The Paranoid Style in Modern Movie Marketing
Two movies this year, 'Gotti' and 'Gosnell', sought to market themselves by harnassing resentment against critics and other media....
Stephen Silver
After “Bohemian Rhapsody”: Planning the Next Wave of Music Biopics
It's official, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is a box office hit and given Hollywood's never-ending copycat tendencies, that means we're about to get many more music biopics. So let's imagine an alternate world in which music rights are no object, nor is the necessary approval or control of surviving band members, and examine some music biopics that haven't happened yet, but should....
Stop Launching Campaigns Against Movies You Haven’t Seen
Armstrong's story is a naturally cinematic one that had never before been the subject of a standalone movie, so it was somewhat strange that the main story told in the media, leading up to 'First Man's' release was… its supposed lack of American flags....
Celebrating 15 Years of “His Father is the District Attorney!”
If you were a fan of primetime TV, or of Major League Baseball, in the fall of 2003, the phrase "His Father is the District Attorney!" likely carries special meaning for you....
The Case Against Smug Rock Memes
What happens when lifelong rock fans get old? They spread memes. I can’t imagine anything less rock ’n’ roll than complaining on Facebook about the musical tastes of kids these days....
Bill Maher, Al Franken, and all the wrong lessons of #MeToo
It would be much simpler and things would line up far neater if everyone publicly accused of sexual harassment or misconduct was someone we hated or distrusted in the first place. This is the argument Bill Maher seems to be taking with his friend, Al Franken...and it's wrong....
On Nike and Kaepernick, Most of What You Heard Was Wrong
Like with all things Kaepernick, Nike's latest campaign has led to a backlash from those intensely opposed to the quarterback's message. Mostly coalescing around a handful of talking points, and mostly wrong....
Here’s to 40!, to Both Me and “Animal House”
'Animal House', one of the most beloved comedies of the last half century, was released on July 28, 1978. I happened to have been born on the very same day......
How Twin Peaks Gives Us Hope for the Future of Fandom
There is a positive side to fandom. It can bring people together rather than tear them apart. It can foster a legitimate and lasting sense of community, and help make the work itself more enjoyable, rather than less. And there’s one fandom that exemplifies this more than any other: That of 'Twin Peaks.'...
Six reasons why “Billions” is the most enjoyable show on TV
'Billions' began with a very simple premise: Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damien Lewis) is a billionaire financial whiz who runs a hedge fund called Axe Capital and Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) is the U.S. attorney out to put him away. But there’s much much more to it than that. 'Billions' may not be the best show on TV, but it’s certainly the most entertaining....
Trump, Kanye West, and the End of “What About Rappers?”
I’ve got a feeling Kanye’s MAGA period will be looked upon by future music historians as a bizarre, brief interlude in a great artist’s career, but I'm floored by the outpouring of support from the conservative right. But the election of Donald Trump has caused social conservatives to accept a level of in-your-face vulgarity simply unimaginable as recently as a couple of years ago. Once they've taken that leap, having nice things to say about rappers isn't such a big ask....
Hamilton, Crazy-Ex Girlfriend, and the New Golden Age of Musicals
In early April, the "Crazy Ex-Girlfiend Live" tour came to Philadelphia from the stage at the venerable Philly rock venue, The Trocadero, to a crowd of wildly diverse spectators. It demonstrated a cultural phenomenon that’s begun to sneak up lately: Musicals, across multiple media, are booming. And it’s not necessarily the traditional “theater kids” who are driving it....
“Ready Player One” and the Nadir of Hollywood’s Pandering to Nerds
"Ready Player One" may be the latest most egregious manifestation of nerd-pandering to date, but entertainment directed at nerds and geeks, clearly, isn't going anywhere, nor should it. A lot of it, after all, is quite great. I just ask filmmakers, and the studios supporting them, to be more respectful of their audience, and the audience, in turn, to dial back the toxicity....
