Dave Chappelle Dave Chapelle’s 8:46 On Friday Dave Chappelle dropped a surprise stand-up set for free on Netflix’s YouTube page. Titled 8:46 the special is really not comedy, it’s just Chappelle working through the recent events in America. It was probably meant to be comedy, as Chappelle has started workshopping new material By Sarah • Jun 15, 2020 01:11 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Tenet blinked Since the coronavirus lockdown began in the spring, the hopes of the film industry “returning to normal” hung on Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, due to be released on July 17. Warner Brothers and the industry at large so believed in Tenet’s power to lure audiences back to enclosed spaces By Sarah • Jun 15, 2020 11:22 am
Business of Hollywood Ava’s influence The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences held their elections this week, and Ava DuVernay has been elected to the Directors’ Branch, joining Steven Spielberg and Susanne Bier as one of the three “governors” representing directors in AMPAS. This year’s elections make the board of governors the most By Sarah • Jun 11, 2020 03:12 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Just release the Eurovision movie now We need the laughs! A full trailer for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, the tortuously named Netflix film starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams is here, and it is a bright spot on my otherwise horrific Twitter feed right now. JK Rowling is ruining Harry Potter, people By Sarah • Jun 11, 2020 12:27 pm
TV Updates Cancelling copaganda Alongside demonstrations about police brutality is the curious case of “copaganda”, or Hollywood’s close, cozy relationship with policing as an institution—one that is overwhelming centered on white cops and always portrays police as the unquestioned good guys in every scenario—and how to move forward with cop shows By Sarah • Jun 11, 2020 11:54 am
Equality Issues The Benefits of Defunding the Police This week a reader called E emailed Lainey about the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in the ongoing discussions around race, reform, and revolution happening on the site over the last couple of weeks. E brought up a very good point: Native peoples are also the targets of police brutality in By Sarah • Jun 10, 2020 03:18 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Bill & Ted being excellent It’s HERE! It’s REAL! After DECADES of teasing and “maybes”, Bill & Ted Face the Music is a REAL MOVIE that ACTUALLY EXISTS. Now if only it wasn’t being released in the middle of a GODDAMN PANDEMIC. Today is 6/9, aka Bill & Ted Day (because By Sarah • Jun 09, 2020 11:43 am
Michelle Obama Ranking the speeches of Youtube’s “Dear Class of 2020” Recently, I ranked some virtual commencement speeches given by celebrities to the class of 2020 as they miss out on their traditional commencements during quarantine. Then, on Sunday, Youtube hosted (another) online commencement, “Dear Class of 2020”, for the class of 2020 which brings us a whole new crop of By Sarah • Jun 08, 2020 01:07 pm
Equality Issues Second City’s systemic race problem Second City, the Chicago comedy institution known as a breeding ground for SNL talent/tourist trap, was rocked last week by news that company Executive Producer and co-owner Andrew Alexander will be stepping down. In his statement, published on Second City’s website, Alexander acknowledges failures on the part of By Sarah • Jun 08, 2020 11:41 am
Barack Obama Ranking the virtual commencement speeches In lieu of traditional graduations, the class of 2020 has been treated to a series of virtual commencement speeches from various celebrities and political figures. (Shout out to the class of 2020 who are coming of age in a literal nightmare but are hanging in there with the TikTok dances By Sarah • Jun 04, 2020 03:41 pm
Long Reads This week in America (Here is the latest installment in our Long Reads series – Sarah’s personal story about being an America living in America right now.) This week in America is happening because last week in America a police officer murdered George Floyd. I have lived in Chicago ten years this summer. During By Sarah • Jun 03, 2020 09:41 am
TV Updates At least Perry Mason still looks good There’s a lot going on right now, and it feels frivolous to write about the trailer for an HBO series—it IS frivolous—but I’ve run the gamut this past weekend from determined to uplifted to nervous to scared to panicked and now I’m idling on E. By Sarah • Jun 01, 2020 02:04 pm
TV Updates Steve Carell in Space Force When the trailer for Netflix’s new comedy series, Space Force, premiered a few weeks ago, I said that “reality IS satire now so this might as well be a documentary”. This turns out to be one of the biggest problems facing Space Force, that it is, intentionally or not, By Sarah • Jun 01, 2020 11:42 am
Theatre Nerd Emilia Clarke & Jessica Chastain remain committed To the stage, that is. Both women were to front revivals on London’s West End this summer, but the theater season was, of course, cut short by COVID-19. Emilia Clarke is to star in an adaption of The Seagull from Anya Reiss, and Jessica Chastain will lead Frank McGuiness’ By Sarah • May 29, 2020 11:49 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Henry Cavill will return as Superman…kinda Here we go. Following the announcement that the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League would be released on HBOMax, there is more Zack Snyder-adjacent DC movie news. No, Ben Affleck is not returning as Batman—let the poor man take endless walks with his girlfriend and eat carbs—but Henry Cavill By Sarah • May 28, 2020 12:29 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Scott Derrickson enters the Labyrinth Months after leaving Marvel and his Doctor Strange sequel, director Scott Derrickson has landed a new project—the sequel to the beloved 1986 David Bowie classic Labyrinth (I suppose this now supplants the previous iteration being written by Nicole Perlman). Perhaps this can be the gothic horror fantasy that Derrickson By Sarah • May 27, 2020 12:11 pm
