Week of « Prev | Next »
1-20 of 45 items « Prev | Next »
Review: 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' plays 'The Race Card' between Cochran & Darden
7 hours ago
A review of tonight's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story coming up just as soon as I show you my autographed photo of Arsenio Hall... One of the smarter things the The People v. O.J. did was to recognize that with this sprawling cast of characters with conflicting interests and agendas, they had to find some way to keep the narrative feeling focused. A few weeks ago, we got an hour that was just about the day of the white Bronco chase. With "The Race Card" (written by Joe Robert Cole and directed by John Singleton), it's an episode primarily about Johnnie Cochran and Christopher Darden's former friendship and the ways each man relates to the La law-enforcement apparatus. The series had already reminded us that Cochran used to work in the Da's office, but that flashback to a younger Johnnie being cuffed in front »
- Alan Sepinwall
Review: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' teams up to find Captain Holt's 'Cheddar'
9 hours ago
A quick review of tonight's Brooklyn Nine-Nine coming up just as soon as I turn all the turtlenecks into regular-necks... "Cheddar" was was a mixed bag from our friends at the Nine-Nine. Adrian Pimento's continued presence on the job doesn't particularly track with what happened at the end of last week's episode, and the jokes about the horrific things he witnessed while undercover still feel tonally out of whack with the rest of the show, but I would have watched a half hour that was just Diaz and Pimento's intense/gross flirting with one another, followed by Terry's justifiably disturbed reactions to it. Holt's confession about problems with Kevin had been telegraphed for most of the episode, but that vulnerable moment was still nicely played by Andre Braugher, and was a good mark of how much the captain's relationship with Holt has evolved. On the whole, though, "Cheddar" was one »
- Alan Sepinwall
Outrage Watch: First look at Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone has fans crying 'blackface'
10 hours ago
Welcome to Outrage Watch, HitFix's semi-regular rundown of entertainment-related kerfuffles. Not feeling anxious enough already? Get your fix of righteous indignation below, and stay posted for outrage updates throughout the week. The surprising news: thought-dead Nina Simone biopic Nina starring Zoe Saldana finally has a release date and an official poster (courtesy of EW). The not surprising news: a lot of people aren't particularly happy about it. First, here's the poster: A little backstory: Nina has been plagued by problems almost from the very beginning. Not only was Saldana's casting criticized early on by musician India.Arie and other fans of the late musician, but in 2014, director Cynthia Mort sued producers for allegedly cutting her out of the decision-making process on the film, claiming in a breach-of-contract lawsuit that Ealing Studios "consistently acted to frustrate" her attempts to maintain control over the project, including cutting her out of the editing process. »
- Chris Eggertsen
'New Girl' has been great with Megan Fox. What happens when Zooey Deschanel returns?
10 hours ago
A few thoughts on tonight's New Girl, and where the show stands before Zooey Deschanel returns next week, coming up just as soon as the chair is moist... If "Heat Wave" had just been Winston in front of the mirror practicing his cop voice... dayenu. The rest of it wasn't the strongest of the Megan Fox episodes, but the show's been really well-balanced, and freer than ever to just be goofy and let funny actors be funny, during this Jess-less stretch. Jess' function on the show over the years evolved into being the closest thing the loft had to a grown-up, and while there's some of that in Reagan, her lack of personal investment in the lives of her temporary roommates means the place has a more anarchic feel overall, which seems to suit what these writers and actors do best. I'll be curious to see if the show uses »
- Alan Sepinwall
'Baskin' is shaping up to be the extreme horror movie of the year
11 hours ago
Look, I won't pretend to know why so many horror fans were disappointed by The Witch, which I loved. Cries that the film was 'overhyped' lead me to assume that it didn't have enough blood, entrails and general shock moments for mainstream gorehounds and jump scare-fanatics, whose tastes clearly don't align with mine. In any event, it looks like they may finally be getting the movie they wanted. Is it possible the imagery seen in the new trailer for Can Evrenol's Baskin (embedded above and below) all comes from the same scene, and that the rest of the movie is a slow-burn bore? Yes! But reviews out of Fantastic Fest suggest otherwise, with We Got This Covered critic Matt Donato calling the film "Turkey's answer to a Rob Zombie movie" while Electric Sheep's Greg Klymkiw praises it as a "dense, scary, hilarious, nastily yummy-slurp world of eventual viscous-dribbling and mega-perversion. »
- Chris Eggertsen
Tina Fey wasn't exactly thrilled with this year's politicized Oscars
13 hours ago
After keeping away from Howard Stern for nearly a decade, Tina Fey returned to the show in December of last year to promote her hit comedy Sisters -- an appearance that included the memorable anecdote that Colin Quinn once called her the "c-word" during their run on SNL together. Today she returned to the show for the second time in less than three months -- this time to promote her upcoming Afghanistan war comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot -- and again provided a solid handful of notable soundbites. Here are a few highlights from her appearance. 1. She had to change up her Sarah Palin impression when she reprised it on SNL earlier this year. "I felt like I had to start over and learn it like a new impression because she's different," said Fey. "She's a little jacked up [now]." To illustrate, Fey referenced Palin's bedazzled endorsement of Donald Trump back in »
- Chris Eggertsen
D.B. Woodside wants to be Green Lantern and why hasn’t this happened yet?
