Movie Reviews and Previews The Beyoncé Way RENAISSANCE: A Film by Beyoncé opens this Friday. The concert film’s premiere was held over the weekend in Beverly Hills, drawing a lot of important Black artists and creative industry talent despite the long holiday weekend in the US. Such is the power Beyoncé—she becomes the holiday. This By Sarah • Nov 27, 2023 09:40 am
Met Gala 2022 Michelle & Lena/Gemma & Ho-yeon: Jewel Tones over Black?! For Duana, it will always be jewel tones over black. For me? It will always be black over jewel tones. So I’ve shocked myself with this anomaly, a glitch in the Matrix. What’s not shocking is that it’s Michelle Yeoh who has caused it. But let’s By Lainey • May 03, 2022 02:22 pm
Oscars 2022 Kristen, Cynthia, Niecy, and Wanda: Queer Love at the Oscars Look, I wish we lived in a time when it wasn’t particularly noteworthy to see queer couples on Hollywood’s biggest night. I get that dedicating a post to queer love at the Oscars could be interpreted as a form of othering. Because in an ideal world, it’d By Lainey • Mar 28, 2022 10:20 am
TV Updates Master of None is back with a surprise makeover Four years after its second season, Master of None is back with a new season and a makeover. Instead of starring Aziz Ansari in a semi-autobiographical tale, Master of None will now drop five new episodes centered on Denise, Lena Waithe’s character, and her partner, Alicia (Naomi Ackie from By Sarah • Apr 27, 2021 12:53 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews More creepy neighbors From WandaVision to Lovecraft Country to Us, nothing is hotter in cinema trends this spring than creepy neighbors! Yes, it’s creepy neighbors, all the rage as we sit in our homes for thirteen months in a row and stare out the back window like Jimmy Stewart ignoring Grace Kelly. By Sarah • Mar 10, 2021 11:04 am
Relationship Assumption Cynthia introduces Lena Social media has a short memory and a long memory. And that contradiction showed up last night when Cynthia Erivo introduced an edit featuring Lena Waithe. Last year at this time, Lena was about to or had just married her now ex-wife Alana Mayo; she confirmed the news in November By Lainey • Sep 21, 2020 12:31 pm
Music Red Carpet for Teyana Taylor As I mentioned a few days ago, the first red carpet in almost four months (five? who can remember anymore?) happened earlier this week for a show I’ve never heard of and I only recognised two names on the guest list: Bai Ling and Ian Ziering. Last night’s By Lainey • Jun 19, 2020 03:07 pm
TV Live Blog What you can watch on Quibi Quibi, the long awaited and much-mocked streaming platform dedicated to short-form entertainment, finally launches on April 6. (That is, assuming a lawsuit doesn’t derail the launch.) I don’t think anything they have on tap will top Daniel Spencer’s TikTok, but I also think a short-form streaming platform By Sarah • Apr 02, 2020 03:34 pm
Hook Ups Lena Waithe…and Cynthia Erivo?! About two months ago, Lena Waithe revealed that she and her longtime partner Alana Mayo had secretly married in August. It was on the press tour for Queen & Slim and she was talking about it everywhere. We asked her about it on The Social when she came to Toronto By Lainey • Jan 24, 2020 11:18 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Queen & Slim sits between two forms With Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas jumps from music videos to feature films, and her background in visual media shows in the style and rhythm of her long-form work. Queen & Slim is strikingly visual and operates almost like a series of vignettes connected by musical interludes. Matsoukas’s By Sarah • Dec 06, 2019 10:11 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for December 2, 2019 Dear Gossips, Healthy Thanksgiving weekend box office this weekend with both Knives Out and Queen & Slim exceeding box office projections. Sarah and I have been high on Knives Out since we screened it at TIFF back in September but I don’t know that anyone was predicting that it By Lainey • Dec 02, 2019 09:27 am
Show Your Work Podcast Show Your Work: What is Ryan Reynolds? Did you see Ryan Reynolds on Saturday Night Live last weekend? Will Ferrell hosted – and Ryan showed up in the opening monologue and on Weekend Update and Duana sent me a note at 140am, after the show ended, and this was her question: What is Ryan Reynolds? The next day, By Lainey • Nov 28, 2019 03:05 pm
Lena Waithe Leave room for Lena, Melina, and Jodie Pitchfork released its list of Best Songs of the 2010s earlier this week. ELLE yesterday released its 2019 Women in Hollywood issue. This is just the beginning, it’s unavoidable now. I guess we have to start talking about the end of the year, the end of a decade. Are By Lainey • Oct 10, 2019 11:31 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Queen & Slim, not Bonnie and Clyde A notable absence from this year’s fall festival tour (so far) is Queen & Slim, the feature film debut of “Formation” director Melina Matsoukas. I’m a little surprised Universal, the distributor, isn’t looking to put a little festival polish on this movie. It has as good a By Sarah • Aug 01, 2019 03:05 pm
TV Updates Lena Waithe's The Chi drama In the past few weeks, we have seen some serious drama unfold publicly from the set of the Lena Waithe Showtime drama ,The Chi. Suddenly one of the stars, Jason Mitchell was thrust into the spotlight in a negative way, getting dropped from not only The Chi but also the By Melayna • Jun 10, 2019 01:26 pm
Met Gala 2019 Tracee Ellis-Ross & Lena Waithe: Best Met Messages Lena Waithe delivered the best statement at last year’s Met Gala when the theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”, commanding the red carpet in a rainbow cape meant as a super-shield of support and strength for those rejected by a divine prescription that is selective and By Lainey • May 07, 2019 05:04 am