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05 Jan

Great Eat the Rich Satires to Watch After The Menu

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Lifestyles of the rich and the famous have always been popular targets for satirists, but in 2022 the wealthy and elite were favorite punching bags for filmmakers. As billionaires continue to overstep and draw the ire of the rest of the 99 percent of the world’s population, our films reflected the rising “eat the rich” sentiment, and perhaps none more so than Mark Mylod’s satirical thriller The Menu.  Having directed many episodes of HBO’s Succession, Mylod is no stranger to the grotesqueries of the aristocracy, and his film presents pompous, vacuous, uncaring members of high society attending an upscale, private…

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05 Jan

Stephen King Made Winter the Scariest Time of the Year

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When the idea for this feature was first proposed, the angle was “Stephen King stories set at Christmas.” Much to my surprise, however, and despite our best efforts, we were not able to find a story by the master that was set specifically during the holidays or that pertained to them in some meaningful way (feel free to correct us, by the way, if you know of one). Given the breadth of King’s prose, this absence is surprising. It also begged a new question: What, then, are his best stories set in winter? It’s perhaps telling how quickly the choices…

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04 Jan

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – When and Where to Watch Online

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The first Black Panther was a triumph for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only was it an expertly made film, with electric performances from Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan as well as first-class direction from Ryan Coogler, but it told a complex story about Wakanda’s responsibilities to the rest of the world. Black Panther revealed what superhero stories do best, introducing a fantastic fictional world and wrestling with complex issues through a battle between costumed characters. So it’s no surprise that the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was one of the most anticipated movies of 2022. Not only does…

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03 Jan

Every Video Game Adaptation Currently in Development

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While the number of truly great video game adaptations is tragically small, the fact of the matter is that there’s still a bit of a gold rush for familiar properties. As such, it seems that every studio and streaming service in the world is looking to adapt one video game or another. Seriously, the number of video game adaptations currently in some stage of development is insane. You may occasionally hear about some video game adaptation popping up here and there, but it’s hard to fully grasp the extent of this movement until you see every adaptation listed in one…

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02 Jan

Upcoming Movies to Watch in 2023

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Happy New Year! That’s certainly what the movie industry is hoping for after what was a tumultuous 2022 (although not without its lucrative silver linings). The movie industry remains in a state of flux, however it’s not all doom and gloom for cinema. In fact, 2023 is shaping up to be a big year for studios relying on franchises and tentpoles (just scroll down for further evidence of that!), as well as a year that will bring us new auteur pieces from the likes of Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Taika Waititi, and Greta Gerwig (with nothing less than a Barbie…

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01 Jan

Disney+ New Releases: January 2023

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Disney+ is opening up the New Year just the way it likes to: with plenty of Star Wars. Disney+’s list of new releases for January 2023 is highlighted by a fresh season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 premieres its first two episodes on Wednesday, Jan. 4. New episodes of this show about an elite squad of clone troopers will follow each Wednesday. If nothing else, this Dave Filoni-project should ease the wait before The Mandalorian season 3. Other Disney+ originals of note this month include Chasing Waves on Jan. 11 and Mila…

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01 Jan

Hulu New Releases: January 2023

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If January sets the tone for any streamer’s year then 2023 is certainly going to be the Year of True Crime on Hulu. That’s right, Hulu’s list of new releases for January 2023 is highlight by several new true crime docuseries (and one charmingly goofy animated hero). The true crime docuseries fest gets started with Death in the Dorms on Jan. 5. That will be followed by How I Caught My Killer on Jan. 12, and Web of Death on Jan. 19. The first is a six-episode series that will follow the real life case of murders at UCLA, while…

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01 Jan

Amazon Prime Video New Releases: January 2023

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As the calendar flips over to 2023, Prime Video is attempting to start a new year on the right track with fresh seasons of some major originals. Prime Videos’ list of new releases for January 2023 is highlighted by Hunters season 2 on Jan. 13. The first season of Hunters was set in 1977 and followed young Jonah Heidelbaum’s (Logan Lerman) introduction to a world of Nazi-hunting. After a lengthy wait for season 2, the fresh (and final) batch of episodes will find Jonah and friends venturing to South American to take out none other than Adolf Hitler, himself. While…

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01 Jan

New on Netflix: January 2023

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2022 represented Netflix’s 25th (!!) year of operations as a company. Unfortunately, the streamer celebrated its 25th birthday with some earnings losses, massive cancelations, and a whole host of bad press. What will year 26 hold for the little Blockbuster killer that could? We now have a good idea thanks to Netflix’s list of new releases for January 2023. Netflix is kicking off 2023 with some muscular original series…and in one instance we mean literally muscular. Vikings: Valhalla season 2 will premiere on Jan. 13, bringing some much needed Norse mayhem back to television. Other titles of note include Ginny…

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01 Jan

HBO Max New Releases: January 2023

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It’s the end of the world as we know it and HBO Max feels fine. The Warner Bros. Discovery streamer’s list of new releases for January 2023 is highlighted by one long-awaited post-apocalyptic adventure. HBO’s TV adaptation of beloved video game The Last of Us premieres on Jan. 15. Created by Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin, this story will follow the game storyline of Joel (Pedro Pascal) guiding 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) through a virus-ridden wasteland towards hope. It’s probably gonna be awesome. The other big original series this month is animated mystery comedy Velma. Brought to life by Mindy Kaling,…

