Movie Reviews and Previews Armie Hammer and the horse head Today in But Why news, it has been reported that Armie Hammer will star in a limited series called The Offer, about the making of The Godfather. This is not to be confused with Francis and The Godfather, a movie which will star Oscar Isaac and Jake Gyllenhaal and is By Sarah • Dec 02, 2020 10:09 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Small Axe: Lovers Rock seethes with life and passion Mangrove, the first entry into Steve McQueen’s film anthology series Small Axe, is a historical courtroom drama that is vital in a year of social demonstration and change. The second film in Small Axe, Lovers Rock, is in many ways a step back from Mangrove, not in quality but By Sarah • Nov 30, 2020 01:03 pm
TV Updates The Jedi arrives on The Mandalorian One of the big expectations for The Mandalorian season two was the arrival of Ahsoka Tano, a popular character from the animated series The Clone Wars. Well, that event transpired on Friday in the latest episode of The Mandalorian, “The Jedi”, as Ahsoka Tano shows up, dual white lightsabers in By Sarah • Nov 30, 2020 11:39 am
Top Reads Joss Whedon’s surprise exits Hello, it is I, your resident American correspondent, corresponding to you from America, on America’s second-greatest holiday: Thanksgiving, the day we stuff our faces with turkey so we don’t have to talk to each other. (The best holiday is July 4, because fireworks.) In honor of my By Sarah • Nov 26, 2020 11:42 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Happiest Season: The Cute Christmas Rom-Com of 2020 I will be accepting no other applications, Happiest Season is THE cute Christmas rom-com of 2020. It has all the classic Christmas movie cliches: someone hanging off a gutter (is it EVEN a Christmas movie if no one is hanging off a gutter?); brawls on Christmas Eve; obligatory trip By Sarah • Nov 24, 2020 11:49 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Small Axe: Mangrove is vital viewing in 2020 Steve McQueen’s latest project is a series of five films collected as an anthology detailing experiences from the “Windrush generation” of immigrants from the Caribbean who came to Britain to help fulfill post-war labor shortages in the mid-twentieth century. (These are films labelled as “episodes”, so have By Sarah • Nov 23, 2020 03:01 pm
TV Updates Crown Freeze: The Queen and Thatcher’s three frostiest glares This season of The Crown really brings the bitchiness to the front, roasting everyone left and right, but while the burns are hot, the queen is ice cold. The Crown has always spent time on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth and her prime ministers, but for the first time, her By Sarah • Nov 20, 2020 03:39 pm
Award Season Campaigning Regina King’s potential Oscar year Regina King’s engaging, resonant historical biopic, One Night in Miami, is one of the early standouts of the Oscar race this year. It debuted at the Venice Film Festival, then played TIFF, kicking off a traditional Oscar campaign in a very non-traditional year (it will premiere on Christmas By Sarah • Nov 20, 2020 12:41 pm
Business of Hollywood Wonder Woman gives up, will drop on HBO Max The last great question mark for the theatrical release calendar of 2020 was Wonder Woman 1984, and whether or not Warner Brothers would move back its release again. The COVID situation in the US has reached a new critical mass, with 250,000 dead and new cases and hospitalizations rising By Sarah • Nov 19, 2020 09:53 am
Equality Issues Marvel’s Indigenous Makeover It’s National Native American Heritage Month in the US, and to honor Native America, Marvel is fixing its face by issuing a special edition anthology written and illustrated by Indigenous artists, giving (a few of) their Native characters an Indigenous update. The book is called Marvel Voices: Indigenous Voices, By Sarah • Nov 18, 2020 12:52 pm
TV Updates The Five Filthiest Reads in The Crown The Crown season four introduces Princess Diana and brings the drama, giving the show a new lease on life, but it also delivers some sick burns on the royal family. More than any of the previous seasons, The Crown season four is the least interested in the myth of the By Sarah • Nov 18, 2020 09:47 am
Movie Reviews and Previews The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is for kids In the grand tradition of all two (2) Star Wars holiday specials, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is not great. But unlike the original holiday special, which is unwatchable garbage, The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is at least a coherent story. And, at only forty-five minutes long, By Sarah • Nov 17, 2020 12:40 pm
TV Updates The Crown is better than ever, thanks to Diana In season three, The Crown began to show some wear, being not as engaging as the first two seasons—especially season one—and not as well-balanced in its storylines. But in season four, The Crown comes roaring back, reenergized by the arrival of Princess Diana, much as the real By Sarah • Nov 17, 2020 10:31 am
TV Updates WandaVision bounces WandaVision is the latest entity to give up on 2020, as anyone would. The Marvel series was expected to debut on Disney+ “this year”, but they’re still completing filming of the last couple episodes of the series (not to mention ongoing post-production on the rest of it). I By Sarah • Nov 13, 2020 11:23 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Grindelwald upgrade Days after Johnny Depp stepped down from playing Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3, Mads Mikkelsen is in talks to take over the role. I say this as a one-time hardcore Depp fan: Mads Mikkelsen is a better actor and this is an upgrade. Casting him as a villain is By Sarah • Nov 12, 2020 11:04 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Glenn Close and Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance’s memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, was a 2016 bestseller and was held up as an explainer for the newly minted Trump’s America and the “economic anxiety” that precipitated it, downplaying white resentment of a Black president and instead emphasizing the blue-red swing of rural central America By Sarah • Nov 10, 2020 02:58 pm
