Moana Catches Another Win
You ever had the feeling of déjà vu? You ever had the feeling of—no, wait. Let’s talk about this weekend’s box office tourney, which, truth be told, look spookily like last week’s. Indeed, every movie that made this week’s Top Five was in last week’s countdown, too (though the positions did shuffle a wee bit). […]
Television Tops 2016: Paul Asay’s Year-End Picks
Bacteria and today’s television landscape have a lot in common. Like bacteria, television shows seem to be multiplying at a dizzying rate: Networks and streaming agencies gave viewers 409 scripted shows in the 2015-16 season, more than double the number we saw just six years ago, and even more are on track for this year. […]
A Big Year For Jesus (at the Movies)
Christians sometimes complain, especially this time of year, that Jesus is being taken out of everything. We bemoan the lack of traditional Nativity scenes on public property. We lament when people wish us “happy holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Last year, Starbucks was lambasted for serving up a plain red cup for the holidays instead […]
Culture Clips: What the Famous Think of Fame
Most of us gave thanks last Thursday, acknowledging our many blessings. Many celebrities likely did the same. But Lady Gaga suggested that, for all the fame and success she’s achieved (and is surely thankful for), something’s been lost along the way. “I miss people,” she said on CBS Sunday Morning, breaking down in tears. “I […]
Moana Sails Past Fantastic Beasts
Another long Thanksgiving weekend, another Disney princess atop the box office. Three years ago, Disney’s Frozen climbed to the box office dais during the gobble-gob holiday, collecting a cool $67.4 million over the weekend and $93.6 million spanning the full five-day Thanksgiving span. The latter mark was an all-time record, incidentally, and hinted at the […]
Culture Clips: The Post-Truth Edition
We live in a post-truth world. Or, at least, so says the Oxford English Dictionary. The hallowed caretaker of the King’s English dubbed the phrase “post-truth” as its Word of the Year. It’s not the first time that Oxford’s made a rather unusual pick for its annual word: Last year it ignored words entirely and […]
Fantastic Beasts Find No. 1
After two rather strange weeks in theaters, the box office took a fantastic turn. A fantastic beasty turn, that is. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the hotly anticipated Harry Potter prequel, broke out in a big way in North America, stuffing an estimated $75 million into its curiously expansive marsupial pouch. It wasn’t […]
Arrival and Us: Are We All Speaking the Same Language?
Almost everyone likes Arrival. The $24.1 million worth of people who saw it thought it was just fine. (It gets a “B” from viewers, according to Cinemascore.) Secular critics thought it was fantastic. (It’s got a 93% “freshness” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and plenty of reviewers are calling it one of the best movies of […]
Culture Clips: Hollywood Reacts to the Election
We begin this week where we began last: with the election. Even though President-Elect Donald Trump was a former reality star himself, that doesn’t mean that Hollywood was thrilled with his win. The Los Angeles Times gathered celebrity reactions on Twitter and discovered that while Scott Baio and Kirstie Alley were cool with the results, […]
Doctor Strange Wins Again
It’s autumn, no question. We’re watching football. We’re raking leaves. Some of us may already be basting the Thanksgiving Turducken. But at the movies, it sure looks an awful lot like summer. For the second straight weekend, a Marvel superhero movie—Doctor Strange—stood atop the box office wearing its nifty sentient cape, collecting an estimated $43 […]