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
Movie Reviews and Previews No Thanksgiving for Tom Cruise This probably isn’t a surprise. As IF Tom Cruise would take time away from filming. Tom Cruise, as we know, is happiest on a film set. It’s work and home for him. And he continued working on Mission: Impossible 7 this weekend in Italy with production now moved By Lainey • Nov 30, 2020 11:03 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Florence, Harry, and Olivia are Back on Set Don’t Worry Darling halted production a few weeks ago because a crew member tested positive for COVID-19. And a lot happened in those few short weeks. There’s been election drama. It was confirmed that Olivia Wilde, who is directing and also has a role in the film, and By Lainey • Nov 27, 2020 03:10 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Mimi Saves Christmas! As I just wrote in the previous post about Thanksgiving and gatherings, right now, many families around the world are facing the prospect not spending the holidays together. On a personal note, both my parents are immune compromised and in our city, we’re now basically on lockdown, and we’ By Lainey • Nov 27, 2020 11:04 am
Equality Issues Intro for November 27, 2020 Dear Gossips, Earlier this week, Sarah wrote that Mangrove, the first film in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, is “vital viewing”. Sarah’s review of each installment will be posted each week. Lovers Rock is the second film and that piece is coming Monday. After that it’ll be By Lainey • Nov 27, 2020 08:52 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 to By Sarah • Nov 24, 2020 11:49 am
Movie Reviews and Previews Natalie Portman Takes a Break It’s been a while since we posted about Natalie Portman. She’s been in Australia for a while now working on Thor: Love and Thunder. When she’s not shooting, she’s spent time with her family at the beach and at the park, which is where these shots By Lainey • Nov 24, 2020 11:33 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 fun figuring By Sarah • Nov 23, 2020 03:01 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 day By Sarah • Nov 20, 2020 12:41 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Making Sense of Music This Music trailer landed in my inbox in dispute, which I am here to settle. Lainey isn’t feeling it, but our site manager Emily (who is way nicer than the rest of the team) is feeling it (Emily: Sia and Maddie have done incredible work together for years). I By Maria • Nov 19, 2020 03:14 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
Business of Hollywood George Clooney: The Dad on Zoom With Bags of Money This is the 25th anniversary of GQ’s Men of the Year issue. As usual, there are several covers. George Clooney has been named the magazine’s Icon of the Year. His new film, The Midnight Sky, is coming out soon. It’s good timing for him. And it’s By Lainey • Nov 17, 2020 02:26 pm
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, it By Sarah • Nov 17, 2020 12:40 pm
Movie Reviews and Previews Tom Cruise Sounds Like… Apologies in advance if I’m about to ruin Steve Kornacki for you but as I said in the previous post about him, it finally came to me who he reminds me of: Tom Cruise! Right? It’s something about the way he enunciates his words, I can’t quite By Lainey • Nov 12, 2020 12:19 pm
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 a 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 as By Sarah • Nov 10, 2020 02:58 pm
