Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
There’s a treat in store for anyone who takes a perverse pleasure in seeing truly terrible films, because Hollywood’s latest video-game adaptation, Assassin’s Creed, is a Christmas turkey with all the trimmings. That may not seem too surprising, given that most films based on video games are awful, but this one isn’t a shoddy cash-in,…
IN LATE 1994, LUCASFILM HELD A SERIES OF TOP-SECRET MEETINGS with Star Warslicensees. On the agenda: how to invigorate a lucrative movie franchise that hadn’t released a movie for more than a decade. Out of those brainstorming sessions — attended by Bantam author Steve Perry and representatives from LucasArts, among others — emerged a 25-page outline for…
Nothing goes out of date more quickly than films set in the future. Big-screen visions of tomorrow always reflect the era in which they were made – hence the disco outfits in Flash Gordon. Most soon become quaint relics rather than uncanny prophecies of the shape of things to come. But then, on the other…
“That’s L.A.—they worship everything and they value nothing,” sighs Ryan Gosling’s La La Land character Sebastian. I’m not sure if this is a critique or a mission statement. Perhaps it’s both. Certainly, a movie that forces you to endure Gosling and Emma Stone sing multiple songs is trading in the crass depths of celebrity culture….
“A MASTERPIECE” reads the poster of Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea in a font larger than the title. It’s a font so large that the blur of motion doesn’t render it illegible—it’s in, I think, every subway station along New York’s L line, which means I’m confronted at least a few times on most…
Screenshot via Columbia Pictures After nearly a year of hot and heavy anticipation, the Cruel Intentions reboot that we didn’t think we wanted until we really, really did is officially dead in the water. Deadline reports that the series in its current incarnation is officially dead, but rumors abound that Sony TV might reinvigorate the…
Images: Getty Rogue One made box office history on its opening weekend, bringing around $155 million in North America and another $135.5 million overseas, making it the top movie globally and the second highest grossing December opening in North America on record. It seems the right-wingers’ #DumpStarWars movement—a boycott of Rogue One, which prominent conservative…
All images: Disney/Lucasfilm It was inevitable that with something as culturally dominant as Star Wars, people would be falling all over themselves to share their thoughts. We’re not immune to takes here, but everything on this list contains something that will melt your face off from the sheer heat of the take, or crack your…
Now that Passengers is out, there’s been a lot of talk of how the trailers and commercials hid what the film is about. It’s not just a film about two extremely attractive people stuck together on a spaceship—it’s about something much more sinister and uncomfortable. Odds are if you’re reading this you know what we’re…
This article includes no major spoilers for Rogue One.The idea that Rogue One is groundbreakingly feminist has always been pretty bizarre. Jyn Erso’s protagonist status is equal to Rey’s in The Force Awakens, and besides: Every other main character is a man. While Rogue One was being promoted (and protested) as a female-led sci-fi blockbuster, its trailers remained…