2017 was one of the greatest years of filmmaking we’ve ever seen. On one hand, that made finding enough brilliant nominees to fill each category of the Critics’ Pick Awards a breeze. On the other hand, it made picking winners a nightmare. There were a few things on which consensus came easy (Outstanding Actor came […]
Every once and a while I walk out of a movie and just think “Damn, that movie was perfect.” It doesn’t mean it’s my favorite movie or even my favorite movie of that year. Frequently, it’s not. It means that this was a movie that perfectly executed what it set out to do. Baby Driver […]
In a lot of ways, both for me as a reviewer and for this show that I cover, we end like we began. I started with a two-episode binge that at turns entranced and horrified me, and I end on a two-episode binge that left me agitated and exhilarated – just like June, who ends […]
Now we’re really in the thick of it with The Handmaid’s Tale — exploring the world of Gillead and building the desire to take it on down. This week’s episode will probably end up a favorite (sex clubs! Nick flashbacks! MOIRA!) even as upon first viewing it felt like a table-setting episode for Offred’s turn […]
In 2011, when Captain America: The First Avenger came out, I wrote a review that basically boiled down to: I’d watch the TV show but am bored with the pilot episode. Given my glee and love for Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, I’d say that was about right. I feel the […]
This week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale shifted its focus. Star Elisabeth Moss has been an unbelievable asset to the show – making nuance out of Offred’s stuffy and confined life – yet by taking the focus off June for the episode, the show injects some life into the series. “The Other Side” tells us […]
Comedy feels like it’s in a transition zone – from the emotions + improv vibes of mid-aughts Judd Apatow to more traditional, high concept comedies like Amy Schumer’s latest, Snatched. For that reason, Snatched ends up being a movie that, more than anything, . It hits its comedic beats well, and also fails to register […]
In episode five, “A Woman’s Place,” our series explores the complicity of the women in the world of Gillead, and it is terrifying. Not only do we get a deep dive into the history of Serena Joy (more on that later) but we also get a first glimpse at the world outside Gillead and the […]
This was the first episode of The Handmaid’s Tale that throughout felt like… a TV show. A really good TV show, mind, but a show that relies on the normal mechanisms of plot and awe to carry viewers from one week to the next. Which isn’t all bad. If every week was like “Late,” I’m […]
My second viewing party of The Handmaid’s Tale was, if anything, more horrifying than the first. It was also, inexplicably, more hopeful. This week, we’ll take ourselves episode by episode, so I can focus more on the individual episode’s brilliance and plot development than on the (still terrifying, still awful) political resonance. But fine one […]
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The below review represents the first two episode’s of Hulu’s new show, The Handmaid’s Tale. We will follow up next week with the second two episodes, and from then on will respond weekly. I wonder what world the creators of The Handmaid’s Tale thought they would be releasing their televised baby into. A […]
Gifted is the very definition of a tear jerker – its every line is meant to either enhance the tears that are to come or layer on the tears once they’ve arrived. Take a late in the movie scene where Chris Evans’ heroic and damaged uncle character must save (in order of importance) 1) his […]
I am a straight up sucker. Just take my money. Seriously. Take my money. This is the dark truth of my movie consumption habits. A fatal flaw I’ve had to accept in my nearly 30 years of vociferous cinematic devouring. When people decry audience “sheep” who will see anything – I’m the sheep! I am […]
It’s MyCinema Awards time – that time when our writing staff digs through the long lists of movies we loved, loathed, and everything in between to try and capture The Year in Cinema. This year we fell for everything from prestige fare to jazz biopics to fascinating small movies that many other folks overlooked. The […]
The Force Awakens was the female-led Heroes Journey I’d dreamed of through a tomboy childhood. Rogue One is just flat out an amazing Star Wars movie. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story may be the most aptly named film to come out this year. It’s a fantastically well-made, well-loved Star Wars film that manages to […]
CLICK HERE to read our full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. WGN’s brutal period piece Salem thrives at the intersection of history and fantasy – with a healthy heaping of sex and gore on top of it. We spoke to the cast (Janet Montgomery, Shane West, Seth Gabel, Iddo Goldberg & Elise Eberle) and […]
CLICK HERE to read our full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. The Cartoon Network press room at Comic-Con this year was an adorable place full of really excited creators who love their work. Alongside the We Bare Bears crew, the cast and writers of the new Powerpuff Girls reboot sat down with reporters to […]
CLICK HERE to read our full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. Team Arrow has grown over the years, and the expanded cast (not to mention showrunner Wendy Mericle) have a lot of thoughts on the many twists and turns their characters have gone through. We caught up with the cast and showrunners at the […]
CLICK HERE to read our full coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. The movie business is about to experience the next true revolution – the intersection of science and art to create immersive entertainment utilizing virtual reality and augmented reality. Although the science is at its nacency, the art is finally getting to step it […]
I’m as surprised as the next person to write the following sentence – I think Neighbors 2 might turn out to be my favorite movie of the year. Now hear me out. I never even saw 2011’s Neighbors, starring a frat boy Zac Efron and married marauders Rose Byrne & Seth Rogan. In fact, I kind […]
I don’t think there are enough words in the English language to design how revolutionary watching Grace and Frankie can feel. There are actual honest to God sexy sex scenes featuring septuagenarians. Septuagenarian WOMEN. There are long conversations about vagina lubricant and feeling invisible after 50 and the difference between alzheimers and normal 70 year […]
The Jungle Book is probably the most out and out successful of the recent string of “Let’s Remake A Classic Disney Movie to Try and Wring More Money Out Of It” films. Which isn’t meant as a knock against it (I’m all for commercial concerns leading to creative success! I love Marvel Movies) but a lot […]
It is easy to become cynical about the state of modern movie making – to focus on the role that international sales (mostly to China) and established franchises play in making a movie profitable and to assume, as it can be easy to assume, that this means the death of art. But movie making has […]
It is my humble opinion that, when it comes to a cultural landmark movie like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, even opinions and critical consensus constitute a spoiler. For that reason, I’ll throw up a great, big SPOILER WARNING right here, even though I am going to make a concerted effort not to ACTUALLY spoil […]
I am finally read to say it: I love Trevor Noah. The most remarkable part of all this is that The Daily Show, with its new host, remains The Daily Show. It remains a tiny voice of acerbic sincerity in the midst of a sea of politics and media. It remains witty and passionate and […]
The first Magic Mike was an art house movie pretending it was Middle Aged Lady Porn. Stephen Soderbergh made a movie about addiction and dreaming, about the laziness of one’s early twenties and the value of friendship and guidance, and the importance of occasionally taking aim at a goal and going for it with everything […]