Review: "Away" on Netflix

by new contributor Christopher James

What role does space play in our current world? Today, getting on a plane during COVID almost feels as risky as embarking on a mission to Mars. 

Netflix’s new bright, shiny and expensive looking drama, Away, tries to contextualize space travel in its pilot episode. At a press conference, a reporter asks the Atlas crew, “Why should we care more about Mars than our own planet.” Hilary Swank’s commanding officer, Emma Green, delivers an impassioned speech on how much the US spends on the military and war. Wouldn’t it be better if we repurpose these tools for “discovery, not destruction.” This sets the stage for an exciting space mission where traveling to Mars could possibly save us from ourselves. Unfortunately, Away dodges this interesting, if thornier, premise as if it were a meteor heading straight for its shift. Rather than take a risk, it heads into safer territory, being a digestible family drama...

Click to read more ...

Review: The Hunt (2020)

by Tony Ruggio

Blumhouse’s much-ballyhooed American political satire has finally seen the light of day after postponement due to a mass shooting last August, only to meet an unprecedented global pandemic this spring. With multiplexes closed nationwide, it’s one of a few major motion pictures to release early on VOD. Eschewing anything resembling subtlety or a desire to make a cogent point, The Hunt is a glib quasi-horror romp designed to prod and provoke, but dips into irrelevance by trying too hard for that sweet spot of zeitgeist...

Click to read more ...

Would you rather?

Lee Pace is not one of your choices today because who would want to be so blue (figurative) while getting blue (literal) for Captain Marvel duties. Nevertheless we wanted to share his Instagram pic. (This is how you promote your latest movie? Cheer up, Lee!) Okay, that said, it's time for our weekly hanging out with celebrities fantasy poll.

Would you rather

... eat some bbq ribs with Charlize Theron?
... have dinner in London with Vin Diesel and Sir Michael Caine?
... nap-dream with Liev Schreiber and pup?
... stop and smell the flowers with Richard E Grant? 
... foster puppies with Hilary Swank? 
... do a bachelorette weekend with Dakota Fanning? 
... wound a stuntman with Salma Hayek? 

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide...

Click to read more ...

Months of Meryl: The Homesman (2014)

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep. 

#46 —Altha Carter, a minister’s wife who gives comfort to three disturbed women. 

JOHN: The Homesman is one of the best films Meryl Streep has ever had the good fortune to be in, and yet, she’s on screen for no more than five minutes. Set circa 1850 in the Nebraska territory, Tommy Lee Jones’ adaptation of Glendon Swarthout’s novel is a gorgeous and unsettling theatrical follow-up to his 2005 stunner The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Hilary Swank stars as Mary Bee Cuddy, a self-sufficient spinster who volunteers to transport three insane women from their town to a church in Hebron, Iowa that cares for mentally ill patients...

Click to read more ...

Podcast: Beautiful Boy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl talk new films in theaters.

Index (52½ minutes)
00:01 NYC plays itself in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
02:30 Melissa McCarthy's best performance ever
16:10 Jonah Hill's Mid 90s
19:02 Denmark's Submission The Guilty
22:00 Hilary Swank and Robert Forster in What They Had?
29:00 Split opinions on Timothée Chalamet & Steve Carell in Beautiful Boy
40:30 Green Book Sneak Peak
47:15 Best Actress discussion and Glenn Close on stage in NYC currently
52:00 Wrap up

Referenced
• Murtada's Beautiful Boy Tweet
• Chris's Can You Ever Forgive Me? Review
• Denmark & Oscar
• Best Supporting Actor

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Can You Ever Forgive Beautiful Boys?