We realized that by pooling our programming resources,  the new 24-hour channel had twice as much programming as we’d had before the merger. We brought Mystery Science Theater 3000 and HA! brought all the old episodes of Saturday Night Live, episodes they’d gotten from NBC a few months earlier. We started developing our own shows, including Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect. We did live special coverage of political events, including the Democratic and Republican conventions, hosted by comedians.

The editing and story are reminiscent of the movie Jacob’s Ladder in that the main character and viewer are lost in reality and unsure of what’s really going on. It becomes clear early on that some or all of what we see regarding the “president” is a fabricated reality created to protect his mind from some awful truth. As he talks to the other patients to unravel the mystery, he’s subjected to abuse from the doctors and orderlies

The movie is simple but well-crafted, with most of the time spent establishing the unpredictable and frightening nature of high-seas combat. Hanks plays Ernest Krause, a first-time destroyer captain charged with protecting a merchant ship convoy during a dangerous Atlantic crossing. Set during the Battle of the Atlantic, the movie pits Krause against a group stealthy U-boats determined to destroy as much of the convoy as possible.

Ragen, Parrish, PenaVega and the rest of the cast are charming enough, but some elements of the story are underdeveloped, while others batter the audience like a sledgehammer. One doesn’t watch Mighty Oak so much as he/she is manipulated by it. Some filmmakers – Steven Spielberg chief among them – can get away with this type of manipulation. But Spielberg is nuanced. With Mighty Oak, one can feel McNamara and Allen tugging at the heartstrings, and it’s more uncomfortable than effective.

It shouldn’t be surprising that a movie by Spike Lee explores themes of race and racism in a thought-provoking way. Da 5 Bloods opens with war footage and speakers remarking on the historical use of Black soldiers as frontline infantry. The entire plotline about the buried gold is centered around the idea of taking the gold as a way to “stick it to the man” and support their people. Several characters remark about the injustice of Black people not having the same rights as others despite spilling their blood on the battlefield in large numbers through various wars.

Hamilton uses what some might call colorblind casting, but it goes beyond colorblind. The show is intentionally diverse, meaning white historical figures are often portrayed by minority actors as a point of course. This is particularly poignant in the wake of the George Floyd protests. One might be able to overlook the fact that a Black man is playing Thomas Jefferson, were it not for that fact that Jefferson ran a plantation and owned slaves. That juxtaposition is jolting.

Vollrath makes the most of the confined setting -- something that could hurt a weaker filmmaker. In some respects, 7500 must have been easy to produce. A single location, small cast, and minimal set dressing all speed the shooting process, but these things come with restraints. When all the action is set in an airplane cockpit, there are no astonishing backdrops or special effects to use as a crutch. The weight of the storytelling is relegated to the script and its handful of actors.

Viewers are legitimately transported to a land where fairies and goblins are real, and it’s all very dazzling and Harry Potter-like. Artemis Fowl would seem, then, to be a perfect film for fans of that series. Alas, the Harry Potter features are painstakingly mapped out so viewers understand the rules of the magical world they enter. This is not the case with Artemis Fowl, which teases viewers without elaborating and leads to a long string of questions that are never adequately answered.

Italian director Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves follows Antonio Ricci’s quest for his stolen bicycle, his portal to employment, and consequent riches. Through documenting Antonio’s progress in hunting down the guilty Alfredo Catelli, De Sica also traces the evolution of Antonio’s hats. De Sica implants three different styles––worn by Antonio as well as other characters––that work together to manifest a hierarchy where each style symbolizes a different level of authority.