Review: Sebastian Stan devours horror-romance 'Fresh'

by Matt St Clair

The new horror/romance hybrid Fresh chiefly functions as a viable kidnapping thriller that still  gets one thing right about our modern dating scene. It can be a literal terror show. It’s especially horrifying in our era of dating apps. The constant hoping for a companion as you keep sending messages saying “Hello” that get no response can make you wonder if people read the actual profile. It’s easy to judge a book by its cover and message someone based on how they look in their photo. But do people bother to read our bios for a better idea on what we might be like? 

As Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) finds out the hard way, meeting people in real life can be just as rough...

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Linkers Dozen

three must reads
• Blood Knife "Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny." Excellent article about the weird symmetry of the perfection of the body and the desexualization of cinema
• Thrillist Chris Feil suggests Oscars clips for this year's acting nominees
• The Ringer "Robert Pattinson has been lying to you for years" investigating the actors self-mythologizing interviews

Sam Elliott mouths off, the cast of Oppenheimer, a restoration of Alligator, Stephen King's next book, and more after the jump...

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Who's That Girl ...who will be playing Madonna?

by Nathaniel R

Garner, Ferreira, Sweeney, Leon, and Pugh

As we've known for some time Madonna is writing and directing her own biopic. It's inching closer to production with casting and audition rumors. Word has it that Euphoria's Sydney Sweeney and Sky Ferreira have auditioned for the leading role as well. Earlier rumors suggested the role was going to either Oscar nominee Florence Pugh or Emmy winner Julia Garner. Some online gossip suggested Lourdes Léon, Madonna's eldest, might even be in the mix though we think that's just the internet internetting...

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Review: Netflix’s ‘Against the Ice’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 Looking at the poster for today’s new Netflix release, you might first think of two possibilities. One is that it’s the latest Liam-Neeson-fights-wolves survival thriller, only Neeson wasn’t available. The other is that it’s a new project you haven’t heard about from Christopher Nolan where the characters defy gravity in their walks like in Inception and Tenet. It turns out it’s neither, but rather just a snow-set drama about a real-life explorer from Denmark.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, best known as Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones, stars as Ejnar Mikkelsen, the captain of a 1909 Danish expedition whose express goal is to show his country’s claim to Northeast Greenland, which is being challenged by the United States...

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Streaming Roulette, March: Drive my car by the west side, Peggy Sue

by Nathaniel R

Before we begin we should note that between HBOMax (Dune, King Richard, Drive My Car, West Side Story), Netflix (Power of the Dog, Don't Look Up), Hulu (Nightmare Alley), AppleTV+ (CODA) and VOD (Belfast, Licorice Pizza) all of the Best Picture nominees are or will be available to watch at home this month before the Oscars (March 27th). 

Okay, time for this month's streaming roulette. You know the rules. We highlight new-to-streaming titles by freezing them on the scroll bar at entirely random places and just sharing what pops up. No cheating*!

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