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31 Dec

New Year’s Viewing Resolutions: Movies and TV Shows We Promise to Watch in 2023

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The Japanese word ‘tsundoku’, beloved by book nerds, refers to the pile of unread books next to your bed or by the sofa, which rises steadily with each new optimistic purchase. There must be an equivalent for the mental stack of TV and film titles we each carry around inside our heads, made longer with every ‘oh-my-god-you-have-to-watch’ recommendation and inconveniently positive review. The only way forward? Show that list who’s boss. Seize control, take back the power, and no longer creep into each new dawn bent double by the weight of Stuff You Still Haven’t Seen. 2023 is your year…

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30 Dec

The Best Movies of 2022

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Cinema just had a rough year. While there were definitely upbeat stories to accompany the now constant anxieties percolating throughout the industry—from Tom Cruise once again asserting his dominance as the king of summer via Top Gun: Maverick to the surprise and wholly welcome blockbuster status of A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once—the fact remains that “the movies” are in a state of upheaval and uncertainty. Do massive, mainstream audiences still have taste left in their palates for original adult-skewing films? And if streaming is the future for dramas, comedies, and other “mid-budget” movies, what then is the future of…

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28 Dec

Dead End Changed the Gangster Movie Forever

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William Wyler’s Dead End made its screen debut on Aug. 27, 1937. The film adaptation of Sidney Kingsley’s Broadway play starred Sylvia Sidney and Joel McCrea, and featured Humphrey Bogart in third billing. But the movie was stolen from them all by a gang of upstart juvenile delinquents, who nicked audience attention like a fancy watch mugged off a clueless rich brat.  Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell, Bobby Jordan, Bernard Punsly, and Leo Gorcey were the original teen menaces who terrorized theatergoers when the play opened on Oct. 28, 1935. Directed by the playwright, Dead End ran for 684…

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27 Dec

Glass Onion: Where You’ve Seen Whiskey Actor Madelyn Cline Before

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For those that had the chance to see Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, over the Thanksgiving weekend, you were treated to a funny, twisty tale of murder featuring no less than a murderers’ row of talent. For everyone else, Glass Onion is the Netflix event of the holiday season, complete with a star-studded cast that features a returning Daniel Craig as Southern sleuth Benoit Blanc, as well as Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, and more. The film is a real actor’s showcase for some of Hollywood’s A-list talent, and holding…

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26 Dec

Broker Is a Masterful Korean Drama That Challenges You to the Core

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Among the most difficult tasks a film could possibly tackle, surely “making the audience fall in love with the people who sell babies for cash” would have to be somewhere near the top of the list. It’s easy to feel the ice dripping down the audience’s collective back throughout the early minutes of South Korean film Broker, determined in our collective judgment against these guys. Even as the characters get in the odd joke, Japanese writer-director-editor Hirokazu Kore-eda’s script never lets us forget who and what these people are.  But Kore-eda is a sorcerer of human emotion. Through tender, attentive…

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26 Dec

More Great Whodunit Movies to Watch After Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

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Leave it to Edgar Allan Poe. While many probably associate the mercurial author and poet with horror milestones like “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” he’s also widely credited with inventing the detective story with his 1841 publication, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Since then the genre of detective fiction has spanned untold numbers of short stories, novels, plays, radio shows, TV series, and of course, movies. One of the subsets of detective fiction, the whodunit, remains almost interchangeable with the genre itself and one of its most popular variations. From the…

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26 Dec

Glass Onion Peels Back Myth of Genius Billionaires

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This piece contains spoilers for Glass Onion. From the opening montage of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, we learn that tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) is a genius disruptor because of how many different people tell us so. One of the loudest voices of support is Lionel Toussant (Leslie Odom Jr.), head scientist at Miles’ tech company Alpha and unofficial translator of Miles’ eccentric faxes scrawled with such head-scratching brainstorms as “A.I. and Dogs = Discourse.” Sure, Lionel tells the other Alpha powers that be, most of them are half-baked ideas… “but the crypto kids paid…

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25 Dec

The Hidden Meaning in the Glass Onion Cameos

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This article contains Glass Onion spoilers. Agatha Christie once famously said, “Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend.” Perhaps that’s why in Rian Johnson’s latest whodunit, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the filmmaker has littered the screen with pals. If Benoit Blanc—who is winsomely as ever played by Daniel Craig—is a pursuer of the truth, and the vigilant hound dog chasing hidden murderers wherever they may dwell, surely he is then conscious of the company he keeps? There might even be some murderers in his midst… or at least fellow detectives. Indeed, Johnson and Craig use their second Benoit…

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24 Dec

Glass Onion: Where Else You’ve Seen Knives Out Breakout Janelle Monáe

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a crowd-pleasing, laugh-filled whodunit with a packed ensemble. The Rian Johnson sequel features a returning Daniel Craig as Southern gentleman detective Benoit Blanc, and this time he’s joined by fellow A-listers like Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista, as well as rising stars like Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., and Jessica Henwick. The Netflix film begins streaming just in time for the holidays, but many fans have already watched the mystery unfold during the film’s short theatrical run in November.  The overwhelmingly positive feedback for Glass Onion singled out the heavy-hitting ensemble,…

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24 Dec

The Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Ending Is a Case of Brilliant Simplicity

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This article contains Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery spoilers. Benoit Blanc is not a man to be confused or befuddled. And to be sure, he is not by the final reel of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the second Blanc adventure from writer-director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig. However, the hero is frustrated—infuriated even. Midway through the classic expository reveal where the detective puts all the pieces of the puzzle together during the climax, our fair Benoit slumps his shoulders and places his hands in his pockets. “It’s so dumb,” Benoit sighs. It is then that Kate…

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