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Rachel Baiman was doing outreach for a Democratic political candidate when she had an important realization about songwriting. Volunteers going door-to-door were given instructions about possible scenarios they might encounter, including if the home had changed hands or the person living there had swapped their party affiliation.

“You’re supposed to go, ‘Ok, thanks for your time’ and leave,” Baiman says, calling from her home in the northeast Nashville suburb of Madison. “Basically, they were like, research shows if you argue with someone and tell them they’re wrong on their doorstep,...

The Good Doctor this week carefully peeled back the layers of Morgan’s hardened exterior (though not too much) to reveal a woman who so desperately wanted her mother’s approval.

While Shaun was focused on giving Carly a “parade,” Morgan was hard at work, determined to save the life of her difficult-to-please parent: famed painter Caroline Reznick (Smallville‘s Annette O’Toole), who was admitted to St. Bonaventure with potentially fatal clusters of small blood vessels in the brain. It was her daughter who ultimately convinced Glassman to return to the operating room and perform the minimally invasive (but highly...

Itself loosely based on a true story, the 19th century novella by Heinrich von Kleist, “Michael Kohlhaas," has been adapted several times for screen, notably by Volker Schlöndorff in 1969, even spawning “The Jack Bull," a pretty good HBO restaging starring Johns Cusack and Goodman, in 1999. But with Schlöndorff himself telling us in an interview that he considered his version his "biggest failure” it would have seemed that there was still room for the definitive, high-profile, straight-up adaptation. And on paper, that’s what Arnaud de Pallières’ “Michael Kohlhaas” was meant to be -- just check out its impeccable line-up of European stars-with-major-arthouse-appeal: Mads Mikkelsen (last year’s Cannes Best Actor for “The Hunt”), Bruno Ganz (whose sclerotic Hitler in “Downfall” spawned its own remarkably resilient meme) and Denis Lavant (coming off his chameleonic performance in the critically worshipped “Holy Motors”). But stacked with a...

Itself loosely based on a true story, the 19th century novella by Heinrich von Kleist, “Michael Kohlhaas," has been adapted several times for screen, notably by Volker Schlöndorff in 1969, even spawning “The Jack Bull," a pretty good HBO restaging starring Johns Cusack and Goodman, in 1999. But with Schlöndorff himself telling us in an interview that he considered his version his "biggest failure” it would have seemed that there was still room for the definitive, high-profile, straight-up adaptation. And on paper, that’s what Arnaud de Pallières’ Cannes competition entrant “Michael Kohlhaas” was meant to be -- just check out its impeccable line-up of European stars-with-major-arthouse-appeal: Mads Mikkelsen (last year’s Cannes Best Actor for “The Hunt”), Bruno Ganz (whose sclerotic Hitler in “Downfall” spawned its own remarkably resilient meme) and Denis Lavant (coming off his chameleonic performance in the critically worshipped “Holy Motors”). But...

Pointing out that Cowboys & Aliens is not "really" a western may seem odd, and certainly unnecessary. It takes place in 1875, has people riding horses, and contains "Cowboys" in the title, but it also has spaceships, laser guns, and "Aliens" in the title. Thus, I'm not going to point it out, because it's painfully obvious to everyone, even those who have only heard the name, I'm just going to mention that it is untrue. In fact, it is almost too western to perfect its purpose, but it's close enough.

The film is built by splicing together characters, plot points, and action scenes from a variety of westerns, with all the key cliches and trappings, and heavy on things that involve Clint Eastwood and spurs. Largely, suck the rich rancher who thinks he owns the town from any number of films, and smash it together with High Plains Drifter, only switch it...