The Osage called it the “Reign of Terror.” Once upon a time, long after they’d been forcibly displaced and sold land in the Oklahoma territories deemed barren and unfruitful, the Indigenous tribe had discovered oil under the ground. And more oil. And still more oil after that. They became rich. …
Read More »'Fast X' Is So Lifeless It Feels Like It Was Written by ChatGPT
If ChatGPT were to write a feature screenplay it could scarcely be more robotic or soulless than Fast X, the latest exercise from the action franchise that won’t die. This is less a movie than a series of, well, car crashes, many of them spectacular in a rote way but, …
Read More »'White Men Can't Jump': Rapper Jack Harlow Flops Big in Acting Debut
A memorable scene from Ron Shelton’s 1992 hoops comedy White Men Can’t Jump finds a playground baller (played by former NBA great Marques Johnson) fuming after he falls victim to a hustle. First the big guy pulls out a razor. Then he decides he needs something a little stronger, so …
Read More »'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' Does Harrison Ford's Indy Dirty
Indiana Jones has fought a lot of screen villains: Nazis, assassins, evil high priests, corrupt rich douchebags, Cate Blanchett, Cate Blanchett’s hair. Yet Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — the fifth movie to feature Harrison Ford’s globetrotting, snake-hating, whip-cracking, fedora-rocking archeology professor — pits our man Indy against …
Read More »'Primo' Is a Feel-Good, Coming-of-Age Comedy for the Whole Family
Rafa Gonzales, the protagonist of the exceedingly likable new family comedy Primo, lives in San Antonio with his mother, Drea. Their modest ranch house should be more than enough for the two of them, if it weren’t for the fact that all five of Drea’s loud, opinionated, intrusive, knucklehead brothers …
Read More »The Secret Life of Paris Hilton and Tinsley Mortimer's Gossip Blogger
The first half of the Hulu documentary Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl is a passable overview of the turn-of-the-21st-century heiress-celebrity scene, plus some of the bloggers who made their names as barnacles on the gilded ship. You probably know most of the boldfaced names: Paris and Nicky Hilton, …
Read More »Cannes Gave Johnny Depp a Comeback Shot. Then Came the Press Conference
The guy with the slick, black ponytail worked the crowd, signing autographs and pressing the flesh, and posing for selfies, like it was still 2011 and nothing had changed at all. In France, maybe nothing had really changed. Here, on this red carpet, Johnny Depp remained the biggest movie star …
Read More »So About That Gay Cowboy Movie Starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke…
Pedro Pascal is going to see a man about a horse. Actually, you can scratch the “about a horse” part. Riding the range in the Wild, Wild West, his cowboy rides into town, hitches his stallion, and walks right into the sheriff’s office. The lawman — he’s named Jake, and …
Read More »Netflix's Anna Nicole Smith Doc Casts Her As a Cunning Fame Seeker
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me telegraphs its intentions loud and early. The documentary’s subject, the buxom blonde Guess and Playboy model who became a cultural caricature before dying from an accidental drug overdose in 2007 at age 39, was misunderstood. The forces that created her also destroyed her. …
Read More »'Love Again': Celine Dion Deserves Better Than This Lame Romcom
The first time Celine Dion shows up as herself in the mostly predictable romcom Love Again, she’s handing down icy answers to a room full of reporters asking inane questions about her upcoming concert tour. But our leading man, Rob (Sam Heughan), music critic for the fictional New York Chronicle, …
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