Fate Furiously Foisted to First
A herd of cinematic newcomers stampeded into theaters this weekend, hoping to rumble their way into moviegoers hearts. Alas for them, said moviegoers were conspicuously unmoved by all this new cinematic sound and fury and decided to watch The Fate of the Furious again. For the second straight week, Furious punched the gas and roared […]
Culture Clips: The Fate of the Free World (and Vin Diesel) Edition
We have so much serious stuff to get to in our latest edition of Culture Clips. But before we get too grim, let me share with you my reaction to The Fate of the Furious’ mammoth $532.5 million worldwide take on Monday. “Wha??!” Turns out, though, I’m just an old curmudgeon. The Washington Post suggests […]
The Fate of the Furious Roars to Big Win
A race? Hardly. The box office derby was more like a coronation. The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the preposterously durable Fast and the Furious franchise, roared to victory this weekend, while every other movie just jumped to the curb. All lights were green for Fate—treasury green, that is. The high-octane flick […]
Despite Downsizing, Boss Baby Wins Again
Hey, we all know it’s tough to make a buck these days. Competition is tougher than it’s ever been, and many of the rules of business have been upended by the digital, information economy. But if you’ve got a strong leader, you can still succeed in the cut-throat marketplace … even if that leader still […]
Boss Baby Takes Charge
In a bodacious opening bow, The Boss Baby bypassed the behemouth Beauty and the Beast in a burly battle and banked a big box office blue ribbon. Booyah! It wasn’t supposed to be like this, according to the prognosticators. Beauty and the Beast had dominated the box office like no other 2017 movie had, and […]
Beauty and the Beast Settles In at No. 1
What did the No. 1 slot at the box office tell Disney’s Beauty and the Beast? Be our guest. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast scored the biggest March opening of all time, banking $170 million this weekend, according to Disney’s own estimates. Oh, and rumor has it that those estimates might actually be a little […]
Vodcast: Navigating Beauty and the Beast
Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast has a lot going for it, at least on paper: It’s a new, updated version of a beloved classic. It stars the effervescent Emma Watson. And it’s rated PG. Families will flock to the thing, right? And in truth, a lot of them will. But many Christian parents aren’t […]
Culture Clips: The Vexing Conundrum of Social Media
Ah, social media. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. Seems like there’s a bit of truth in that old, unfunny saying I just co-opted and twisted for my own Culture Clips purposes. Researchers are talking a lot these days about how Instagram, Facebook and the like can negatively impact our lives. But scientists […]
Sorry, WikiLeaks. The CIA Doesn’t Need Our TVs to Get to Know Us
The CIA can spy on us through our televisions and phones. At least that’s what a huge cache of leaked documents recently published on WikiLeaks alleges. That’s right: While there’s no evidence they’re using these tools on us, the CIA apparently has the means to surveil what we say and do at any given moment. […]
Kong King of the Box Office
Hollywood’s largest primate didn’t monkey around this weekend. Kong: Skull Island stomped, smashed and roared its way to the top of the box office heap, rumbling past all comers and putting its bloody handprint on the weekend’s championship. The silverback banked an estimated 61 million greenbacks en route to the win, proving that moviedom’s most enduring, […]