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Hear us now: If you have not watched the first episode of House of Cards’ second season, then you must not open this post. You cannot open this post. There are spoilers in this post. Repeat: spoilers ahead. But yes, okay, if you have watched the first episode, then you will want to see this moment on loop forever: That happened! Zoe Barnes is dead, not 30 minutes into the second season, because she uncovered the truth about his plot to set up (then murder) Peter Russo. [Read More]

Supercalifragilisticexpiunrecognizable. Those lips! That nose! That half of an ear! Who else could it be? Disney, via Entertainment Weekly, has released a first look at Mary Poppins Returns, a sequel to the 1964 musical which stars … hmmmm, let’s just check our notes to be sure … Emily Blunt as the titular magical nanny. The cast also includes the supremely British Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw as the now-grown-up Banks children, Jane and Michael, alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda as a lamplighter, Angela Lansbury as a balloon vendor, Meryl Streep as Mary’s cousin, plus Colin Firth, Julie Walters, and more. [Read More]

So you were in fourth or fifth grade when you had to read The Giver — that book with a gnarly, bearded old guy and a bright-gold medal slapped on the cover. It looked important. The story was about a boy named Jonas living in what seemed like the perfect world where there was no hunger, war, or poverty, who then slowly realizes that it’s one deprived of choice, spontaneity, and most memorably, color. [Read More]

His Dark Materials The Break Season 3 Episode 2 Editor’s Rating 3 stars *** «Previous Next» « PreviousEpisode NextEpisode » His Dark Materials The Break Season 3 Episode 2 Editor’s Rating 3 stars *** «Previous Next» « PreviousEpisode NextEpisode » Last season’s finale recap was dedicated to the question of ends and means. We picked apart the motives of Lord Asriel, his limitless hubris, and whether his inability to exercise basic compassion or empathy for even his own daughter is a red flag when it comes to the justifiability of his holy war (verdict: 🚩🚩🚩). [Read More]

Game of Thrones ended its epic eight-season run three years ago as the most-watched show in HBO history, an unlikely outcome given how it started back in April 2011. While network suits always had confidence in the show’s long-term prospects — hence the massive investment in production and marketing —they were also fairly certain it would not be setting any records out of the gate. In fact, they weren’t even thinking it would be their biggest hit of the season. [Read More]

Season two of House of the Dragon is basically Alicent Hightower asking, “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this princess here fell out?! It’s kinda long but full of suspense.” And according to Variety, 7.8 million viewers globally said “Yes.” The season-two premiere of HOTD had fewer viewers than its season-one debut but still managed to give Max its best streaming day overall. Which is especially good for such a child-murder-heavy plot. [Read More]

The old Bevers had a bangin’ bod. Spoilers ahead for the Broad City season-four premiere. The premiere of Broad City’s fourth season shows the genesis of Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana’s (Ilana Glazer) friendship way back in 2011. The most insane thing about the time jump wasn’t the serial ponytail clipper or Ilana dating her gay future roommate Jaimé. It’s realizing that, at one point in time, Abbi’s roommate’s boyfriend Bevers (John Gemberling) was more shredded than all the kale at Sweetgreen. [Read More]

When the team at Color Force, a production company that has partnered with FX on several series, reached out to Gina Welch about making a series focused on the downfall of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, she wasn’t sure why they thought of her. “I had not been a big basketball fan,” the writer and producer admits. But she had written for other FX series based on true stories, including Feud: Bette and Joan and Under the Banner of Heaven. [Read More]

The Gold Rush Brought to you by The Gold Rush Brought to you by This is not Erin Brockovich. When Oscar nominations are announced on January 13, Dark Waters will almost certainly receive none of them. The movie skipped the major fall festivals and passed through theaters as undetected as a cloudy water sample through the hands of a Trump EPA official. But on paper, the omission doesn’t make much sense. [Read More]

Guillermo del Toro. It felt for the longest time like a wide-open Best Picture race, but in the end, Guillermo del Toro’s whiz-bang fish-bang fantasy The Shape of Water took home the Oscars’ top prize, beating strong competitors like Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. After an auspicious early-film debut at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the coveted Golden Lion, del Toro’s film ran a slow and steady race through awards season: The Shape of Water picked up scattered, significant prizes here and there — wins at the Directors Guild and Producers Guild were crucial — but compared to other, buzzier contenders like Lady Bird and Call Me by Your Name, this retro romance took a mostly under-the-radar path to worldwide box-office riches and, ultimately, the Academy’s top prize. [Read More]