Top Television 2018: Paul Asay and Kristin Smith’s Year-End Picks
Fun fact: About 495 scripted television series were reportedly aired in 2018. If true, that’s a new record—up from the old record of 487 set last year, which in turn was up from the previous record of 455 set the year before. That’s a lot of television. And even for Plugged In’s intrepid television reviewers […]
Is a PG-13 Deadpool Movie a Good Thing?
I’ll be seeing Once Upon a Deadpool today—the new PG-13 version of the very, very, VERRRRRY R-rated Deadpool 2. But already, without having seen a second of the new cut, I’m super conflicted. On one hand, Deadpool (actor Ryan Reynolds under the mask and prosthetics) can be pretty funny, and much of Deadpool 2’s humor […]
Fee, Fi, Ho, Hum: Ralph Wins Again
Hey, there, friend! Glad you stopped by. Bad news, though: You might just as well move on. That’s right, move along. Read our review of Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (which was still in a handful of theaters over the weekend, as well as now streaming online, though Netflix didn’t report its earnings), or […]
Ralph (and Disney) Win Again
The best thing about Thanksgiving? The leftovers. And this weekend, the same could be said of the box office—at least for the movies in question. With just one new release in theaters (and that one not very prominent), the weekend’s box-office derby featured a veritable cornucopia of reheated cinematic holdovers. Indeed, the whole top five […]
Of Turkeys, Technology and Accidental Texts
Many of us likely spent our Thanksgivings with family and friends, passing the mashed potatoes and side-stepping politics as much as humanly possible. But Thanksgiving at Wanda Dench’s house looks a little different. In 2016, 59-year-old Wanda invited her teen grandson and his girlfriend over for Thanksgiving dinner via text. Or, at least, that’s who […]
Ralph Breaks the Box Office
Have a nice Thanksgiving, dear reader? Had your fill of turkey? Asking Santa Claus for roomier sweatpants? Well, my friends, you have company. You’re not the only ones who stuffed yourselves over the Thanksgiving weekend. Take Disney, for instance, which cooked Ralph Breaks the Internet for Thanksgiving film feasters. The sly and sweetish animated flick […]
Culture Clips: Closing the Book on Magazines?
The world will have a few more trees in the future … but fewer magazines. Back in the most ancient of days, when the internet still had its new-tech smell, many predicted that print was on its way out. And while that hasn’t been true across the board (books are doing just fine, thanks much), […]
Grindelwald Grabs Gold
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald stole the box-office championship win this weekend, snatched an estimated $62.2 million in North America. (We won’t blame the movie’s notoriously sticky-pawed Niffler, but its presence couldn’t have hurt.) That’s about $13 million less than its predecessor pitchforked into its own monetary barn, but still certainly enough to keep […]
How Stan Lee Changed the World
As you’ve probably heard by now, Stan Lee died yesterday at the age of 95. Many have eulogized Lee as a “comics legend,” and that’s wholly fair. As a writer, editor, publisher and eventually chairman of Marvel Comics, he created or co-created some of the world’s most famous superheroes and helped redefine the genre itself. […]
The Grinch in a Cinch
In theaters high and theaters low, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch stole the whole show. It earned $66 million, or so they say, The weekend’s top movie, far and away. Bohemian Rhapsody was a wee-distant two, $30.8 mil. was the best it could do. But cry not for Freddy and the rest of the band. Its […]