney Seibold Reviews "The Equalizer 2" at IGN

Top Photo: Sony Pictures

Witney Seibold Carves Into 'Hannibal,' Season 1

[The following article was sponsored and assigned by our Patreon subscriber Chris Wong. To learn how to sponsor and assign articles to William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold for publication at Critically Acclaimed, visit our Patreon page.]

On “Canceled Too Soon,” William Bibbiani and I examine the long and varied history of TV failures, pursuing and examining TV shows that lasted one season or less. The joyous and endless task of dissecting TV's forgotten failures has, however, left me little time to examine many of the newer, more popular shows out there in the world, and I have remained blissfully in the dark about anything that is even remotely within the public eye; if you can identify it, it's likely I haven't seen it. 

As such, when asked to comment on the popular NBC horror series “Hannibal,” I had to exit my bubble and start from scratch.

William Bibbiani Reviews 'The Equalizer 2'

Denzel Washington returns as the vigilante Robert McCall in "The Equalizer 2," the sequel to the hit 2014 thriller. Based on a classic 1980s television series, the film finds McCall working as a Lyft driver and using his Black Ops skills to help his passengers in their hour of need, whether that means rescuing kidnapped children, recovering stolen paintings for a Holocaust survivor, facing off against a small army of assassins.

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani praises Washington's performance, calling Robert McCall "a great action hero" who "deserves a better movie," and critiques the film's muddled plotting, and treatment of co-star Melissa Leo.

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "The Equalizer" at The Wrap

Top Photo: Sony Pictures

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Unfriended: Dark Web'

The internet is scary (?) in "Unfriended: Dark Web," a horror sequel that takes place entirely on the screen of a laptop computer. It turns out this stolen MacBook is filled with snuff films, leading a group of Skype chatting twenty somethings down a road filled with paranoia and murder.

In his review at IGN, William Bibbiani says "Nothing about 'Unfriended: Dark Web' should work, so it comes as no surprise that nothing about it does," and critiques the film's "cynical, immature narrative" and "laughable scenarios."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Unfriended: Dark Web" at IGN

Top Photo: Universal Pictures

Critically Acclaimed #36: 'Color of Night' and 'Body Heat'

It's a no-holds-barred battle between erotic thrillers! This week on Critically Acclaimed, we're taking a look back at the sexy but notoriously awful "Color of Night," starring Bruce Willis and a cavalcade of characters actors who are too good for this tawdry material, and comparing it to Lawrence Kasdan's explosively sultry neo-noir "Body Heat," starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner as ill-fated lovers who plan to commit murder!

Plus, new reviews of "Skyscraper," "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation," "Eighth Grade," "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," "Siberia" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream!"

Give it a listen!

William Bibbiani Reviews 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (2018)

William Shakespeare's classic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream" gets another new cinematic adaptation with a contemporary rendition, courtesy of director Casey Wilder Mott. Rachel Leigh Cook ("She's All That"), Hamish Linklater ("Legion"), Lily Rabe ("American Horror Story"), Finn Witrock ("American Crime Story"), Avan Jogia ("Ghost Wars"), Fran Kranz ("Much Ado About Nothing") and Charity Wakefield ("The Player") co-star in this Shakespearean Hollywood story about love potions and film students.

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says Mott's adaptation is "unlikely to become any high school drama teacher's go-to DVD for a rainy," and critiques aesthetic, which "looks like a film school project made with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, and not a heck of a lot of skill."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (2018) at The Wrap

Top Photo: Brainstorm Media

William Bibbiani Highlights 'Underrated Movies That Aren't Underrated Anymore'

If everyone knows a movie is underrated, is it still underrated?

In his latest feature for IGN, William Bibbiani looks at eleven movies that are mostly famous for being better than they're famous for. And that means it's time to admit that films like "Halloween III," "Starship Troopers" and "Grease 2" are all just plain good - and maybe even classic - motion pictures.

Find out what he picked!

Read: William Bibbiani Highlights "11 Underrated Movies... That Aren't Underrated Anymore"

Top Photo: Paramount Pictures

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot'

Joaquin Phoenix stars as disabled alcoholic cartoonist John Callahan in "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," a new biopic from director Gus Van Sant ("Good Will Hunting"). Jonah Hill and Rooney Mara co-star in a film that focus on Callahan coming to terms with his addiction and becoming an artist to articulate his frustrations with his life.

In his review of "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot" at IGN, William Bibbiani calls the film "earnest but conventional," but that the emphasis on only one aspect of Callahan's life makes it feel like "a missed opportunity to turn a distinctive, interesting person's life into a distinctive, interesting movie."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot" at IGN

Top Photo: Amazon Studios 

Canceled Too Soon #105: Van-Pires (1997)

Every popular show has knockoffs, but few shows spawned weirder imitators than "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers." Case in point, "Van-Pires," a cheap live-action/CGI action series about teenagers who turn into vampire cars and prevent the evil Tracula - who may or may not have been voiced by Jonathan Davis, the lead singer of Korn - from drinking gasoline.

