the Force is with white men, and hardly anyone else [update]
Star Wars is stuck “a long time ago”: in a 1950s mindset that was already outmoded when the first film was released in 1977. (please click through for commenting, social networking, tags, and more)
View Articlelet’s shoehorn some women into Star Wars?
More than a month after J.J. Abrams announced “the” cast for his upcoming Star Wars flick, suddenly we’ve got two new cast members! (please click through for commenting, social networking, tags, and...
View ArticleAbsolutely Anything movie review: absolutely appalling
Subjuvenile and offensive, sentimental and ridiculous. Every attempt at a joke falls flat. Every talent here is wasted. Save yourself. (please click through for commenting, social networking, tags, and...
View ArticleStar Wars: The Force Awakens movie review: a new hope
Charts a path to a future that refuses to get mired in nostalgia. Yet all the Star Wars notes are here, remixed into a glorious new arrangement. (please click through for commenting, social networking,...
View Article10 Cloverfield Lane movie review: the monsters women have to deal with
A marvelous little movie: compact, efficient, almost unbearably intense, smartly (perhaps accidentally) feminist. A glorious treat of pulp genre fun. (please click through for commenting, social...
View ArticleStar Trek Beyond movie review: future positive (but it won’t come easily)
Intense action; smart, funny nods to its roots while moving in a new direction; and explicit confrontation of a problem always at the heart of Star Trek. (please click through for commenting, social...
View ArticleStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie review: the galaxy isn’t far far away,...
Kudos to J.J. Abrams for doing something extraordinary: he has made me not care about Star Wars for the first time ever. I’m kind of relieved that it’s over, because it has stopped being fun. (please...
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Mission: Impossible III (review)
Sacrificial Tom Pity poor Tom Cruise. No, seriously: do you know what kind of hell he selflessly puts himself through so that you can have your entertainment? He has sacrificed an ordinary life for...
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what the hell is ‘Fringe,’ anyway?
I’ve been seeing ads all around New York — on the sides of buses, on the walls of subway stations — that look like this: And every time I see one, all I can think is: Torchwood. American TV was on the...
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trailer break: ‘Star Trek’
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… (Or, the Star Trek trailer at Apple Trailers: bigger, crisper, clearer.) The wait is not over! In a parallel universe where Paramount didn’t move the...
View Articlequestion of the day: What movies are you most looking forward to in 2009?
New year, new slate of movies to get excited for. What movie are you most looking forward to in 2009? I usually don’t look too far ahead to see what’s coming up — keeping up with the movies opening now...
View Articlequestion of the day: Do you want to know what people are saying about the new...
J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek reboot had a secret screening in Austin a few weeks ago, which sent Trekkies/Trekkers screaming across Twitter about the film. And now the movie has had its premiere in...
View Articlequestion of the day: Who’s your favorite ‘Star Trek’ character?
So Star Trek is back. Beam me right up. I saw J.J. Abrams’ reboot last night, and I cannot wait to see it again (which I’ll do on Saturday — already bought my ticket). And it’s got my head full of the...
View Articlequestion of the day: What do filmmakers owe the fans of favorite universes?
J.J. Abrams is telling diehard Trekkies to avoid his new Star Trek reboot: “Don’t see the movie,” he has said. “You’ll just get angry. It is not Shatner playing Kirk, so I do apologize.” (I think he’s...
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Star Trek (review)
Reboot to the Ass Oh, J.J. Abrams! Dude! You sneak, you! Can I have your geek babies? Here you are, going around telling everyone you’re no Trekkie, and you’re a liar! You must be a Trekkie, because...
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May 8: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings
We all know how it is. You’d like to get out to see a new movie this weekend, but you dread heading to the multplex in case it’s clogged with people in Spock ears and Klingon foreheads, and anyway, Mom...
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everybody loves Spock
It’s easy to see why: But still… It’s one thing when everyone’s fallen so madly in love with Zachary Quinto’s Spock in the new Star Trek flick that Entertainment Weekly writers are blogging about their...
