Theater Reviews: The Stage Dive Weekend Roundup

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1785 words  |  Zora Stowers

Helen & Edgar “Mother used to always say to us, ‘Savannah is a trap. It’ll try to imprison you; even if you manage to get away, it’ll find a way to drag you back.’” The voice delivering these words and the story that follows is one of the most unique and sorcerous you’re likely to hear in this world: Imagine olde English chanted by Charles Laughton, pumped through molten rock, extruded with a taffy-puller, and translated imperfectly back into contemporese. [Read More]

Theres Actually a Decent Album Hidden in Chris Browns Bewildering Heartbreak on a Full Moon

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1414 words  |  Janel Helmers

Chris Brown’s Welcome to My Life is one of the strangest music documentaries I’ve ever seen. It’s star-studded but sort of sketchy. Brown is compared to Michael Jackson several times in the first 20 minutes by everyone from DJ Khaled to Mary J. Blige to members of his own family. His lawyer Mark Geragos, who led Jackson’s defense team for a time during his molestation trial, is ever-present. [Read More]

This Is Where I Leave You Trailer: Family Ties

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  106 words  |  Elina Uphoff

Here’s your first look at Shawn Levy’s This Is Where I Leave You, a family dramedy based on Jonathan Tropper’s 2009 novel. (Tropper also adapted the screenplay.) Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Corey Stoll star as adult siblings who return home after their father’s death; Jane Fonda plays their mother, and Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Ben Schwartz, Abigail Spencer, Kathryn Hahn, and Rose Byrne fill out the supporting cast. [Read More]

This Might Be the Strangest Movie of the Year

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  744 words  |  Janel Helmers

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken On its surface, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is like any number of other films we’ve already seen: An awkward teenager tries to fit in, winds up humiliated, but then discovers that they’re special in their own way. With a variation here or there, the template can accommodate everything from She’s All That to Cinderella to Spider-Man to Carrie. In the case of this movie, however, like the title says, our nerdy, lovesick 15-year-old heroine (voiced by Lana Condor) isn’t just wondering whom she can ask out to prom or if the popular new girl at school will befriend her or why her parents are so strict with her. [Read More]

This NSFW Family Feud Answer Nearly Killed Steve Harvey

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  243 words  |  Zora Stowers

Bruce came to play. Is Hamilton the only family-friendly programming that exists these days? Host Steve Harvey’s Celebrity Family Feud went to the dogs this Sunday, after former NFL player Bruce Smith went with an admittedly hilarious NSFW answer on the game show. The Hall of Fame defensive end was asked “If Captain Hook was moonlighting as a handyman, he might replace his hook with what tool?” His first answer, “hammer,” was taken, so Smith’s mind immediately went to the next tool he could think of, Standards and Practices be damned: “A penis. [Read More]

This Week in Comedy Podcasts: B.J. Novak Visits Nerdist and Dana Gould Stops By How Was You

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1490 words  |  Sherie Connelly

The comedy podcast universe is ever expanding, not unlike the universe universe. We’re here to make it a bit smaller, a bit more manageable. There are a lot of great shows and each has a lot of great episodes, so we want to highlight the exceptional, the noteworthy. Each week our crack team of podcast enthusiasts and specialists and especially enthusiastic people will pick their favorites. Also, we’ll keep you posted on the offerings from our very own podcast network. [Read More]

Thumbelina Is the Showgirls of 90s Cartoon-Princess Movies

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1341 words  |  Zora Stowers

Cartoon heroines from the 1990s have ascended to icon status thanks to their digestible feminist messages, the millennial nostalgia factor, and, let’s face it, their instantly recognizable looks. There’s Belle lamenting that “there must be more than this provincial life,” Ariel wanting to be “part of that world,” Esmeralda praying “God help the outcasts,” Pocahontas chiding John Smith that “you think you own whatever land you land on,” the pixie Chrysta single-handedly saving her Australian forest, and Princess Odette offering children a not too edulcorated version of Swan Lake. [Read More]

Tim Burton Has a Strange, Brady BunchRelated Explanation for Why Miss Peregrines Is So White

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  376 words  |  Zora Stowers

Tim Burton. Tim Burton’s latest film, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, is based on the novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs about British children in a mysterious orphanage. Like all of Burton’s movies, it has very a white cast, with the exception of Samuel L. Jackson, who plays a villain. When asked about the lack of diversity in Miss Peregrine’s and in his films in general, Burton gave this very peculiar explanation to Bustle: [Read More]

Titus Welliver on Playing the Eponymous Bosch and Why He Avoids Network Dramas

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1330 words  |  Zora Stowers

Titus Welliver isn’t feeling well today. “I caught [a cold] from my 13-year-old son,” he croaks. “I can’t stop hugging and kissing my children all the time, so I’m always getting their colds.” It’s a testament to the 53-year-old’s acting ability that he so convincingly plays the opposite of touchy-feely on gritty shows like Sons of Anarchy, Deadwood, and now Bosch. In Amazon’s new drama, based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling crime novels, Welliver stars as Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch, an LAPD detective with a dark past (his prostitute mother was murdered, leaving him to live in a Dickensian orphanage) and a pretty grim present. [Read More]

To Whom Does Ariana Grandes 7 Rings Owe Its Sound?

 Posted on June 12, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1653 words  |  Sherie Connelly

Ariana Grande’s Sweetener is less than six months old, but Thank U, Next, the announced title of her fifth studio album, is already on the books. Ari is moving into her next era, or eschewing the old-school sensibilities of eras altogether — not unlike other pop juggernauts such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Lorde. “I don’t want to conform to the pop star agenda,” she told Billboard early last month, expressing her longing for something much, much simpler. [Read More]