Noel Murray

Season 3, Episode 3: ‘The Convert’

Season 3, Episode 3: ‘The Convert’ The planet Coruscant is an ecumenopolis: a city-covered world with a trillion residents, where after thousands of years of civilization and construction, only the peak of the mountain Umate is still visible from the…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1 Finale: A Deadly Operation

Season 1, Episode 9: ‘Look for the Light’ As I mentioned back when “The Last of Us” premiered, I have never played the video game, so I can’t compare the show’s action sequences with how they come across in the original. I can say this though: In the…

Are Mushrooms Our Friends?

On Sunday, HBO will air the Season 1 finale of the post-apocalyptic drama “The Last of Us,” a video game adaptation that has impressed critics and viewers with its sensitive depiction of people finding reasons to survive in a broken world. And what…

Review: Deft performances elevate snappy thriller ‘Unseen’; Idris Elba is back as ‘Luther’

‘Unseen’ In the Michigan wilderness, the vision-impaired Emily (Midori Francis) — who has been abducted by her stalker ex-boyfriend Charlie (Michael Patrick Lane) — escapes into the woods without her glasses. She places a panicked call to a stranger…

Season 3, Episode 2: ‘The Mines of Mandalore’

Season 3, Episode 2: ‘The Mines of Mandalore’ The advantage to having Baby Yoda around in a show like “The Mandalorian” is that the little fella helps coax the story along just by being himself. Sure, the child is super cute, with his gurgling noises…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 8 Recap: There But for the Grace

Season 1, Episode 8: ‘When We Are in Need’ You know that old saying about how history is written by the victors? Something similar could be said about fiction. The heroes of any story are the people the author wants us to follow; and the villains are…

Review: Andrea Riseborough and campy ‘Please Baby Please’ deconstruct gender and the 1950s

‘Please Baby Please’ Aimed squarely at fans of John Waters and Pedro Almodóvar, the arty oddity “Please Baby Please” is the kind of cinematic fetish object that should entice anyone who shares director Amanda Kramer’s particular fascinations. Set in…

‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 Premiere Recap: Together Again

Season 3, Episode 1: ‘The Apostate’ When last we left the Mandalorian … actually, hold on, where did we last leave the Mandalorian? That is a tricker question than you might think. If you have not watched any of the Disney+ “Star Wars” shows since…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 7: Secret Origins

Season 1, Episode 7: ‘Left Behind’ Although Ellie talks almost nonstop, during her long trip across the country with Joel she has said very little about herself. Going by the few details she has let slip — and what he have seen ourselves — we know…

Review: David Harbour is one lovable dead guy in ‘We Have a Ghost’; plus the artful ‘Bruiser’

‘We Have a Ghost’ Based on Geoff Manaugh’s short story “Ernest,” the genial horror-comedy “We Have a Ghost” stars David Harbour as a spirit haunting a fixer-upper house in the Chicago area. Dubbed “Ernest” because of the name stitched on his shirt,…

Review: Jim Gaffigan stares down reality as a man with big dreams in ‘Linoleum’

As a stand-up comedian, Jim Gaffigan is known for gently self-deprecating, mostly family-friendly jokes about everyday life and food. But as an actor — and especially in the movies and TV series where he’s taken the lead — Gaffigan seems drawn to…

‘The Last of Us,’ Season 1, Episode 6: The Ties That Bind

Season 1, Episode 6: ‘Kin’ In the old western movies, the aging cowboys and gunslingers would sometimes talk about giving up the vagabond life and buying a ranch, where they could settle down — bothering no one and going unbothered. In this week’s…

Review: ‘Sharper’ and its starry cast play a slick, well-crafted long con

‘Sharper’ The best movies about con artists — such as “House of Games” and “The Sting” — ask audiences to question everything we’re seeing, and to wonder if anyone, at any level, is who they say they are. The twisty thriller “Sharper” isn’t on the…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 5: Darkness on the Edge of Town

Season 1, Episode 5: ‘Endure and Survive’ Oh yeah, that’s right … “The Last of Us” is a zombie show. For the past two episodes Joel and Ellie have been dealing with mere humanity, seeing the best and worst possible paths for their kind from Bill and…

Review: Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher swap homes in gimmicky ‘Your Place or Mine’

‘Your Place or Mine’ In writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna’s gimmicky-but-mostly-likable romantic comedy “Your Place or Mine,” Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher play long-distance friends who unexpectedly have life-changing experiences when…

Review: Jena Malone is terrific, but supernatural thriller ‘Consecration’ is hit-and-miss

Jena Malone gives a terrific performance in the hit-and-miss supernatural thriller “Consecration,” tackling a tricky kind of character: a person who doesn’t really know who she is. Malone plays an ophthalmologist named Grace — a symbolically loaded…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 4: ‘Please Hold My Hand’

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 4: ‘Please Hold My Hand’ For a long stretch of this week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” it looks as if not much is going to happen, and that maybe this week we’ll just have “The Chill Road-Trip Adventures of Joel…

Review: Strong wills power ‘Pamela, a Love Story’ and ‘True Spirit’ on Netflix

‘Pamela, a Love Story’ After actress-model Pamela Anderson became an international sensation on the TV show “Baywatch,” she was a frequent talk show guest, where she showcased the frank honesty, cheery attitude and quick wit that helped make her a…

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 3: ‘Long Long Time’

‘The Last of Us’ Season 1, Episode 3: ‘Long Long Time’ In last week’s episode of “The Last of Us,” Ellie waded through a flooded hotel lobby, delighting in the decaying grandeur of a social institution she had only read about. This week, she spends a…

Review: Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel create sparks in ‘Shotgun Wedding’

‘Shotgun Wedding’ The action-comedy comes on way too strong in its opening 20 minutes, introducing an all-star cast in gratingly overstuffed scenes, featuring a surfeit of fast-paced, amped-up chatter. But once the plot kicks in and the characters…