16 hours ago
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is just around the corner. But if everything falls into place, Warner Bros. has a slate of superhero movies planned out until 2020. The last one on that list? Green Lantern Corps. And if you’re going to have a gaggle of Green Lanterns, you’re gonna need someone to play the role of John Stewart. D.B. Woodside knows just the guy…him. Last year at San Diego Comic-Con, Woodside was on hand to talk about his role as Amenadiel on the Fox show Lucifer. But he was trying to send DC Comics subtle message by sporting his Green Lantern graphic tee. Why play an angel when you can play Lantern (or play both)? Woodside recently revisited his dream to play John Stewart in a Lucifer interview by Comic Book Resources. “I grew up as a comic-book guy, so I love these characters.We're living »
- Donna Dickens
Watch Spike Jonze's beautiful, haunting vision of the opening of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'
18 hours ago
Spike Jonze went on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night, and couldn't help but bring some of his creative genius with him. So he re-imagined Colbert's opening, and it's great. It's mostly shot in slow motion for extra poignancy, Jon Batiste and Stay Human do a beautiful new version of the theme, and Sesame Street's Grover appears, because why not? (Fun fact: If you check the YouTube video's comments, you'll find the Sesame Street official account saying "Bravo!") »
- Sara Morrison
Let's Rock! Nickelodeon to Revive Legends of the Hidden Temple as a TV Movie
18 hours ago
You're going to the temple! Ok, maybe not you. But someone is. Nickelodeon has decided to bring back their classic 90s kid's game show, Legends of the Hidden Temple, as a fictional TV movie. And hey, guess what? "Hey Arnold!" is getting revived too. It's true, Variety is reporting Nickelodeon will announce the news as part of their advertising upfronts this week. Legends of the Hidden Temple ran from 1993-1998 on the network and had a rather odd premise as far as game shows were concerned. The game took place in what was meant to be a Mayan temple (and surrounding areas like a giant moat) and teams of kids (one girl, one boy) had to solve both mental and physical challenges in order to progress. Did I mention there was a giant talking Olmec head? The head was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who also did double duty as the announcer, »
- Jill Pantozzi
'Game of Thrones' snuck a bunch of new Season 6 footage into this featurette
18 hours ago
Another day, another set of new images from the new season of Game of Thrones to dissect. Today’s crop comes from an HBO featurette that focuses on the camera operators that help bring the director’s vision to life. Game of Thrones films simultaneously in multiple locations around the globe. As such, the teams are divided into “Dragon Unit” and “Wolf Unit,” which is pretty sweet, to be honest. Warning: Spoilers Ahead, I Guess? The video itself is a fascinating look at how much work goes into getting a single shot framed up and completed in the harsh conditions Game of Thrones films in. Be sure to check it out! Of course, the highlight of the featurette was HBO’s decision to use behind-the-scenes footage from the new season. Not only does it help illustrate the importance of camera operators, but it gives fans a few hints about this year’s storylines. »
- Donna Dickens
One Thing I Love Today: Rick Rubin, Edm, and 'Star Wars' makes a crazy 'Headspace'
18 hours ago
One Thing I Love Today is a daily column dedicated to putting a spotlight on some pop culture item worth your attention. After all, there's enough snark out there. Why not start every day with one quick shotgun blast of positivity? I don't own much in the way of Edm. It's just not my scene. I'm sure you look at me and think, "That's a guy who likes to really lay it down on the dance floor as just one small part of his aggressively physical lifestyle," but somehow, Edm just isn't on my radar. I buy new music often, but really wouldn't play this sort of thing typically while working or driving. So, yes, Hollywood Records and American Recordings, your fiendish plan worked. I picked up a new Edm compilation album executive produced by Rick Rubin entirely because of the thing that unites all of the tracks: Star Wars. »
