Life … Rated
On NBC’s new dramedy This Is Us (which we reviewed this week), parents Rebecca and Jack are going through a difficult spot. They’re trying to raise a trio of 8-year-olds, but Rebecca feels like they’re not doing enough as parents. “I think we’re at a 6,” she tells Jack. “On a sliding scale of 1 […]
Girl on a Train Chugs to No. 1
Welp, there goes the neighborhood. Just one week after Miss Peregrine found a nice home at No. 1 for herself and her strange little waifs, a train with a girl on it set down its own tracks, raced to the top of the box office and got ol’ Miss P. evicted. The Girl on the […]
Miss Peregrine Makes a Home at No. 1
Miss Peregrine and her odd assortment of children found a peculiar new home this weekend: at the top of the box office. Real estate agents will tell you that a good property buy is all about location, location, location, and Miss Peregrine’s place has a view to practically turn into a bird for. From this […]
Don’t Drill Holes Into Your New iPhone
Apple’s latest iPhone models, the 7 and 7 Plus, were released earlier this month to slightly subdued delirium. Oh, make no mistake: The new gen phone was considered an improvement over the old, what with its longer battery life and better camera and its water resistancy (something I could’ve used two generations earlier when I […]
Magnificent Seven Shoots to the Top
A team of fast-talking, sharp-shooting cowboys thundered into dusty, tumbleweed-filled multiplexes across the country—sidling up to the concession stand, demanding popcorn with extra butter and galloping into the sunset with a collective $35 million, according to studio estimates. No one expected less of The Magnificent Seven, a big-budget Western remake headed by the likes of […]
What Does it Mean to Be Christian … and an Actor?
The Magnificent Seven lands in theaters today, starring Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington and burgeoning superstar Chris Pratt. Next week, another box-office megastar, Mark Wahlberg, will unveil his latest action flick, Deepwater Horizon. All three actors, incidentally, are Christians. “Put God first in everything you do,” Washington recently told the graduating class of Dillard University, a […]
Sully Soars Again
Neither birds nor Blair Witch nor Bridget Jones’s Baby could sink Sully. The mustachioed captain and his movie stayed aloft above the box office for the second straight weekend. Not too shabby, considering Sully’s real Miracle on the Hudson flight—from bird strike to touchdown—just lasted 208 seconds. And the crown was never in question. Banking […]
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Audience
Moviegoers gave The Birth of a Nation a standing ovation when it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 9, even as its director, Nate Parker, continues to weather controversy over whether he raped a young woman 17 years ago when he was in college. He was acquitted in the case, but questions […]
Sully Lands at No. 1
Are you a movie producer? Want to make a hit movie? Hire Tom Hanks and force him to take a really terrible trip. In Castaway, Hanks’ FedEx plane crashes and leaves him stranded on a deserted island. It earned $233.6 million. Apollo 13 had Hanks almost die during a trip to the moon: $173.8 million. […]
We Want to Help People Think Critically.’ PI’s Adam Holz Talks With MTV
At Plugged In, we talk about culture a lot. We review entertainment. We write these little blogs. We blather on in the occasional vodcast. But it’s a little more rare that we get an opportunity to speak directly to that culture. To chat with some folks who are most directly influenced by the very entertainment […]