Is Dan Schneider a #MeToo Story, or a Pizzagate One?
Nickelodeon announced in late March that it was parting ways with Dan Schneider, the producer behind several of its most successful and impactful kids’ shows. Most of the Hollywood trade press’ stories about Schneider’s departure stuck to the story of them parting ways to pursue other opportunities, but the long running rumors of sexual abuse have intensified as of late, and against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement there's been much speculation that Schneider would be the next domino to fall....
Don’t expect many answers from the Sopranos movie
Sure, there are reasons to be skeptical about the Sopranos revival. The flashback episodes of The Sopranos were never among the show’s better episodes, and the time period change alone indicates that however great it is, the movie won’t be the Sopranos that we remember. Even so, David Chase has been missed, and I can’t wait to see what he does with this project. Just don’t expect it to give you the Sopranos answers you never got from the show the first go-around....
The return of blaming Hollywood for real world violence
This year’s usual Oscars reaction followed another, more old-school right-wing freakout over entertainment. When the Parkland high school massacre led to more of an anti-gun cultural groundswell than such tragedies typically have, those on the other side of the issue turned to a typical alternate scapegoat: Hollywood, and video games....
After Black Panther, is it right to steer promising young directors to huge franchise films?
It’s very clear, from the artistic and financial success of Black Panther, that Ryan Coogler was the right director for Black Panther, and that Black Panther was the right film for him to make at this stage of his career. However, that’s not always the case when it comes to talented young directors who are brought into high-profile franchise filmmaking....
Beyond I, Tonya: 7 more revisionist sports biopics we’d love to see
I, Tonya, which won a Golden Globe for supporting actress Allison Janney and since notched acting Oscar nominations for both Janney and Margot Robbie, has shown that there’s an appetite out there for nontraditional sports biopics, telling versions of stories that you thought you knew well, but telling them from a surprising or counter-intuitive angle....
The Last Jedi Wars: The Generational Fight Over the Meaning of Star Wars
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the latest installment in the Star Wars saga, has now been in theaters for almost a month and while it's been a critical and commercial success, it's been extremely divisive amongst fans. But what Star Wars “feels like” is different to many different generations of people. Yes, it takes risks, and yes it takes Star Wars in new directions, but that’s the best thing about it....
Why the return of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ was a big letdown
When Larry David announced in the summer of 2016 that Curb Your Enthusiasm would return for its first season on HBO since 2011, it was cause for rejoicing for fans of the groundbreaking comedy. But for a number of reasons the new season felt like a sitcom in its final throes and past its prime, like the subpar later years of How I Met Your Mother or The League....
The documentaries of 2017: When the best laid plans go beautifully awry
Oftentimes the best documentaries to come out turn out radically different than what was originally envisioned. That's the beauty of the art form and 2017 was a year of uncommon depth featuring many great docs that evolved over the course of filming such as Icarus, Risk, Get Me Roger Stone, and many more....
The ‘Chappaquiddick’ Film Couldn’t Be More Timely – So Why the Delay?
The Chappaquiddick movie is remarkably timely - so why is it being delayed until the spring of 2018? The Academy loves to send a message - what better way, in the year of Harvey Weinstein, than to award a film about a powerful man who got away with a horrible crime against a woman?...
Star Wars and Disney, five years later
Looking back at the first five years of the marriage between Disney and Star Wars reveals a largely positive coupling. Not every move or decision they've made concerning the franchise has been universally loved and there's always the concern of oversaturation, but at any rate, the return of Star Wars has been welcome, and not only because there isn’t a Jar Jar Binks in sight. It’s just plain better to have Star Wars in our lives than not....
The Meyerowitz Stories: Noah Baumbach’s career summation
Noah Baumbach’s new film, The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Selected, which debuted last week on Netflix and in selected theaters, represents something of a summation of the director’s career up to this point; touching on most of the subjects and themes Baumbach has been dealing with in his work for more than 20 years....
