Apple’s mythical entertainment business is finally starting to take shape, and that shape is anodyne, family-friendly, and thoroughly non-confrontational.
The new Netflix miniseries Maniac is a wacky, experimental romp through broken psyches, and the most bizarrely entertaining new show of the fall TV season. So it’s no small praise to say that one of the very best parts of the series is Dr. James K. Mantleray, played by actor Justin Theroux.
In one episode late in Netflix’s latest TV series, movie star Emma Stone plays a drunken Elven ranger. In the next episode, movie star Jonah Hill plays a gimlet-drinking dunce named “Snorri” who refers to himself in the third person in a bad Icelandic accent.
This year’s Emmys were mostly a bore: Saturday Night Live comedians Michael Che and Colin Jost predictably bombed as hosts, Game of Thrones won best drama (again), and after all that hoopla over Emmy supremacy, HBO and Netflix ended up tying in wins (though Amazon did surprise with a big night).
The long-awaited trailer for Captain Marvel—Marvel Studios’ first female-led superhero movie—is here. And it’s totally nuts, in the best way possible.
For all the money Netflix spends each year on content (reportedly more than $8 billion) and the vast number of original shows that money helps create (about 700 last time we checked), the most popular streaming service in the world still does not have a best series Emmy. Its two major streaming rivals, Amazon and Hulu, both do.
If you haven’t heard by now, Hollywood is making another movie about the Batman villain Joker. Yes, really. Another one. This time, three-time Oscar nominee and Very Serious actor Joaquin Phoenix will play the classic DC comics bad guy in a film directed by Todd Phillips, best known as the man responsible for The Hangover film trilogy.
The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards are on Monday (Sept. 17) at 8pm US Eastern Time on NBC. Everyone has their favorite TV shows and performers to root for, but there are plenty of other important stories and industry trends worth watching for from your couch.
It’s easy to forget that autumn was once by far the most important time for television. That distinction is now up for debate: From a quality standpoint, it’s hard to argue that spring isn’t a more vital season for TV as networks show off many of their most distinguished series right before the Emmys qualification deadline. And the advent of streaming TV has thrown the entire notion of traditional TV “seasons” in flux, since streaming services—not beholden to linear TV advertising like most networks are—release shows whenever and however they want.
It’s an awards season tradition: The parade of hyperbolic, cringeworthy puns and wordplay in news headlines about each movie released in the crucial last quarter of the year.
NASA has put men on the Moon, traversed the plains of Mars, and snapped a close-up portrait of Pluto. And now it can add another giant feat to its impressive resume: conquering the world of television.
It’s good to be space, isn’t it? Not only does the final frontier get to be utterly indifferent to our daily terrestrial crises, but it’s always got Hollywood fawning over it—this year especially. Next month, Ryan Gosling will slip the surly bonds of Earth in First Man, the Neil Armstrong drama that’s sure to land multiple Oscar nominations. Later this year, we’ll be treated to more space-bound films starring Robert Pattinson and Brad Pitt. And that’s in addition to all the space stuff we watched earlier in 2018, including Star Trek and Lost in Space TV reboots, a Han Solo movie, and…whatever The Cloverfield Paradox was supposed to be.
One of the longest-running franchises in the history of American entertainment is about to get longer.
This all started with a Marco Rubio tweet.
As the summer winds down and you put your beach towels and flip flops back in storage, it’s time to turn the page to autumn, the season of foliage, pumpkins, and, most importantly, prestige cinema.
Hollywood celebrities are sticking up for the people who really make film productions run. A cadre of A-list actors and directors signed a petition calling for the elimination of “an egregious wage gap” for industry professions like script supervisor and art department coordinator, which have historically been dominated by women.
If you hear Bradley Cooper, Jonah Hill, or Paul Dano’s names called in the upcoming film awards season, it may not be for acting. That’s because all three A-list actors are making their directorial debuts this fall, and each of their films are traversing the festival circuit in hopes of mining interest before the Oscars early next year.
Beasts of No Nation and True Detective director Cary Fukunaga has a reputation for being an “uncompromising” talent. He’s hit roadblocks on a number of recent projects, including the popular It remake, which he left after clashing with the studio.
Much of the TV-watching world swore off HBO’s True Detective forever after the crime show’s widely disdained second season. Now one actor is bringing those lapsed fans back. Begrudgingly, nervously—but back, all the same.
Tom Cruise’s long acting career boasts many celebrated roles: “Maverick” in Top Gun, Jerry Maguire in Jerry Maguire, Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible series. Together, they tell the story of an artist extraordinarily committed to his craft, one who knows only one gear and that’s the highest. Tom Cruise is perhaps the last bona fide American movie star left.
Buddhist philosophy says that no one truly dies, that all death leads to rebirth—an endless cycle of life and death, living and dying, booting and rebooting. The Buddha must have been a Veronica Mars fan.
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman has earned raves for its searing depiction of the history of racism in America and one black police officer’s clever mission to combat it. But it’s also provoked at least one prominent critic.
With Netflix’s unending expansion, Amazon’s fixation on finding the next mega hit, and Apple’s emergence on the original content scene, the longtime leader in premium TV, HBO, could use a big year.
The first Hollywood studio film to feature an all-Asian cast in 25 years is now the biggest romantic-comedy box office success in years.
