Movie Reviews and Previews A spoiler-free review of Avengers: Age of Ultron The big question when it comes to Avengers: Age of Ultron is whether or not it’s “better” than The Avengers. Short answer—yes. Long answer—also yes. The Avengers is super fun and the end, especially, is a complete thrill. But three years removed from it, let’s all By Sarah • May 01, 2015 10:06 am
Movie Reviews and Previews James Franco & Jonah Hill’s True Story Confession: I almost fell asleep in this movie. Which is, I think, the clearest review I can give it. Starring Jonah Hill and James Franco, True Story is based on the true story (GET IT?) of Michael Finkel, a disgraced journalist who discovers that an accused murderer, Christian Longo, was By Sarah • Apr 29, 2015 03:30 pm
Media Manipulation Does Hawkeye’s goofy song make up for anything? The Avengers: Age of Ultron press tour is winding down as the movie hits theaters tomorrow evening, but there are still a few Avengers out making the final push for a movie that really does not need a final push. After last week’s super peppy press tour derailment, this By Sarah • Apr 29, 2015 10:56 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Marvel’s Woman Problem There’s a piece up today at The Daily Beast about Black Widow and the “problem” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that she—a strong, capable character in her own right—keeps being used in service of the male heroes. I don’t disagree that there is a problem in By Sarah • Apr 28, 2015 12:43 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Tom Brady must have lost a bet to Seth MacFarlane Back in 2012, I quite liked Ted, Seth MacFarlane’s talking teddy bear movie starring Mark Wahlberg. It hit the right balance between MacFarlane’s raunchy sense of humor and actually having a heart under the R-rated jokes and the teddy bear gimmick. So I’m holding out hope that By Sarah • Apr 28, 2015 10:22 am
The Royals The Royals 1.7: Dame Joan Collins shows up AT LAST The Royals Season 1, Episode 7 recap I don’t understand how titles work on this show at all. Dame Joan Collins finally appears as Queen Helena’s mom, and her title is “Grand Duchess of Oxford”, except that doesn’t make any sense. A Grand Duchess is the head By Sarah • Apr 27, 2015 01:30 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Blake Lively in The Age of Adaline For a movie that features a protagonist who boned two members of the same family, The Age of Adaline is incredibly boring. There’s so much potential drama to fuel the story of a woman who doesn’t age, and who, it is implied, has left a string of lovers By Sarah • Apr 27, 2015 11:55 am
Game of Thrones Game of Thrones 5.3: “Avenge them” Game of Thrones Season 5, Episode 3 recap At the beginning of Game of Thrones there were a lot of characters spread across a vast land, all with different motivations. Now, five seasons into the story, there are still a lot of characters and the land is even vaster, but By Sarah • Apr 27, 2015 08:50 am
Douchebags Adam Sandler’s new movie is so offensive no one wants to be in it Adam Sandler is making a new movie, The Ridiculous 6, which is slated to air on Netflix at some point. It’s a spoof of Westerns, the title is a play on The Magnificent Seven, and it stars Sandler as a guy who’s raised in a band of Apaches By Sarah • Apr 24, 2015 10:24 am
Douchebags The Avengers are TOO PEPPY We’ve said it before—the Avengers are the coolest club in Hollywood. When you put that group together, they’re a marketing flak’s wet dream. They sell themselves, they sell the movie, they sell the ongoing pop cultural domination of Marvel simply by showing up. And they’ve By Sarah • Apr 23, 2015 02:51 pm
Media Manipulation Fifty Shades of Grey is now a family affair Following the exodus of the creative team behind Fifty Shades of Grey, the producers were left with the task of hiring a new writer and director for the sequel, which they had to do while satisfying interfering novelist EL James—a tall order by all accounts. They’re still looking By Sarah • Apr 23, 2015 10:37 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac in Ex Machina A stripped-down, more sinister companion piece to Her, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina is a stellar piece of science fiction. It’s eerie and thoughtful and provoking, featuring gorgeous natural visuals and beautifully integrated computer effects, and though none of the questions it asks are ground-breaking, the way Garland, who By Sarah • Apr 22, 2015 02:33 pm
TV Updates Moulin Rouge 2: A Candle in the Wind Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast rounded out its cast this week, getting ready to shoot later this year. Emma Watson is already on board as Belle, and Dan Stevens and Luke Evans join her as the Beast and Gaston, respectively. The cast is actually really interesting—Ian McKellan By Sarah • Apr 22, 2015 12:29 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Film Review: Unfriended Earlier this month Lainey said she thought Unfriended might be a sleeper hit. I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic—though it did well enough, it didn’t have the kind of opening weekend that suggests it’ll stick around for long. I told Lainey the ceiling for Unfriended would be By Sarah • Apr 21, 2015 02:51 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Tomorrowland is Home Alone with robots? I’d be totally okay with that. The onslaught of “please put this in front of the Avengers” trailers continues today with a new trailer from Tomorrowland, George Clooney’s sci-fi adventure that is (disappointingly) also not a biopic of Walt Disney. This project, written and directed by Brad Bird, By Sarah • Apr 21, 2015 12:20 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Scott Eastwood in Suicide Squad after The Longest Ride (Lainey: Scott Eastwood is in Toronto right now working on Suicide Squad. He’s been bragging about it on Instagram. Thanks Oliver Stone for shooting in Hawaii. Training continues for #suicidesquad. Can't wait to get back to the squad. Miss you all. Rock runs at Waimea bay. Good By Sarah • Apr 21, 2015 11:38 am