- Drew McWeeny
Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey will star in Stephen King's 'The Dark Tower'
19 hours ago
Stephen King's The Dark Tower series will finally get its movie adaption -- starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. King confirmed the news today on Twitter: It's official: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. #DarkTowerMovie @McConaughey @IdrisElba — Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 1, 2016 This isn't entirely new news; McConaughey's interest in the Man in Black role was reported back in November, rumors that Elba was in talks for the part of Roland Deschain (or "the gunslinger") surfaced in December. Entertainment Weekly has more about the movie, which has been in development forever and was once imagined as a cross-platform film and television series. Those plans seemed to have been scaled back a bit, with just the one movie currently planned and the possibility of expanding that should it do well. We'll find out just how well it does when it hits theaters on January 13, 2017. »
- Sara Morrison
Christina Hendricks: What Joan from start of 'Mad Men' would tell Joan at the end
19 hours ago
Tomorrow night at 10 marks the debut of Sundance's Hap and Leonard, a period buddy drama based on a series of Joe R. Lansdale novels, and starring James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams as the two title characters: respectively, an ex-con and his gay Vietnam vet best friend. In the late '80s, they live on the bottom rung of life in East Texas, and keep getting caught up in trouble, starting in the TV show with the arrival of Hap's ex-wife Trudy. The adaptation, primarily directed by Jim Mickle and written by Mickle and Nick Damici, has mixed success. Purefoy and Williams have good chemistry together in the Terriers vein, and Leonard couldn't have been better tailored to Williams' slow-burning charisma if Lansdale had somehow gotten a glimpse of The Wire before writing the first book. But Purefoy's always-sketchy American accent goes particularly haywire as he tries to sound Texan, »
- Alan Sepinwall
Samantha Bee takes on abortions, Texas, and old man lawmakers
19 hours ago
Last night's Full Frontal With Samantha Bee featured a segment about abortion regulations in Texas, which have made it increasingly impossible for abortion clinics to exist in the state and shut the vast majority of them down. Bee spoke to people on both sides of the issue: Ilyse Hogue, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, and Rep. Dan Flynn, the state lawmaker who co-authored HB2, the legality of which is being argued in the Scalia-less Supreme Court this week. While neither one came out looking particularly awesome (Hogue seemed naive and slightly clueless at times, though this may have been by design for joke purposes), Flynn got the buffoon-on-the-wrong-side-of-a-subtly-angry-correspondent treatment we've seen Bee do so well on The Daily Show. It was equal parts funny, glorious, and maddening, as are all of her best segments. It culminates in Hogue, Bee, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Shark, and Wnba head coach Stephanie White »
- Sara Morrison
Review: 'Zootopia' is more rooted in the zeitgeist than typical Disney animation
23 hours ago
One of the most interesting things about Walt Disney Feature Animation is the way it has evolved over the course of its history from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs to today. There are such distinct eras in its development, such major shifts in creative energy, such giant peaks and valleys, that even the worst moments in its history are worth study for animation fans. I wish Disney would embrace their entire history and not just their hits, because there is so much to learn from films like Song Of The South or The Black Cauldron. Right now, though, they have hit a stride that is admirable, and Zootopia is another triumph for the current version of the studio following films like Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and Big Hero 6. First and foremost, Zootopia is a reminder of just how beautiful animated films can be. Holy cow, this thing is almost hallucinatory. »
- Drew McWeeny
Review: 'Better Call Saul' takes a trip to 'Amarillo' on the road to ruin?
