It is unambiguously upsetting to learn that, among the many inhumane restrictions placed on them by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, Jewish people were forbidden to have animal companions and that dogs were trained by the perpetrators to aid them in evil. Lynn Roth’s “Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog” focuses on these…

You couldn’t walk into a bar around the turn of the millennium without hearing a song from Moby’s multiplatinum-selling album Play. Whether it was the transfixing repetition of “Honey” or the wistful piano of “Porcelain,” Moby was seemingly everywhere, bringing his brand of dance music to an international audience and becoming a superstar in the…

Amazon Prime continues its pattern of high-concept teen-driven shows like the incredibly effective “The Wilds” with today’s full-season drop of “Panic,” based on the 2014 book of the same name by Lauren Oliver. With a very smart premise that incorporates the dread of being a teenager into a literal life-or-death situation, there’s a wasted great idea at…

Screenwriter, producer, and “Mare of Eastown” creator, writer, exec producer Brad Ingelsby knows a little something about being trapped in the world of small-towns and their insular, sometimes suffocating dynamics. “Listen,” if I didn’t sell my first script, I’d still be where I grew up,” he insists. Where the writer grew up is Berwyn, Pennsylvania,…

Most people don’t mind sitting through a story they’ve heard innumerable times if the storyteller can inject new relevance into its predictable course. Even if the resolution seems unavoidable from the onset, the path to get there should at least be rendered memorable. Alas, that’s not what “Blue Miracle,” from writer/director Julio Quintana, does with…

BioWare’s “Mass Effect” changed the video game landscape when it was released in 2007 exclusively for the Xbox 360. A sci-fi saga, the game blended role-playing elements with a level of shooter action not typically seen in the genre and gamers were hooked. The sequel, 2010’s “Mass Effect 2” made an even greater impact when…