The Plugged In Show, Episode 46: Examining The Social Dilemma and Our Interaction with Social Media
Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Most of us use at least one social media service, and we know that they’re not altogether perfect. But as Adam Holz pointed out on a blog this week, Netflix’s The Social Dilemma shows an even uglier social media underbelly—one that we may not be fully aware of. This week, our crack […]
Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Series Might be Taking the Wrong Lessons from Game of Thrones
Middle Earth has plenty of room for dwarves and elves, orcs and hobbits. But it is no place for an intimacy coordinator.
Bond Shakes the Entertainment Industry (Again)
Britain’s durable super spy is taking his latest adventure, No Time to Die, all the way to April 2021. That’s the fifth time the movie has been postponed—and the second delay due to the coronavirus.
The Plugged In Show, Episode 44: Cancel Culture and Its Impact on Our Society
When a celebrity does something bad, should we throw out the “good” stuff they’ve done? That’s the core question behind the “cancel culture” controversy, but it comes with plenty of others. How much should it matter how badly they behaved? How “good” their contributions to entertainment have been? Should we be more willing to forgive […]
Yes, the Emmys Were a Literal Trash Fire
During Sept. 20’s surreal, socially distanced Primetime Emmy Awards, Jennifer Aniston tried to douse a flaming envelope on stage with a fire extinguisher. It did not quite go as planned. It was, in a way, a fitting metaphor for what this Emmys telecast represented. For anyone hoping for the Emmys to honor a great […]
Digitally Dodging Schoolwork
We all know—and many parents know all too well—that school’s back in session. But this fall is unlike any we’ve seen in our lifetime, and parents, teachers and students alike are dealing with some all-new challenges. So-called Zoombombers (people who hijack Zoom meetings and sometimes flood it with unwanted images or dialogue) are still at […]
The Plugged In Show, Episode 42: The Coronavirus’s Legacy for Families’ Entertainment and Technology Habits
Back in March, many of us hoped that the coronavirus would be a blip on our personal landscapes. We assumed that with a few weeks of high-intensity safeguards, the COVID-19 virus would slink away, like a vampire at sunrise. Alas, the virus has not been cooperative. Measures we thought might last just a short time […]
The Plugged In Show, Episode 41: Entertainment’s Sexualization of Young Girls
Just from the name, Netflix’s Cuties would sound like it’d be … cute, right? Cute is what we call babies. Puppies. Maybe the occasional small orange. But Cuties, a French coming-of-age film about an 11-year-old girl who joins a preteen dance troupe, stirred a not-so-cute controversy well ahead of its Sept. 9 Netflix airdate. The […]
Bill and Ted Face the New Mutants
Sure, the movie biz isn’t quite as lively as it used to be. But as movie theaters slowly pry their doors back open, the cinematic box office is showing signs of a pulse. The New Mutants, a kinda-sorta X-Men flick that feels, frankly, more like a horror movie, scored the highest box-office take in the […]
Are You Ready to Go Back To the Movies?
Don’t look now, but that dusty, deserted, possibly haunted multiplex near you may be getting set to open again. According to Entertainment Weekly, AMC is still on target to open about 100 of its theaters this week. Regal hopes to do so, as well. Comscore—the firm that tracks box-office numbers—is planning to resume its work […]