Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Kevin Smith’s Dogma is a star-studded, religious themed, highly offensive, violent and gross R-rated road trip comedy about a descendant of Jesus Christ saving the world from two fallen angels. That madcap collection of ideas worked on me as a teenager. Now, not so much. When I first saw Dogma, I was totally and utterly…
The Birth of a Nation, Nate Parker’s Sundance darling period piece about the deadliest slave insurrection in American history, was purchased by Fox Searchlight on early Tuesday morning for $17.5 million. It was the largest deal in Sundance history, and coverage immediately suggested that The Birth of a Nation will function as some way through…
Disney’s early princess movies offer heroines that are strikingly similar: soft-spoken, ethereally beautiful, and willing to endure hardship and humiliation without a peep of complaint. Today, Disney’s princesses are a sassier, pluckier bunch. But research has found a surprising trend: Even when they have the starring role, women speak only a minority of the dialogue—and…
The Lord of the Knights of Ren got swindled. It turns out the semi-melted helmet he opens his heart to in The Force Awakens isn’t Vader’s real helmet from his pyre on Endor in Return of the Jedi—and here’s the proof. Darth Vader actor David Prowse just shared this picture of the actual helmet that…
The failure of the Academy Awards to recognize black performers and filmmakers creates a dangerously circular system that robs the next generation of daring and diverse cinema. Credit Photograph by Toby Canham / Getty Barrier Status: ‘none’ The Oscars almost never get it right. Alfred Hitchcock never won one; Elaine May has never won one….
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesis pledging to double the number of female and minority members by 2020 and will immediately diversify its leadership by adding three new seats to its board of governors. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced the changes Friday, following a weeklong storm of criticism and calls for an…
Would your son want to play with an action figure of Rey, the central figure in the latest Star Wars film? Would your daughter? It’s too bad they don’t have the choice; Hasbro, among other toymakers, left out the one key female figure in their The Force Awakens game sets. Hasbro says it was to…
The don’t-call-it-a-boycott Oscars might be more interesting for who won’t be in attendance than who will. Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and now Will Smith have all said that they’re not planning on attending the Oscars, which, for the second year in a row, nominated 20 white people in the acting categories. Oscar nominee Mark…
Something strange has happened in the endless war for domination of superhero movies. After years of Marvel ceaselessly kicking DC’s ass, I feel as though DC has suddenly taken the lead, thanks to the fantastic new Suicide Squad trailer and the Wonder Woman movie footage. What is even happening? If you’ve read my work with…
Devoted fans of Quentin Tarantino’s body of work have noted for years that all of his characters seem to be connected in one way or another. For example, Vic Vega from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction just so happen to be brothers. This led people to believe that Tarantino’s movies were connected,…