Chinese Squawking Chicken Ben Affleck’s tarnished glow A few days ago Lainey wrote about the luck forecast for Rats this year, and she name-checked Ben Affleck as a Rat who could have a lucky year, if only he can maintain his focus. And he’s going to need to maintain his focus to channel his luck this By Sarah • Jan 27, 2017 01:30 pm
Media Manipulation Vin Diesel’s hype train I said in my xXx: Return of Xander Cage review that Vin Diesel is “extremely good at self-promotion” and here is an example of what I am talking about. While promoting Xander Cage, Diesel did an interview with MTV in which he talks up a potential Groot spin-off with Marvel. By Sarah • Jan 27, 2017 12:06 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Vin Diesel in xXx: Return of Xander Cage xXx: Return of Xander Cage opened in second place last weekend but is doing better business overseas. It’s the stupidest f*cking movie in the world but sure, let’s review this sucker like it’s a real movie. (This is not a real movie. This is the Vin By Sarah • Jan 26, 2017 01:23 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Adam Driver in Paterson Many were hoping that Paterson would have a chance at the Oscars and that there would be a surprise nomination yesterday, while acknowledging that the chances weren’t great. It certainly wasn’t the biggest snub, but most critics agree that Adam Driver’s performance stands up to any of By Sarah • Jan 25, 2017 01:22 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Martin Scorsese’s Silence Many are considering Silence to be an Oscar snub after nominations were announced. It took Martin Scorsese nearly thirty years to bring his adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s novel to the big screen. Clocking in at nearly three hours, Silence is a magnum opus of faith and doubt and a By Sarah • Jan 25, 2017 10:36 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Hidden Figures surging We are fans of Hidden Figures around here, and while, as Michael Shannon puts it, the work is the work regardless of recognition, there’s still something nice about professional validation. And today Hidden Figures got validated with three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, and By Sarah • Jan 24, 2017 03:06 pm
Award Season Campaigning Michael Shannon’s work pays off As you know, I love Nocturnal Animals and am perpetually salty that it’s not getting enough attention this award season. It only got one Oscar nomination, although at least the Academy got this right: Michael Shannon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I’m still stung that the film By Sarah • Jan 24, 2017 01:44 pm
Award Season Campaigning The Icon and The Ingenue The most competitive category at the Oscars this year is Best Actress. It’s been this way since last fall. For several months, the race was defined as Emma Stone versus Natalie Portman. Back in November I wrote about their competition, and that despite Portman’s excellent work in Jackie, By Sarah • Jan 24, 2017 12:10 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews DC wants Tom Cruise because they have no imagination Friday The Wrap published an alleged short list of actors wanted by Warner Brothers/DC to play the Green Lantern, the character that almost wrecked Ryan Reynolds’ career. That list includes Reynolds—who is probably praying they decide to start over from scratch—as well as Jake Gyllenhaal, Bradley Cooper, By Sarah • Jan 23, 2017 01:29 pm
TV Updates Aziz Ansari delivered on SNL After a terrible episode with Felicity Jones, Saturday Night Live rebounded on a make-or-break weekend with Aziz Ansari hosting. A show that strives for topicality and cultural relevance CANNOT f*ck up not only an inauguration weekend, but the most divisive inauguration in recent memory, one that included an inauguration By Sarah • Jan 23, 2017 09:07 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Monster Trucks is a disaster at every turn Last fall Viacom took a $115 million write-down for an unnamed Paramount movie, but everyone made the leap that Movie X was Monster Trucks, the long-delayed would-be kiddie franchise meant to sell toys. Paramount has the rights to Transformers, but they have to share those profits, including merchandising, with toy By Sarah • Jan 20, 2017 01:16 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews James McAvoy is tremendous in Split Following The Visit, M. Night Shyamalan continues his return to form with Split. It’s his second collaboration with Blumhouse Pictures, and where in The Visit there is discernable friction between Shyamalan’s impulse to go big and Blumhouse’s frugal, lo-fi approach to filmmaking, in Split there is no By Sarah • Jan 20, 2017 10:29 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Cressida Bonas in a movie The Bye Bye Man, alternatively, “I Sat Through The Bye Bye Man So You Don’t Have To”. And I did it mostly because The Bye Bye Man is Cressida Bonas’ feature film debut as an actress. You might remember Bonas as Prince Harry’s ex, and you will never By Sarah • Jan 19, 2017 03:13 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Wolverine and Little Wolverine A new trailer for Logan has arrived, and while it’s not a perfect little film like the first one, it does confirm what the first trailer only hinted at—the little girl, Laura, is in fact X-23, the Logan clone who is currently serving as the comic book version By Sarah • Jan 19, 2017 01:23 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Sebastian Stan’s tragic ’stache We just saw Margot Robbie in costume as Tonya Harding the other day, and now it’s Sebastian Stan’s turn to show off his Jeff Gillooly look. Spoiler alert: It’s f*cking tragic. It’s so tragic a friend asked me if it was affecting my crush. (No, By Sarah • Jan 19, 2017 10:48 am
TV Updates Sign me up for the Santa Clarita Diet Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant turned up at the Golden Globes to support their upcoming Netflix comedy, Santa Clarita Diet, and now there is a trailer and I am 100% on board with this. First and foremost and most importantly and chiefly, I MISS TIMOTHY OLYPHANT AND AM GLAD TO By Sarah • Jan 18, 2017 10:32 am
