‘The Walking Dead’ Review: ‘Guardians’ Hits The Brakes on the Season 

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for “The Walking Dead” Season 9 Episode 12, “Guardians.”]

This Week On “The Walking Dead”

After two relatively strong episodes, “Guardians” settles directly into the typical “Walking Dead” mid-season slowdown period, where the plot moves ever-so-slightly forward and some characters are given attempts at development. We spend a considerable amount of time with the Whisperers while learning virtually nothing new about them, but on the bright side Michonne…

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5 Best New Amazon Shows to Binge in March, and the Best Reasons to Watch 

1. “Catastrophe” Season 4 (available March 15)

Why Should I Watch? Like many half-hour “comedies” these days, “Catastrophe” will often go dark: Alcoholism and depression are treated with the same unflinching honesty as parenthood. But unlike those other quote-unquote comedies, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s Channel 4 original — about a one-night-stand that results in a baby, marriage, and moving abroad — doesn’t skimp on the laughs. The humor is fast and ferocious, and you’ll be howling with laughter way…

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Documentary Filmmaker Andrew Berends, Cameraman on ‘Free Solo,’ Dies 

Andrew Berends, the director of five documentary films and most recently a cameraman on the Oscar-winning “Free Solo,” has died.

Berends spent his career making films that illuminated underreported aspects of various international conflicts, particularly in Africa. His 2012 film “Delta Boys” covered an evolving battle over the oil-rich regions of Nigeria. In 2015, his film “Madina’s Dream” highlighted the story of a young girl caught in the ongoing aftermath of the Sudanese civil war.

Prior to the premiere…

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‘Patriot Act’: Hasan Minhaj Looks at Civil Rights Rollbacks During the Current Administration 

One of the pitfalls of having a current administration riddled with chaos and turnover is that it seems counterproductive to talk about people who aren’t in public office anymore. Still, that didn’t stop Hasan Minhaj and “Patriot Act” from taking a look at some of the long-reaching ramifications of multiple departments’ rollbacks of federal protections over the past few years.

Oversimplified Harry Potter analogies aside, this is an efficient overview of how actions taken under the departmental leadership of…

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John Candy: Watch This Tribute to the Actor 25 Years After His Passing 

It’s hard to overstate how big an impact John Candy had on the world of comedy during his time as one of the genre’s biggest movie stars. The actor tragically died at the age of 43 in 1994 after a fatal heart attack, but not before leaving behind an impressive body of work that helped shape some of the most enduring comedies of the 1980s and ’90s.

Monday marks the 25th anniversary of his passing, and as a tribute to Candy’s achievements, fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds shared a collection of some of the…

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‘How to Train Your Dragon’ On Top Again as Annual Box Office Down 25 Percent 

This weekend was a first for 2019: Two films grossed over $25 million, led by the second weekend of “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” and a better-than-expected opening for “A Madea Family Funeral.” That’s great news ahead of next weekend, when Disney’s “Captain America” is expected to open over $100 million. Still, with “Black Panther” performance in the a comp, year-over-year performance remains at a staggering 25 percent down.

“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”

© 2019 DreamWorks…

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Solange Releases Visual Companion for Latest Album, Featuring Contribution From Terence Nance 

It’s early March, but Solange’s “When I Get Home” may end up as one of the most talked-about musical experiences of the year. After a surprise album drop on Friday, the full experience continued in different venues over the course of the weekend.

Part of that is a new half-hour film designed to accompany “When I Get Home” and pay tribute to the musician’s home state of Texas. The video spans multiple different storytelling formats, going from computer animation to selfie videos to slow-motion outdoor dance…

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‘To Have and Have Not’: Kate McKinnon Puts a Literal Spin on Iconic ‘Whistle’ Scene 

Sometimes “Saturday Night Live” works best when sketches get out of their own way and let insanely gifted comedians do what they do best. And sometimes that means letting Kate McKinnon contort herself in the more bizarre, entertaining ways possible. Turns out, the only to make that better is to pair those antics with a little bit of cinema history.

The 1944 Howard Hawks film “To Have and Have Not” is an undeniable classic for any number of reasons: Lauren Bacall’s debut screen performance, a screenplay…

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‘Apollo 11’ Soars in IMAX, ‘Climax’ and ‘Transit’ Sustain Foreign-Language Trend 

As a handful of Oscar-winners rode a post-Oscar burst, a surge of new movies added vitality to the specialty market, filling the box-office void as award players ebb away.

Best among these was “Apollo 11” (Neon), CNN’s Sundance documentary premiere that brings back the 1969 moon landing with innovative reformatting of 50-year-old NASA archive footage and spectacular presentation. Its IMAX break delivered solid results ahead of its further expansion.

Climax” (A24) and “Transit” (Music Box), two subtitled…

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Ian McKellen Delivers Extensive Apology for Spacey and Singer Comments 

Ian McKellen faced public scrutiny late last week after comments he made on the #QueerAF podcast, in which he claimed that alleged crimes perpetrated by actor Kevin Spacey and director Bryan Singer were the result of them having to live life as closeted gay men.

Given McKellen’s history of working with both Spacey and Singer and his joke that “I’m waiting for someone to accuse me of something,” the Oscar-nominated actor was criticized in multiple online venues, prompting a response from the man himself.

In…

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