Dear Star Wars: Happy Birthday! Sincerely, the Future You Created.
When I was just a wee lad wearing bell-bottoms back in 1977, I bounded into a tiny movie theater in New Mexico to watch a little film called Star Wars. And my 8-year-old mind was blown. I didn’t see it on opening day—May 25, 1977, exactly 40 years ago today. The film (now known to […]
Culture Clips: We’re Consuming More, More Media
Pssst! Hey, you. Yes, that’s right—you there, the one staring at me on that screen of yours. Just what do you think you’re doing? Well, I’ll tell you: You’re consuming media, that’s what. Right at this very second. And you’re hardly alone. According to a study by eMarketer, the average adult spends more than 12 […]
Alien Invades No. 1
The Guardians of the Galaxy have taken on some pretty tough hombres. They’ve conquered interdimensional beasties and egomaniacal warlords, gold-skinned warriors and really cranky relatives. But one alien has their number—for this weekend, at least. In a tight battle for supremacy, Alien: Covenant squeaked by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to face-hug the weekend’s […]
Culture Clips: A TV Wasteland?
You wouldn’t necessarily know it here in Colorado, but we’re creeping up on summer, a time when lots of scripted television shows go into hibernation and the networks roll out their cheesiest reality shows. Who’s up for Who Wants to Be a Battlebots Bachelor? Anyone? But before America’s TV execs dozed off for the season, […]
Give Us Our Uncomplicated Heroes, Hollywood!
Yesterday, I wrote about the spectacular implosion of King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Director Guy Ritchie was given $175 million to make a blockbuster for Warner Bros., and he did his best, saturating the screen with jarring camerawork; skyscraper-sized elephants; and a smirking, cynical tone. It was as hip and as self-aware as a […]
Guardians Flies, Arthur Sinks Like a Stone
Well, that didn’t take long. Summer starts early in Hollywood—the first week of May, generally. That’s when movie studios start pushing what they hope to be their biggest, best, most lucrative productions, when theaters are saturated with superheroes, Transformers and pirates. But not every summertime flick succeeds. The season is just two weeks old, but […]
Ginormous Win for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
It wasn’t even close. OK, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 found a wormhole to the top of the box office. Everyone knew that Chris Pratt’s newest flick was going to be big. But the fact that they made every other movie look like a space-cruising Yugo operating […]
“… In Sickness and In Health, Even When the Batteries Expire in the Clicker …”
Want to find a faithful soulmate? Check and see if they watch HGTV. Hey, I’m not the one saying that. As a Plugged In reviewer, I’m more likely to tell you to throw holy water at your television than, y’know, counsel you to actually watch the thing. But Cassie Murdoch at Mashable insists that there’s […]
Fate Flies To Third First-place Finish
The box office collectively throttled back a bit this weekend, with no film earning more than $20 million. But even so, the movie industry is still clearly running on diesel. Vin Diesel, that is. The Fate of the Furious collected its third straight weekend win, scraping $19.4 million off the asphalt along the way. The […]
Culture Clips: The Most Dangerous TV Show?
Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why is nearly a month old, but you wouldn’t know it from the buzz. The teen drama triggered more than 11 million tweets during its first three weeks of release, making it 2017’s most tweeted-about show. But while 13 Reasons has been pretty popular with the 18-and-under set, don’t count everyone as […]