Plugged In Movie Awards 2020: Best Movies for Adults
We’ve hit the third day of our four-day swing through our Plugged In Movie Awards nominations, and we’ve come to the category that engenders the most passionate discussion amongst Plugged In staff members. It is, in many respects, the hardest and the most fun category to fill. Why? Elementary, my dear reader. In choosing movies […]
Plugged In Movie Awards 2020: Best Movies for Teens
Plugged In began its annual unveiling of what it considers to be the year’s best movies yesterday. We continue today with another set of five nominees—this one for the Best Movies for Teens. This is always an interesting category, because by default, many of the year’s biggest blockbusters fall into this category. Last year, Spider-Man: […]
Plugged In Movie Awards 2020: Best Movies for Kids
Every year around this time, the entertainment industry tells us all about its “best” movies. Secular critics roll out their top 10 lists. Actors and producers and screenwriters toss out awards by the bushel. And, of course, the Oscars are already vacuuming its red carpet and polishing all its little statues in preparation for its […]
Culture Clips: Oscar the Grouch
It’s hard to drive anywhere in Hollywood this time of year without plowing into another stack of awards. Honorary hardware practically falls from the sky in January. But all of those awards and honors culminate in the biggest awards show of all: the Oscars. Nominations for said awards were unveiled Monday morning. If you’re interested […]
The Rise of Skywalker Falls to 1917
The Great War upended Star Wars at the box office this weekend, with newly minted Best Picture contender 1917 planting its flag for a convincing win. 1917, which earlier today nabbed 10 Oscar nominations from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, has been technically out for a while, playing in 11 theaters for […]
What the Ever-Changing Dracula Tells Us About Society and Ourselves
Some things never change, they say. But some things do. Take Count Dracula, for instance—not the historical Vlad III of Wallachia, of course, but the vampire of Bram Stoker’s imagination. His literary legend, through book and movie and television show and videogame, has been pretty constant in two respects: One, he’s technically dead. Two, he […]
Rise of Skywalker Wins Third Straight Weekend
In Star Wars lore, it seems, the Empire (and all its offshoots) and the Republic (and all its offshoots) swap the galactic cat seat with disturbing regularity. That’s got to be a little frustrating for the ruling parties. Why, presidents and emperors barely order their office curtains before someone comes in, picks them up and […]
Culture Clips: Fascism … on the Hallmark Channel?
It’s officially 2020, folks, and we all have our own hopes and dreams for what the new year might hold. But some of us have radically different hopes and dreams. For instance, I know that some folks may dream of watching Hallmark Christmas movies all year long. But Salon political writer Amanda Marcotte hopes that […]
Little Women Make Big Impact, But No Match for Rise of Skywalker
Like an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker glided unscathed to the top of the box office again, claiming an estimated 72 million galactic credi—er, dollars. While The Rise of Skywalker did see a sizable dip in its collections (losing nearly 60% of its weekend-over-weekend audience), it still doubled the take of […]
Pop Culture’s Top 10 Movers and Shakers (2019 Edition)
The year 2019 was a year of goodbyes. We said farewell to sitcoms (The Big Bang Theory) and television serials (Orange is the New Black); rappers (Juice WRLD) and Disney stars (Cameron Boyce); writers (Toni Morrison) and superheroes (no spoilers here) and even a Grouch (as in Oscar and the voice that brought him to […]