LATEST ADDITIONS

Author Walter Farley’s sweet, timeless tale of a young boy and his special bond with a spirited horse was brought to cinematic life with irresistible visual and sonic beauty, more appreciable than ever on Criterion’s fantastic new Blu-ray. Our boy, Alec (Kelly Reno, what a find), is washed ashore on a remote island after a shipwreck, and the only other survivor is a magnificent Arabian stallion. Their time alone together is a prolonged marvel of wordless storytelling, while the post-rescue second half is quite a different animal, as a grizzled old trainer (a wonderfully cast Mickey Rooney) agrees to prepare the horse to race. It’s a thrilling adventure for kids, but without the sap that might otherwise send the adults fleeing.

Last year I got all excited about the Syfy channel turning one of my favorite book series into a TV show. I got even more excited when it became clear how much money they were throwing at it. The trailer, too, looked amazing.

So now we’ve had all 10 episodes of the first season of The Expanse. The fact that it got a second season before the first one even aired notwithstanding… how is it?

(Don’t worry, no spoilers)

Vinyl, an HBO original TV series that delves into the underbelly of New York City’s music business in the 1970, premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Ever wonder what the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is doing these days to accurately gauge music sales at a time when CDs are all but dead and downloading has given way to the convenience of streaming from the likes of Pandora and Spotify?