Contributor: Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Modern Family

UPDATED REVIEW: Three families. Four fathers. Even more giggles and guffaws. So what does it look like when ABC presents the “new-and-improved” family unit?

Read more

NCIS

In CBS’ alphabet soup of acronym-laden shows, NCIS floats in the very center. So lots of folks seem to be able to stomach it. But has anyone really read the nutrition label?

Read more

Home Before Dark

The show is, in short, far more confused about its path than its young protagonist. And that leaves Home Before Dark stuck in the content twilight.

Read more

Survive

Quibi’s high-profile drama, divvied up into eight-minute episodes, stuffs a lot of unfortunate content in its relatively short runtime.

Read more

Swiss Family Robinson

Swiss Family Robinson is live-action Disney fare at its classical best.

Read more

Elephant

Elephant is a film that you shouldn’t forget.

Read more

Dynasty

The CW’s intentionally trashy Dynasty reboot is so aggressively dumb it makes the original feel like a genteel Jane Austin story.

Read more

The Other Lamb

We’re obviously talking about a cult here, and this one seems pretty messed up even by cult standards.

Read more

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

For fans of this franchise, The Rise of Skywalker works: not necessarily logically, but emotionally.

Read more

Resistance

Even many adults should approach this film with care. And yet, it’s a story worth telling, too.

Read more

Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker

Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer anchors Netflix’s newest miniseries. But the real story of Sarah Walker is sometimes lost in the show’s problematic content.

Read more

1917

World War I is perhaps unequaled in its horrific brutality. 1917 takes us into that horror and doesn’t let us out of it for two hours.

Read more

The Plot Against America

This grim, unsettling look at an alternate-reality America will feel unnerving to some and infuriating to others.

Read more

I Am Patrick: The Patron Saint of Ireland

Patrick’s story is inherently interesting, and for a history/religion wonk like me, pretty engaging.

Read more

Richard Jewell

Eastwood’s latest suggests that judging someone based on appearances and assumptions can lead to injustice and tragedy.

Read more