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, […]
Wolverine Cuts to No. 1
Forget about the lion. This March came in like an old, cranky Wolverine. Logan sliced and diced its way to the top of the box office, taking an estimated $85.3 million cut of the weekend’s pot. It wasn’t the biggest R-rated opening of all time: That record still belongs to fellow Marvel sorta-superhero Deadpool (which […]
Culture Clips: And the Oscar Goes To … No, Wait!
Yep, we’re still talking about the Oscar gaffe. And let’s face it: It was a doozy. Thanks to an envelope mix-up, the world thought for about two minutes that the musical La La Land had won the Academy Awards’ Best Picture honors. Not so: The coming-of-age drama Moonlight was the real winner, and some say […]
Get Out Climbs Into No. 1
We all knew that the box office tourney would be a tight one this week. And it certainly didn’t disappoint. But when all the receipts were counted, The LEGO Batman Movie managed to grapple hook itself to the top of the charts for the third straight weekend. Yes, you heard that right. Despite stiff competition […]
2017 Plugged In Movie Awards: And the Award Goes To …
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after long and arduous deliberation (involving an occasional round of fisticuffs) and painstaking vote counting, it’s time to unveil the winners of our fourth annual Plugged In Movie Awards. Alas, due to budget cuts, we had to cancel our typical star-studded banquet in Hollywood. Perhaps next year. BEST MOVIE FOR KIDS […]
At The Oscars This Year, It’s All About the Women
The Oscars are nearly here. And we all know it wouldn’t be the Oscars without some Oscar-centric controversy. The #OscarsSoWhite hashtag has been replaced, according to some, with #OscarsSoMale. A recent study by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found that of the 109 films released in 2014, women received fewer than 29% of […]