John Serba
- First Movie I Ever Saw:
- Star Wars
- First Binge
- The Sopranos
- All-Time Faves
- Everything Werner Herzog, ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘Unforgiven,’ Hitchcock’s ‘Notorious,’ ‘WALL-E,’ ‘My Neighbor Totoro,’ ‘Fargo,’ ‘Aliens,’ ‘RoboCop,’ ‘Deadwood,’ ‘The Simpsons’
- Current Obsession
- ‘Russian Doll,’ ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’
- If I Were A GIF...
The Latest
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Blue Angels’ on Amazon Prime Video, a Glossy, Upbeat Glimpse Into the Stunning Feats of Elite Navy Fighter Pilots
By John Serba •The film feels like propaganda, but at least the footage is amazing. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Jeanne du Barry’ on Digital, a French-language Johnny Depp Costume Drama ... But Don't Call It A Comeback
By John Serba •Depp is muted and disinterested throughout this film, directed by French actress/filmmaker Maiwenn. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Fall Guy’ on Digital, a Spirited and Funny Ryan Gosling/Emily Blunt Actionstravaganza
By John Serba •Why didn't you people go see this in theaters? Whyyyyyyy? -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dune: Part Two’ on HBO Max, Denis Villeneuve's Grand Action Epic That Easily Bests its Predecessor
By John Serba •The first Dune left me cold. The second heats things up significantly. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Birth/Rebirth’ on Hulu, a Frankensteiny Horror-Thriller Rooted in Feminine Dread
By John Serba •This is a well-thought-out, smartly executed debut from director Laura Moss. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Power’ on Netflix, Yance Ford's Strong, Salient Documentary Argument for Police Reform
By John Serba •The somber-toned film digs into the history of policing in America, and the threat it poses to democratic ideals. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Challengers’ on VOD, in Which a Sporting Zendaya Anchors a Wildly Entertaining Stylegasm
By John Serba •It's about tennis, but it's really barely about tennis. Which is to say it's about sex, sex, sex. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Monster’ on Netflix, a Dialogue-Free Indonesian Horror-Thriller
By John Serba •It shows and doesn't tell — but shows us nothing we haven't seen before. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Madame Web’ on Netflix, a Megafiasco That Traps Poor Dakota Johnson in Superhero Hell
By John Serba •Nothing about this movie makes sense. Nothing! -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Guardian of the Monarchs’ on Netflix, a Documentary Chronicling the Highly Suspicious Death of Mexican Environmentalist Homero Gómez González
By John Serba •Homero Gomez Gonzalez tirelessly fought to preserve his beloved monarch butterfly sanctuary, and was almost certainly murdered for it. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ on Starz, a Late-Arriving Prequel That Turned Out To Be A Surprise Hit
By John Serba •Turns out this franchise ain't much without Jennifer Lawrence. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ on Hulu, a Period Melodrama That's Based On The Best-Selling Novel
By John Serba •The movie's based on Delia Owens' bestselling novel. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Taste of Things’ on Acorn TV, a Sumptuous Foodie Film Starring Juliette Binoche
By John Serba •This is the story of a man who loves food and loves the person who makes the food, and whether or not there's a line between those two things. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Book of Clarence’ on Netflix, a Wild, Dysfunctional Biblical Satire Led by LaKeith Stanfield
By John Serba •Director Jeymes Samuel follows up The Harder They Fall with another ambitious project. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Eileen’ on Hulu, a Dark, Sexy Noir-Thriller Starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie
By John Serba •This one's endowed with the spirit of Hitchcock. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ on VOD, in Which Guy Ritchie Directs A Fictional Spin on a Real-Life WWII Era Secret Spy Mission
By John Serba •The director's distinctive style is undeniable, even in a mediocre action movie. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Abigail’ on VOD, a Delightfully Gory Vampire Horror-Comedy
By John Serba •In which a crime-thriller slowly becomes an intensely funny gorefest. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Iron Claw’ on Max, a Gripping Drama About a Family of Doomed Wrestlers, Led by an Extraordinary Zac Efron
By John Serba •The Academy is the heel here, screwing Efron out of an Oscar nod. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mother of the Bride’ on Netflix, a Destination Wedding Rom-Com Starring Brooke Shields
By John Serba •This destination-wedding comedy is set in Phuket, and this review really really wants to mispronounce the name of that city. -
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ on VOD, an Exhumation of Past Franchise Glories
By John Serba •Call this one Ghostbusters: Night of Too Many Characters.