It’s taken three decades, relentless pressure from the hardcore fan community, and a box-office phenomenon known as the “Keanuassaince,” but Bill and Ted, the time-traveling heavy-metal enthusiasts who embarked on their first excellent adventure as high schoolers in 1989, are finally returning to theaters this summer. When we last saw …
Read More »Why We Need 'Hamilton' Now More Than Ever
There are works of art that feel borne of, and largely meant for, a particular moment in history. They can play well later if they’re good enough, but they’ll still feel like an artifact from the time in which they were conceived. Once upon a time, Hamilton might have seemed …
Read More »Vampires, Cops, and Aliens: More Staff Picks for Quarantine Viewing
Welcome to week eleventy-seven of sheltering at home! Perhaps by now you’ve taken up macramé, or teaching yourself Latin, or, ew, yoga. Us, we’re still watching all the TV. And at this point, our choices seem to be falling into one of three categories: hot-off-the-presses new series; classic, all-time-great shows …
Read More »5 Burning Questions About the 'Better Call Saul' Season 5 Finale — Answered
Ask most fans of Better Call Saul about the show’s fifth season, which concludes tonight, and they’ll not only tell you that it is the AMC drama’s best to date, but also that this was the year they began seriously grappling with the question of whether the Breaking Bad prequel …
Read More »Meet Quibi, the Short-Form Streaming Network No One Needs Right Now
The dustbin of corporate history is littered with product launches that failed due to bad timing — innovations that either came along too soon (the Apple Newton), or alongside a similar one that more successfully captured the public imagination (Betamax losing out to VHS). And, of course, there are plenty …
Read More »Why Zoë Kravitz Wanted to Reinvent 'High Fidelity' for a New Generation
This past Valentine’s Day, Hulu debuted its original series High Fidelity, a reimagining of the 1995 Nick Hornby novel and 2000 John Cusack comedy. High Fidelity follows the life of a romantically frustrated record-store owner Rob (Zoë Kravitz) who revisits a few past lovers — what she refers to as …
Read More »Best Movies to See in Oct.: 'Joker,' 'Jojo Rabbit', Springsteen Live
When you think October, you think Halloween — which means you think horror and, hopefully, a black-and-white thriller involving drunk sea captains, mermaid genitals and Robert Pattinson. But not all of the good stuff this month doesn’t involve blood spatter or jump scares: Spanish and Korean award-winners from high-prestige European …
Read More »Inside 'Crisis on Infinite Earths,' CW's Mind-Bending DC Crossover Event
By the mid-Eighties, the powers that be at DC Comics felt that their fictional multiverse had become too complicated for its own good. Characters like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all existed on parallel Earths, in multiple iterations. The multiverse, DC decided, had to become a single universe, with only …
Read More »The 'Good Place' Cast Tells All
Back in the summer, I spent two days on the set of The Good Place, chatting with the cast and crew about saying goodbye to the wonderfully weird and thoughtful NBC metaphysical comedy. My interviews with the show’s six regular actors — Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, D’Arcy Carden, William Jackson …
Read More »Best TV/Movies to Stream in July: 'Stranger Things 3,' 'Veronica Mars' 3.0
So what can you enjoy from the temperature-controlled sanctuary of the living room? Streaming-service subscribers who can’t take the heat (literally) can check out a cult sensation’s (second) second coming, a revival of a rom-com classic and a violent elbow to superhero TVs ribs. Plus Netflix trots out one of …
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