Oh yeah, and it's got an original soundtrack by John Entwistle from The Who. Yes, really.

It's one of the weirdest ideas for a kids show ever, but was Canceled Toon Soon? William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold put the pedal to the metal and explore the hard-rockin', very stupid world of "Van-Pires" in the latest episode of the podcast.

Give it a listen...!

Witney Seibold Reviews 'Eighth Grade'

Although I have done no serious sociological studies on this, a lifetime of casual conversations – as well as my own personal experience – have dictated that the eighth grade is essentially Hell. Puberty comes roaring into your life like a mac truck full of grease and confusion, smearing an unclear vision of sexuality on your eyes, and sealing your mouth shut with hormonal anxiety. And through this, you're expected to go to school, read books, communicate with your guardians, and perhaps even start dating. It's a miserable, miserable time.

Bo Burnham's new film “Eighth Grade” achieves something remarkable: It captures the universal glorious poetry of that horrid, adolescent misery. With an enormous amount of grace and understanding, Burnham puts the camera right at a 13-year-old's eye level, allowing us to see and to experience every last scrap of awkward terror that Kayla, the shy lead character, feels. 

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation'

"Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" stars Adam Sandler as Count Dracula, a well-intentioned monster who runs a vacation getaway for other creepy-crawlies. In the third outing, Dracula's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) decides that her father needs a vacation, and books them on a cruise to Atlantis along with all their monster friends, but the ship's captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn) has more sinister plans in store for them.

In his review at IGN, William Bibbiani says "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" is "at its best when it's just a delivery system for the gags," arguing that "you might laugh so hard you ignore how uninspired the rest of this movie really is."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" at IGN

Top Photo: Sony Pictures Animation

The Movie Trivia Schmoedown: Jeff Sneider vs. William Bibbiani

William Bibbiani is back and it's his most important Movie Trivia Schmoedown match yet! He's competing against Collider's own Jeff Sneider for a #1 contenders match, and if he doesn't win, he might not play again for the rest of the year.

What does William Bibbiani know about movie trivia? Will he be competing against Samm Levine for the championship in the very near future? 

Watch the latest episode to find out!

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Skyscraper'

Dwayne Johnson stars in "Skyscraper," a new action-thriller about a man with one leg, scaling a giant building that's on fire, to rescue his family from gun-toting bad guys. Neve Campbell ("House of Cards"), Chin Han ("Marco Polo"), Noah Taylor ("Preacher") and Pablo Schreiber ("American Gods") co-star in this blockbuster thriller, which reunites Johnson with his "Central Intelligence" director Rawson Marshall Thurber.

In his review at IGN, William Bibbiani says that "Skyscraper" takes place in "a parallel reality where action is its own reward," and praises it for being "gigantic and silly."

Read: William Bibbiani reviews "Skyscraper" at IGN

Top Photo: Universal Pictures

Critically Acclaimed #35: 'See No Evil' and 'Don't Breathe'

The year was 2006, and everyone was gaga for Kane! The WWE wrestler starred in his own slasher movie as a serial killer who liked to gouge out eyes, but "See No Evil" didn't take the world by storm. But the terrifying thriller "Don't Breathe" sure as heck did in 2016, and watching these two films back-to-back reveals a heck of a lot about why one of them works, and why the other one does.

In the latest episode of Critically Acclaimed, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold also review "Ant-Man and the Wasp," "The First Purge," "The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter," "Fireworks" and "Sorry to Bother You." They also answer your letters!

Give it a listen!

Double Features: 'The First Purge' (2018)

No motion picture exists in a vacuum. Every week on Double Features, film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold watch a new release and offer their individual picks for the perfect film to watch right afterwards, illuminating the themes, the artistry and the history of each movie.

This week's new release: "The First Purge," the prequel to the violent, political and highly lucrative "The Purge" franchise, which details how the dystopian future began, with a horrifying experiment on Staten Island. Y'Lan Noel ("Insecure"), Lex Scott Davis ("Superfly") and Marisa Tomei ("Spider-Man: Homecoming") co-star, in a film directed by Gerard McMurray ("The Burning Sands").

Here's what the critics picked...!

Witney Seibold Reviews 'Sorry to Bother You'

Lakeith Stanfield ("Get Out") stars in "Sorry to Bother You," a new comedy from writer/director Boots Riley, about a telemarketer who starts talking like a white person to get ahead at work. The gambit pays off better than expected, leading to a moral quagmire. Tessa Thompson ("Thor: Ragnarok"), Jermaine Fowler ("Superior Donuts"), Terry Crews ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine"), Armie Hammer ("Call Me By Your Name") and Danny Glover ("Lethal Weapon") co-star.

