Transformers: Rise of the Beasts triggers a frisson not uncommon to happily mindless franchise movies. It exudes the energy of talented filmmakers trying to wring something creative, unique, or, heaven forbid, human, from a generic template, or trying to sneak just a little bit of flavor into the boxed mix. …
Read More »'The Crowded Room': Spider-Man Gets Lost in a Lame Whodunit
When TV critics are given screeners of upcoming series, the episodes are often accompanied by a letter from the showrunner asking us to not reveal certain plot points. Sometimes, these requests are eminently reasonable: Succession creator Jesse Armstrong didn’t want us telling our readers about the big thing that happened …
Read More »He Spent a Decade Trying to Prove His Parents Killed His Teen Sister
We all have issues with our parents, be them related to love, money, neglect or other grievances and wrongdoings, real or imagined. But the story of Stephen Pandos is more extreme than most. He spent a decade trying to prove that his mom and dad were responsible for the unsolved …
Read More »'The Flash' Is the Best DCEU Superhero Movie Yet, But Can't Outrun Ezra Miller
He’s the fastest man alive, able to sprint at superhuman speeds, vibrate his body through solid matter, generate electrical currents, and even disrupt the ebb and flow of time. On his own, this legendary superhero has consistently defeated boomerang-throwing bad guys, temperature-dropping supervillains, his own negative-image doppelgänger, and the toughest …
Read More »Arnold Schwarzenegger Apologizes for Groping Women in Netflix Docuseries
Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone all-in on Netflix. First came FUBAR, a rollicking action-comedy series where the former Terminator stars as an aging CIA operative who embarks on one last mission with his daughter. And now there’s Arnold, a three-part docuseries directed by Lesley Chilcott that explores the 75-year-old icon’s journey …
Read More »The Weird Connection Between David Lynch and 'The Wizard of Oz'
David Lynch does not like talking about his movies. He’d prefer the work speak for itself, thank you very much. But in bending over backwards to avoid discussing what something might “mean,” or deflecting questions with humor and/or cryptic pronunciations, the Blue Velvet filmmaker occasionally drops a breadcrumb hint about …
Read More »'Past Lives' Is Already the Best Movie of the Year
Past Lives, writer-director Celine Song’s debut feature, opens with a guessing game: There are three people sitting at a bar, drinking in the wee hours. We’re observing the trio from a distance, unable to hear what they’re saying. Folks off-frame are making up possible back stories. The two Koreans are …
Read More »'Reality' Finally Gives Sydney Sweeney Her Movie-Star Moment
On the afternoon of June 3, 2017, Reality Winner parked her car in front of her modest home in Augusta, Georgia. A former member of the U.S. Air Force who was fluent in three Middle Eastern languages — Farsi, Dari, and Pashto — she’d worked as a linguist before getting …
Read More »'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' Is Pure Superhero-Movie Bliss
Every world gets the Spider-Man it deserves. And here on Earth-1610, our webslinger is one Miles Morales: a half-Black, half-Puerto Rican teen who loves graffiti, Air Jordans, and quantum physics. Like most Spider-Folk, he was bit by a radioactive arachnid, developed the ability to crawl up walls and sense oncoming …
Read More »'I Think You Should Leave' Season 3: Tim Robinson's Guide to Comedy
In the second sketch of the third season of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, one character admits, “I just take everything way too far! I got too hyper.” This line could be part of pretty much every ITYSL sketch, both in this new season and in the …
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