The natural question about Apple TV+’s “Manhunt,” based on the book “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer” by James L. Swanson, is going to be “Why now?” It does not seem coincidental that a story that’s essentially about one of the times our democracy was at its most fragile just happens to be coming out during one of the most contentious and divisive election years in U.S.

Continue reading ‘Manhunt’ Review: History Comes To Life In Tense, Character-Driven Series About the Lincoln Assassination at The Playlist.

On April 14, 1865, while watching a production of the play “Our American Friend,” President of the United States Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln would die from his wounds the following day. Breaking his leg during his escape from the theater, Booth fled. He hid out in a Rural Virginia farmhouse until it was surrounded by a New York Calvary and burned. While trying to sneak out of the farmhouse, Booth was shot by a member of the cavalry.

Continue reading ‘Manhunt’ Trailer:  Tobias Menzies & Anthony Boyle Star In The Hunt For President Lincoln’s Assassin Mini-Series at The Playlist.

In 2001, the TV mini-series was forever altered by HBO’s “Band of Brothers,” a towering achievement in the form and quite simply one of the best WWII films or shows of all time. Based on the book by Stephen E. Ambrose, and created by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, “Band of Brothers” told the story of “Easy” Company from boot camp through the Western Front.

Continue reading ‘Masters Of The Air’ Review: WWII Mini-Series Captures Insane Danger, But Struggles To Maintain Altitude at The Playlist.

“I stick my neck out for nobody. The problems of this world are not in my department,” Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine famously says – having made a mantra and a reputation out of the statement – in the World War II classic, “Casablanca.” The patriarchal figure at the center of David Simon and Ed Burns’ scorching adaptation of Philip Roth’s alternate history novel, “The Plot Against America,” a man of principle named Herman Levin (Morgan Spector), has the exact opposite problem, sometimes sticking his neck out for his ethnic community even when the anti-Semitism threatens the safety of his family.

Continue reading ‘The Plot Against America’ Powerfully Illustrates Why It’s Essential Humanity Sticks Its Neck Out For One Another In The Face of Fascism [Review] at The Playlist.