In his review at IGN, Witney Seibold says that "Sorry to Bother You" is "easily one of the best films of the year," and praises the film for its "salient politics" and its "bright liveliness, filmic daring, and cynical humor." 

Read: Witney Seibold Reviews "Sorry to Bother You" at IGN

Top Photo: Annapurna Pictures

William Bibbiani Presents The Best Political Horror Movies

The Fourth of July and "The First Purge" arrive on the same week, so now is the perfect time to look back at the extensive overlap between the horror movie generic and politics. 

In his latest piece for IGN, William Bibbiani offers his picks for the best political horror movies ever made, with themes that span racism, sexism, capitalism, nuclear war and social conformity.

Read: William Bibbiani Picks "The Best Political Horror Movies" at IGN

Top Photo: Toho

Canceled Too Soon #104: Legally Blonde: The Series (2003)

Two years after the blockbuster success of the Reese Witherspoon comedy "Legally Blonde," audiences were given a sequel, "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde." But that same year, the director of the "Legally Blonde" sequel also shot a TV pilot, written and produced by music superstar Rachel Sweet, and starring Jennifer Hall ("Up All Night") as Elle Woods, a fashion-obsessed Beverly Hills lady who goes to Harvard Law School.

A television series based on "Legally Blonde" seems like a great idea, so what went wrong? Why didn't this series get picked up and become the next "M*A*S*H?" And was it... Canceled Too Soon?

William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold dive right in, in their latest crossover with the Critically Acclaimed podcast, which reviewed all of the "Legally Blonde" feature films earlier this week.

Give it a listen!

Eight TV Pilots That Did Everything Right

[The following article was sponsored and assigned by our Patreon subscriber Topher White (The Elder). To learn how to sponsor and assign articles to William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold for publication at Critically Acclaimed, visit our Patreon page.]

“The way they pick TV shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that one show to the people who pick shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they want to make more shows. Some get chosen and become television programs. Some don't, become nothing.”

~ “Pulp Fiction”

The art of television is, in many ways, the art of the pilot. Most TV shows begin with the creation of just one episode, and they rely on the strength and promise of that episode to get more episodes made. It’s very difficult to get a TV show off the ground if you can’t at least make one good episode. Which is probably as it should be.

But what makes a good pilot episode? It boils down to two simple factors. It has to introduce the characters and their world in an entertaining way, and it has to prove that there are other great stories to tell with those characters, within that world.

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Fireworks'

A teenaged boy fails to protect the girl he likes, and goes back in time to fix his mistakes - again and again - in "Fireworks," a new anime movie that combines romance, slice-of-life drama and an enigmatic MacGuffin. But all is not magical in the world of "Fireworks," and our hero soon discovers that escapism has drawbacks.

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says that "Fireworks" is "a sleepy summer day of a movie," and praises the film's everyday fantasy, even though it "never really pops."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Fireworks" at The Wrap

Top Photo: GKIDS

William Bibbiani Reviews 'The First Purge'

The history of the shocking dystopia from "The Purge" franchise is finally revealed in "The First Purge," the prequel to the blockbuster horror franchise. It's the first attempt The New Founding Fathers have made to institutionalize an annual holiday where all crime is legal, and ground zero is Staten Island, where the locals are most indifferent until government-sponsored death squads show up to rain terror on the island and stir up the audience. 

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says that "The First Purge" is "a severe and potent allegory," although the film "de-escalates the violence to a notable degree" compared to the previous entries.

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "The First Purge" at The Wrap

Top Photo: Blumhouse

Critically Acclaimed #34: The 'Legally Blonde' Trilogy

Elle Woods wears hot pink, loves animals, and has mastered the "bend and snap." But is she ready for Harvard Law School? You bet she is! And she also takes on Washington D.C., and bequeaths her uptight boarding school to her similarly-attired twin cousins in the blockbuster "Legally Blonde" movie trilogy.

In the latest episode of Critically Acclaimed, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review the entire "Legally Blonde" trilogy, and also make room for a review of the troubling new sequel "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" and a bunch of letters from our listeners!

Give it a listen!

Canceled Too Soon #103 - VR.5 (2015)

Virtual reality: the cause of, and solution to, all of the 1990s' problems. In the short-lived Fox television series VR.5, Lori Singer ("Footloose"), Anthony Stewart Head ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Michael Easton ("Total Recall 2070") use this amazing technology to enter the subconscious mind of criminals and solve mysteries. Over a dial-up landline. Ain't computers amazing?

"VR.5" is one of the many post-"The X-Files" sci-fi shows that tried to tap into contemporary anxieties, but this one couldn't find an audience, and lasted only 13 episodes. 

But was it... Canceled Too Soon? William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold explore this cult series in the latest episode of the podcast.

Give it a listen...!