View ArticleNorth American box office: ‘Up’ down, gets a headache from ‘The Hangover’
1. The Hangover: $44.99 million (NEW) 2. Up: $44.14 million (2nd week; drops 35%) 3. Land of the Lost: $18.8 million (NEW) 4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian: $14.6 million (3rd week;...
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J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg: together again for the first time
When I was a kid and fell in love with movies and decided I wanted to make movies (an ambition that later morphed into writing about movies, so no, I’m not quite the cliché of the critic who’s a...
View Articlequestion of the day: Ron Howard’s Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’? No,...
Have you read any of Stephen King’s series The Dark Tower? No? Imagine if Clint Eastwood and James Joyce collaborated on a trippy fantasy about the mystical quest of a gunslinger. It’s weird and...
View ArticlePolanski speaks (but doesn’t apologize); sexist iPad ads?; Mr. Rogers is...
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post....
View Articlewhat would Mark Twain do?; Michael Moore joins the Oscar board; Sam...
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post....
View Articlequick list: five really relevant filmmakers working now
What is relevance? It’s not just popularity, but that’s part of it — it’s hard to be relevant if not many people see your movies. It’s not just something-to-say-ness, but that’s part of it too — it’s...
View Articlewhat you don’t understand about Twitter; Facebook defriends Roger Ebert;...
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post....
View Articletrailer break: ‘Super 8’
Hey, I didn’t know J.J. Abrams was remaking The Goonies? Looks like Super 8 isn’t just produced by Steven Spielberg, but actually could well be a lost Spielberg film from the 80s. I like. Well, it...
View ArticleTyler Perry tells Spike Lee to go to hell; an apology for ‘Superman Returns’;...
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post....
View ArticleClose Encounters of the Third Kind (retro trailer)
I can’t wait to see Super 8, J.J. Abrams’ tribute to Steven Spielberg, which doesn’t open here in the U.K. till August. It looks like I may get into a screening this week, but for now, I have to make...
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Super 8 (review)
All About Steve Is it weird that the overwhelming feeling I’m left with after Super 8 is one of a nostalgic melancholy? The reason I went to film school, back when I thought I wanted to make films, is...
View ArticleSuper 8 (great movie quotes)
“It’s on the news. That means it’s real.” –Charles (Riley Griffiths) “It looks like a disaster movie.” –Joe (Joel Courtney), about the disaster he was shooting for his movie, in a disaster movie “This...
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question of the day: Is J.J. Abrams being a troll when he says, “If you’re so...
I was pretty stunned to read — in the Guardian — that J.J. Abrams isn’t too impressed with all the complaints about the ending of Lost (emphasis mine): For years, I had people praising Lost to death,...
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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (review)
Raiders of a Past Flick Steven Moffat (of Sherlock and Doctor Who). Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). Joe Cornish (of Attack the Block). Peter Jackson (of The Lord of the Rings...
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The Cabin in the Woods (trailer)
What the–? Did you watch the trailer before you read this? If not, do that now. … I can’t remember a trailer that surprised me the way that this one surprises me around the 1:00 mark. But I expect...
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question of the day: Has J.J. Abrams lost his mind?
It’s like a negative Christmas present. Perhaps Jimmy Kimmel is punking geeks? From Hollywood.com: J.J. Abrams to Convert ‘Star Trek 2′ to 3D After Shooting We’d expect J.J. Abrams to know better than...
View Articleso, Adele’s Skyfall theme is very classic Bond, no? (and other adventures in...
What my followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ saw today: • This is what it’s all come to, folks. Hollywood is yanking the collective fanboy chain. J.J. Abrams Shows 3 Frames of ‘Star Trek Into...
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monsters invade thrift store paintings! (and other adventures in social...
What my followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ saw today: • I presume Abrams’ *Star Wars* will involve a minor Sith Lord traveling back in time and destroying Tatooine before Luke Skywalker is...
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feel the rush of endorkins (Star Trek Into Darkness review)
I’m “biast” (pro): love everything Star Trek; madly in love with Benedict Cumberbatch I’m “biast” (con): nothing (what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) There’s a thing that makes me very sad...
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