Movie Reviews and Previews Austin Butler and Tom Hanks in Elvis Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling music biopic, Elvis, is the best and worst of Luhrmann’s brand of ritzy-glitzy filmmaking. On the one hand, Luhrmann’s signature maximalism is perfectly suited to the unabashedly tacky Elvis, both the man who loved flashy clothes and accoutrement, and the icon immortalized in rhinestone By Sarah • Jun 24, 2022 11:42 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Barbie and Ken’s school run Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were photographed on the set of Barbie, both done up in tacky-ass Western wear, which is perfect. Robbie-Barbie is sporting a hot pink bedazzled bell-bottom ensemble that wouldn’t go amiss on 1970s-era Dolly Parton. Gosling-Ken is in a black and white fringe outfit that By Sarah • Jun 24, 2022 10:34 am
Gorgessity All the pretty Thors Here are all the pretty Thors and other assorted beautiful people at the world premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder last night. This is the first time Natalie Portman looks like she’s genuinely enjoying herself at a Marvel premiere, which might be because she isn’t playing an ornament By Sarah • Jun 24, 2022 10:00 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Intro for June 24, 2022 Dear Gossips, It’s not that I am unaware that everything sucks right now. The January 6 hearings continue, providing a daily stream of terrifying reminders of how close we were—are?—to losing our democracy, Netflix just laid off 300 more people who probably didn’t have anything to By Sarah • Jun 24, 2022 09:18 am
Chris Hemsworth Miles Teller and Chris Hemsworth in Spiderhead The number one movie on Netflix right now, at least in the US, is Spiderhead. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, lately of Top Gun: Maverick, and adapted from a George Saunders short story by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Spiderhead is a soft rock dystopia about a Modernist paradise prison where By Sarah • Jun 23, 2022 01:57 pm
TV Updates Obi-Wan Kenobi is a missed opportunity Spoilers In my review of the first couple of episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mid-quel filler series killing time between the original and prequel trilogies of Star Wars, I called the whole of Star Wars storytelling “all flavor, no substance”. Obi-Wan Kenobi, despite a stellar cast and many exceptional production By Sarah • Jun 23, 2022 12:03 pm
TV Updates Stranger Things is still running up that hill I make fun of the increasingly convoluted titles of the Mission: Impossible franchise all the time, but let’s be honest, Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 is a mouthful, too. The “volume 1” and “volume 2” split of season four is assumed to be the result of Netflix seeking to By Sarah • Jun 22, 2022 01:56 pm
Amazingness Messrs. Evans and Waititi Lightyear disappointed, but you know what is never disappointing? Chris Evans + Taika Waititi. Evans voiced the “new” Buzz Lightyear in the film, and Taika one of the Space Rangers. Let’s take a moment before Elvis opens in a couple days and wipes Lightyear off the map to appreciate the By Sarah • Jun 22, 2022 12:01 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Zoe Kazan is remaking Elia Kazan Let’s hear it for nepotism, y’all, Zoe Kazan is adapting East of Eden, the John Steinbeck novel her grandfather, Elia Kazan, turned into one of the greatest films of the 1950s. Seriously, though, two things can be true: Zoe Kazan is part of a significant Hollywood legacy, and By Sarah • Jun 22, 2022 10:40 am
TV Updates Bridgerton boys out and about It’s a Bridgerton reunion at Milan fashion week, as the duke and the viscount themselves, Regé-Jean Page and Jonathan Bailey, ended up at the Giorgio Armani show. This is very summer, very yacht-casual, very “attorneys on vacation”. Bailey is a little bit of a scroll down surprise, as I By Sarah • Jun 21, 2022 11:31 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Lightyear had a bad weekend Lightyear, Pixar’s unnecessarily confusing prequel/spin-off of Toy Story, opened over the weekend, and if you haven’t heard, it kind of flopped. I say “kind of” because if they had simply spent less money on it, its $51 million opening weekend wouldn’t seem quite so dire, but By Sarah • Jun 20, 2022 01:58 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews The Old Guard is back (and other thoughts) One of my favorite things this year (so far) is that The Old Guard 2 is happening. It’s filming now in Rome, here is Charlize Theron on set with Kiki Layne and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Check out Andy’s mullet! Part of me hopes they explain this hair choice, and By Sarah • Jun 20, 2022 11:31 am
What Else What Else? St. Vincent is very cool, but bleached eyebrows, I couldn’t do it. (Go Fug Yourself) The Dance Moms lady is fighting with the Sia dancer because the Sia dancer said Dance Moms was “toxic”. …Did anyone think otherwise? Also, I remain bent that everyone jumped on Cuties but never By Sarah • Jun 17, 2022 04:24 pm
TV Updates D.B. Cooper is our guilt-free summer true crime When it comes to true crime, Netflix has a tendency toward the sensational that veers into tasteless. As a genre, true crime is loaded enough with the tension between genuine interest and prurient gawking, and too often, especially post-Tiger King, Netflix leans into the prurient with their docs. Well, here’ By Sarah • Jun 17, 2022 04:05 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Let’s be stupid and romantic with Bros Ah, a Friday refreshment from the new trailer for Bros, Billy Eichner’s gay rom-rom due later this fall, which feels so far away but is really just three months from now. Until then, though, I will watch the instantly classic Fire Island and Notting Hill on a loop until By Sarah • Jun 17, 2022 03:20 pm
TV Updates Quinta Brunson’s big year Emmy voting opened yesterday, and one of the shows expected to be a big player is Abbott Elementary, Quinta Brunson’s super charming sitcom “savior”—comedy has been sustaining better on network television than drama has, since the streaming revolution—that should be your must-watch show of the summer (if By Sarah • Jun 17, 2022 02:14 pm
