The Last Jedi is 2017’s Last Word
We’ve put away our tiny hats and paper horns. We’ve stopped pondering what “Auld Lang Syne” means for another year. Yes, we’ve opened the book on a shiny new anum. But while old 2017 may be ready to leave, old Luke Skywalker seems bent on hanging around. Star Wars: The Last Jedi closed out 2017 […]
Pop Culture’s Top 10 Movers and Shakers (2017 Edition)
The outgoing year is often depicted as an old, tired man with a beard down to his knees. But this year, that depiction felt all too true. With all the natural disasters and political unrest and international crises afoot, 2017 probably made us all feel older than we should. Back in the day, many folks […]
Star Wars Takes Two
During a busy holiday weekend, the Force once again reigned supreme. Star Wars: The Last Jedi pocketed an estimated $100.7 million over the four-day weekend (including Christmas Day). (It made $68.5 million in the traditional three-day, Friday-through-Sunday run.) Sure, it’s a hefty drop from last weekend’s superlative figures, but still: $100 million its second week […]
Vodcast: How The Last Jedi Is a Religious Movie
Star Wars has long been a cultural powerhouse, but the saga itself is powered by a strange, supernatural element that undergirds its universe: the Force. The Force, in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s words, “surrounds us and penetrates us” and “binds the galaxy together.” It’s been a central tenant of every Star Wars movie, and the very concept […]
Culture Clips: The Force is Grouchy With This One
Our newsfeeds have been filled with a lot of serious news as of late. And we here at Culture Clips Central have dutifully reported much of it, from sexual harassment scandals to teen depression to accidents caused by Pokémon Go. But today, we want to delve into something really critical: whether the new Star Wars […]
The Last Jedi Takes to Hyperspace
The Bible tells us the last will be first one day. Alas, the last are rarely first on earth these days … unless, of course, we’re talking about The Last Jedi. Star Wars: The Last Jedi made like the Death Star and blasted the competition to smithereens en route to a truly cosmic $220 million […]
Television Tops 2017: Paul Asay’s Year-End Picks
Most of television’s nicknames are severely dated. How can it be called the “tube” when most of our HDTV’s don’t even have tubes anymore? I’ve been known to call it the “small screen” too, even though there’s nothing small about most television screens today. There’s nothing small about the influence of television, either. Experts say […]
Disney Now Owns All the Things
The Walt Disney Company, which already either made or bought most of our childhood memories, apparently wasn’t content. The mammoth Mouse House has now purchased a huge chunk of 21st Century Fox for a mere $52.4 billion. Probably found it at a garage sale or something. The deal hasn’t been officially inked: It’s still subject […]
Coco Creams Competition, Claims Crown (Again)
For the third straight week, Coco proved to be a box-office monster, buzzing to No. 1 and turning its competition inside out. Granted, Coco’s tally didn’t exactly soar to infinity and beyond. Pixar’s latest film made another brave showing, but it only collected an estimated $18.3 million—a pretty low tally for a weekend winner. Still, […]
Coco Tops the Box Office Again
Thanksgiving is long gone. But at the movies, we’re still dealing with leftovers. With Hollywood pivoting toward awards season, no major movies were released wide this week, leaving the box-office field in the domain of long-in-the-tooth holdovers. Indeed, the top five was a complete clone of last week’s. Coco topped the weekend’s box-office tourney, collecting […]