Today's Five: Don't go into that castle, Jonathan Harker!

by Nathaniel R

We got a little carried away with our "on this day" posts these past few months. They were meant just to be fun and festive quickies and not take over so REDUCE REDUCE. Moving forward we'll give you 5 reasons to celebrate any given day because a) we're trying to stay positive b) it's good to be alive and c) who knows how much longer we'll be able to do that with nut-job man-babies running the world's most weaponized countries? So put on your party hats every day, is the point. 

Five Showbiz-Related Anniversaries (May 3rd)

2002 Sam Raimi's pop and playful superhero picture Spider-Man opens in theaters to massive then record-breaking returns. We were all so innocent back then. There was really only Batman and Spider-Man (Superman still on his long hiatus) and no "universes" to obsess over. If only even 1/10ths of the superhero pictures that came after it these past 15 years were shot as inventively (but they can't all be Raimis)

In its honor today: Look at yourself in the mirror the appreciative way Tobey Maguire does when he wakes up after that spider-bite, improved. You're awesome. Maybe you just didn't notice it before?

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Tribeca 2017: Permission

Here's Jason Adams reporting from the just wrapped Tribeca Film Festival.

I really thought I knew what I was going to get going into Permission, Bryan Crano's light New York drama about love and relationships. The film stars Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall as a pair of high school sweethearts deciding they need to find out what it's like to be with other people before they commit to each other for the rest of their lives. Don't you feel like you know what that movie's going to be after reading that description? 

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Celebrating "Waitress": 10 Years Later

By Spencer Coile

Jenna (Keri Russell) knows pies. Caught in a dead-end marriage to an emotionally and physically abusive husband, Jenna dreams of the day she can finally save up enough money working in the local pie shop and escape her boring life... that is, until she finds herself pregnant. Giving insight into Jenna's mind through the use of potential pie recipes, Waitress follows Jenna as she (begrudgingly) agrees to have the baby, keeps working, and begins an affair with her new doctor (Nathan Fillion). 

Indeed, Adrienne Shelly's 2007 film--released ten years ago to the day--was lauded for its down-to-earth nature, its humble storytelling, and the central performance from Keri Russell. There are no tricks up Shelly's sleeve here; she managed to tell a simple, heartfelt story that is imbued with messages of strength, female friendships, and the power of a good pie. What makes the film equally as affecting is the fact that, although Shelly wrote, directed, and starred in her own work, she was tragically killed before the release. Considering this complicated history, not to mention the film's eventual legacy, let's help oursevles to another slice and dive into the sweet and savory Waitress. 

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Tribeca 2017: Nobody's Watching

We've still got some Tribeca reviews to catch up on, so here's Jason Adams again.

I know you're going to be shocked to hear this about someone who writes on the internet for a living, but I'm a bit of the solitary type. 'A loner, a rebel,' in Pee-wee parlance. I was an only child, a gay only child, and never learned how to make friends all that well, so I spent a majority of my teenage years wandering. I grew up in a small town but one big enough to wander, and when I moved to New York City after college I carried the habit with me. And New York rewards the hell out of such instincts; there's nowhere more comfortable for solitary wandering than in the middle of a great big oblivious crowd...

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Review: "The Circle" with Tom Hanks and Emma Watson

by Eric Blume

Director James Ponsoldt’s film version of the Dave Eggers novel The Circle features big ideas, a pulsating relevance, and ideal casting in its leading actress:  so why doesn’t it work? 

Eggers’ tale of a typical young American girl (Emma Watson) who gets a job at a Google-like tech company called The Circle, and promotes herself into living a life that’s “transparent” on-camera 24/7, has its finger on the pulse of our current concerns on social media, connectivity, and privacy...

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