29 February 2016 8:00 PM, PST
A review of tonight's Better Call Saul coming up just as soon as I'm jealous of your big bowl of balls... "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. McGill." -Mrs. Strauss Prequels can be like straightjackets, where the writers are so bound by pre-established facts about their characters that there's barely any room to move, or breathe. With Jimmy and Mike, though, we know a whole lot more about how their respective stories ended on Breaking Bad than how they started, which has given Better Call Saul a lot of lattitude in showing how each of them arrived in Albuquerque with the best of intentions before ultimately stumbling down paths that would intersect not only with each other, but eventually with Walter White. This season has slowed that descent, in part because the Saul creative team clearly enjoys writing these versions of the characters, in part because many of them were »
- Alan Sepinwall
Kappa responds to Chris Rock’s Kappa mention in his Oscars opening monologue
29 February 2016 4:50 PM, PST
Chris Rock’s opening monologue at the Oscars ceremony on Sunday took the #OscarsSoWhite controversy head-on. “Everyone wants to know: Is Hollywood racist? Is it burning-cross racist? No. It’s a different kind of racist,” the comedian-actor, hosting the Oscars for the second time, said. “You're damn right Hollywood's racist, but not the racist that you’ve grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like, ‘We like you, Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.’ That’s how Hollywood is.” What do the Kappa ladies think of this? HitFix reached out to a few Kappa sororities to get their thoughts on Rock’s Greek life mention. Kappa Kappa Gamma vice president Elizabeth Bailey sent us this response via email: “We believe it (the reference to Kappa) was used as a generic reference to Greek life. Kappa is a commonly used Greek letter and last night’s reference certainly does »
- Emily Rome
Those better be kryptonite smoke bombs in this new ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ clip
29 February 2016 2:47 PM, PST
We’re in the final push now! Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice arrives in theaters in less than a month. Pre-sale tickets are officially available. Emojis have appeared on Twitter. And Jimmy Kimmel debuted a brand-new clip that features the first moments of the titular icons duking it out. At the end of the clip, a momentarily defeated Batman takes out a device and detonates a smoke bomb. Standard operating procedure for the Dark Knight. Superman looks perplexed by this turn of events before barreling through the smoke to confront Batman. But the vigilante isn’t there! Instead, he’s firing a gun of some sort at the Man of Steel! It’s a great bit of action. But there’s a small hiccup. Why couldn’t Superman — he of both X-Ray and superhuman vision — see through the smoke? One explanation would be the smoke is laced with kryptonite. »
- Donna Dickens
Even 'Star Wars' is still trying to figure out how Starkiller Base works
29 February 2016 1:52 PM, PST
Star Wars had been part of pop culture for over three decades by the time George Lucas gave the reigns to Disney. That’s a long time for the lore to build up. Between the novels, comics, TV specials, and spin-off movies, the Star Wars universe had bloated into a contradictory mess. I was as sad as anyone to see Thrawn and Mara Jade tossed to the side when Disney detonated the Expanded Universe, but it made sense. Star Wars had fractured and trying to stitch it back together would’ve been worse than herding cats. Better to start from scratch. But it only took one tie-in novel to set the chain reaction off all over again. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters last year, Starkiller Base had a lot of people scratching their heads. How did eat the sun’s energy? Wouldn’t that affect the gravity »
- Donna Dickens
All of the reasons the Razzies need to go
29 February 2016 1:43 PM, PST
While most were celebrating The Oscars this weekend, The Razzies were also revealed on Saturday night. It’s the annual “let’s name the worst of the worst in Hollywood" event, but is this a tradition that is best left in the past? Louis Virtel and Roth Cornet list all of the reasons that it's time for the Razzies to go. Take a look in the player above or below and chat with us here or on Twitter. Roth: @RothCornet Louis: @LouisVirtel Editor's note: We previously indicated that The Razzies were revealed on Monday and have made the correction. »
- Roth Cornet
1-20 of 45 items « Prev | Next »