Canceled Too Soon #116: 'The Mayor' (2017)

What happens when an entertainer runs for public office as a publicity stunt, and accidentally wins the election? You'll find out in... real life, actually, but you'll also find out in "The Mayor," a sitcom starring Brandon Micheal Hall as a hip hop artist who gets a crash course in civics when he unintentionally embarks on a career in politics.

"The Mayor" is an optimistic show about the practicalities of local politics, a quality that may be encouraging but hardly salacious enough to build a big audience. But with a great cast including Yvette Nicole Brown ("Community"), Lea Michele ("Glee") and David Spade (who is David Spade), is it possible that this one-season wonder was... Canceled Too Soon?

Listen to the episode to find out, in the last episode of our "Suddenly, Last Season" theme month. Sick around, because SCARYTOBER is about to begin!

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Hell Fest'

In "Hell Fest," a serial killer runs loose in a Halloween-themed amusement park, killing whoever he wants in front of tourists who think it's all part of the show. It's a new slasher movie from director Gregory Plotkin ("Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension"), starring Amy Forsyth ("Channel Zero"), Reign Edwards ("MacGyver") and Bex Taylor-Klaus ("Scream: The TV Series") as college students whose night of faux-horror revelry gets interrupted by actual horror.

In his review of "Hell Fest" at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says the film "captures all the fun and excitement of wandering aimlessly through an amusement park with boring people you don't like," and critiques nearly everything about the film, except for Bex Taylor-Klaus, a.k.a. "the only member of the cast who can muster up any energy."

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Hell Fest" at The Wrap

Top Photo: CBS Films

William Bibbiani Reviews 'Bad Times at the El Royale'

Writer/Director Drew Goddard ("The Cabin in the Woods") returns with the elaborate crime comedy "Bad Times at the El Royale," starring Jeff Bridges, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson and Cynthia Erivo as mysterious strangers whose paths and pulpy storylines converge when they all spend the same night as a kitschy border hotel.

In his review at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says "Bad Times at the El Royale" is "a heck of a lot of fun to watch, but it runs through its bag of tricks too soon," arguing that the film's mysteries are more interesting than their solutions.

Read: William Bibbiani Reviews "Bad Times at the El Royale" at The Wrap

Top Photo: 20th Century Fox

Witney Seibold Reviews 'The Old Man & The Gun'

Robert Redford, in what he says is his final motion picture performance, stars in "The Old Man & the Gun" as a bank septuagenarian bank robber on one last spree. Sissy Spacek co-stars in a film by David Lowery ("A Ghost Story").

In his review at IGN, Witney Seibold says "The Old Man & the Gun" is "welcoming, approachable, relaxed and affable," and calls the film "a fitting swan song" for Robert Redford.

Read: Witney Seibold Reviews "The Old Man & the Gun" at IGN

Top Photo: Fox Searchlight

William Bibbiani Reviews 'The Oath'

Ike Barinholtz ("Blockers") writes, directs and stars in "The Oath," a dark new comedy about a very near future, in which Americans are asked to sign a loyalty oath to the President of the United States. Chris (Barinholtz) and Kai (Tiffany Haddish) are a married couple who try not to let the fact that America is devolving into fascism change them, but find their principles tested over a difficult holiday weekend with their conservative family, which turns to violence when someone alerts the authorities to Chris's "unAmerican" beliefs.

In his review of "The Oath" at The Wrap, William Bibbiani says "Barinholtz's film excels at recreating the simmering, day-to-day panic of contemporary American life," but that the film "loses its nerve" in the end.

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

Top Photo: Roadside Attractions

Critically Acclaimed #46: 'The Tuxedo' and 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit'

Jackie Chan is an international superstar, a kung fu legend who starred in and directed some of the best action movies ever made. "The Tuxedo" just isn't one of them. It's a disappointing and alarmingly sexist action-comedy that represents one of Chan's worst American movies. So why is it the perfect double feature with Stuart Gordon's heartwarming adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit?"

You'll find out on this week's episode of Critically Acclaimed! And you'll also get reviews of the new releases "The House with a Clock in Its Walls" and "The Sisters Brothers." Hurray!

Give it a listen at Podcast One!

Seven Films That Suffered from the Worst Possible Timing

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

I shouldn't need to iterate this, given the current shape of online discourse surrounding “bad” movies, but Vondie Curtis Hall's musical “Glitter,” the 2001 feature film vehicle for pop sensation Mariah Carey, is, to this day, often considered one of the worst films of its decade. As of this writing, it boasts a 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, winning the award for Worst Actress. What's more, “Glitter” was a financial flop, having made only three-quarters of a million dollars on its opening weekend, finishing at 11th place.