Movie Reviews and Previews Neither Benedict Cumberbatch nor Jake G are playing Nikola Tesla That’s my takeaway from the news that Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal are in talks to star in a movie called The Current War, based on the nineteenth century patents arms race between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse for control of the budding electric industry. At the heart of By Sarah • Sep 28, 2015 09:56 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Jake G in Everest Actually, I should say that it’s Jason Clarke in Everest because Jake Gyllenhaal has a relatively small role and disappears from the film for long stretches, but he’s being treated in the publicity materials like he’s the star, and I don’t know how many of you By Sarah • Sep 25, 2015 01:53 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Tom Hardy ain’t got time for primadonna directors Tom Hardy gave an interview, via Skype, to Vulture and in it he sh*ts all over the idea of directors and basically says they contribute nothing to film. I laughed for a solid five minutes, because cinema is a culture that worships directors and also because Tom Hardy basically By Sarah • Sep 24, 2015 02:59 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Hero Boy, Girl, Cool Girl, and Littlefinger Once again, I went into the second entry in a YA dystopia franchise totally blind—I have not read the Maze Runner books nor have I seen the first Maze Runner movie. Like Divergent: Insurgent, this is an exercise in “Can Sarah figure out what is going on without any By Sarah • Sep 24, 2015 12:49 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews The Perfect Guy There is nothing in The Perfect Guy as mind-blowingly ludicrous as a teenager handing his older lover a first edition copy of The Iliad, but oh, how I wish there was. The Perfect Guy is a “romantic” thriller so devoid of romance—or passion, or any emotion, really—that it By Sarah • Sep 24, 2015 11:05 am
Media Manipulation The smooth, calculated Michael B. Jordan Michael B. Jordan is one of three cover profiles in October’s GQ, alongside Ryan Reynolds and Rob Lowe. The interview itself is a good read, especially as Jordan has maintained a pretty low profile on his way up these past few years. It’s possible to know him as By Sarah • Sep 23, 2015 03:45 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: The Lobster What a f*cking weird movie. I love it, I can’t guarantee you will all love it, too, but if you’re open to trying a different flavor, The Lobster is definitely worth a shot. The first English-language feature from Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), and co-written with his By Sarah • Sep 22, 2015 11:06 am
Bad Style Amy Schumer – Big Winner, Worst Dressed Amy Schumer picked up her first Emmy for Inside Amy Schumer, for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. This has been Schumer’s year, from the breakout success of Inside to a hit feature film, to #squadding with Jennifer Lawrence, and now she caps it off with her first Emmy win. The By Sarah • Sep 21, 2015 12:51 pm
TV Updates Emmy Fatigue: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Veep As I previously mentioned, I have a hard time with the Emmys. If Game of Thrones illustrates the television academy’s slow-on-the-uptake ways, then nothing better captures the essence of “Emmy fatigue” than Julia Louis-Dreyfus. JLD won her sixth Emmy as an actress in a comedy series, of which four By Sarah • Sep 21, 2015 10:38 am
Equality Issues Jon Stewart’s Farewell Emmys Here is another case of the Emmys making themselves irrelevant by giving trophies to the same people over and over. I get it—Jon Stewart’s tenure at The Daily Show is over, and his wins for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series and Outstanding Variety Series are his send-off By Sarah • Sep 21, 2015 08:55 am
Emmy Awards 2015 Emmys nothing to give: Frances McDormand Frances McDormand won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries/Movie for Olive Kitteridge, which gives her a TOE (Tony-Oscar-Emmy). This is a not insignificant achievement, and as icing on her cake, Kitteridge also won a boatload of other Emmys, including ones for writing, directing, lead and supporting By Sarah • Sep 21, 2015 06:13 am
Emmy Awards 2015 Emmys Overdue: Peter Dinklage & Game Of Thrones Peter Dinklage won his second Emmy for portraying Tyrion Lannister last night, a win that encapsulates my problem with the Emmys—oh yeah, I have a problem with the Emmys. My problem is this: The same shows win every year. And once something starts winning, it tends to turn into By Sarah • Sep 21, 2015 04:26 am
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: The Program Stephen Frears’ Lance Armstrong movie, The Program, is not the worst movie I’ve seen at TIFF—that’s a toss-up between London Fields and Our Brand is Crisis—but it is probably the most disappointing. Frears has a knack for biopics (see also: Philomena, The Queen), but The Program By Sarah • Sep 17, 2015 10:56 am
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: Beasts of No Nation I heard some industry folks at TIFF sh*t-talking Netflix for allegedly overpaying for Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation, Netflix’s first original feature film. They were of the opinion that Netflix will keep overpaying for movies and go bust, but just a few years ago TV executives By Sarah • Sep 17, 2015 09:56 am
Movie Reviews and Previews At the very least, The Jungle Book looks gorgeous I have serious reservations about bringing Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book back, which I discussed last year when it came out that there are TWO new versions of the story coming to the big screen. Well, we now have a trailer for one of those adaptations, the one from By Sarah • Sep 16, 2015 01:50 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews TIFF Review: Emma Watson in Colonia Imagine Argo, but worse and about Nazis, and you have Emma Watson’s new movie, Colonia. Set during the 1970s coup of General Pinochet in Chile, Colonia is a thriller (“thriller”) about a young couple in love escaping a prison-cult. It’s the political thriller version of Equals (click here By Sarah • Sep 16, 2015 12:41 pm
