Glenne Headly (1955-2017)

By Nathaniel R

Terrible news to report this afternoon. The actress Glenne Headly has died rather suddenly at just 62. 

Headly came to fame on the stage in acclaimed productions in the mid 80s like Balm in Gilead, Extremities, and The Philanthropist and big movie roles soon followed. At the peak of her fame in the late 80s and early 90s she co-starred in box office hits Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990) and was Emmy nominated for the miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989) inbetween those twin peaks...

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"The Crucible" Is Just About Witches

The Tony Awards are this Sunday, so all week we’ve been talking stage-to-film adaptations. Here’s Goody Jorge with the mother of all allegorical plays… 

At this point everyone knows that The Crucible is not about the Salem Witch trials.

Arthur Miller’s 1953 play is a very straightforward and less-than-obvious allegory for the McCarthy era and the prosecution of believed Communists in the U.S. It has become a staple of American theater and inspired dozens of generations to think twice before finger-pointing. 

Underneath even its Red Scare themes, the play is about much more...

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Review: "It Comes at Night"

by Chris Feil

After last year’s Krisha, Trey Edward Shults returns to the horror of family dynamics with post-apocalyptic nightmare It Comes At Night. This time he’s equipped with higher production value and more familiar faces than that astute micro-budgeted debut, though Night is just as personal. His resulting sophomore feature is part Greek tragedy, part vague social polemic, and one of the most terrifying films in several years.

Set in a remote, wooded mini-mansion, a family has made their home a fortress from some unspecified apocalypse. The elderly father of Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) has fallen “sick”, leaving her husband Paul (Joel Edgerton) and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) to dispatch of him for their own safety. The desperate invasion of another family (led by Christopher Abbott and Riley Keough) tests both the reclusive family’s empathy and rigorously protected lifestyle. Meanwhile, Travis is having increasingly vivid visions of the encroaching malignant threat that test his (and our) sense of reality.

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Contest: Wrap Yourself Up in Wonderment

Contest time in case you haven't yet had enough Wonder Woman. I mean, who has?

We're giving away one Wonder Woman Logo Hoodie courtesy of the fine folks at Film Jackets which you can see a photo of to your left. It comes in M, L, XL, or XXL. (This contest is open to readers in the US, UK, or Canada)

If you want one, here's how to enter the contest.

1. Email us with "Hoodie" in the subject line by Saturday night June 10th (tomorrow)
2. Include the following info: Your Name, Size Preference, and Shipping Addresss (this will only be shared if you win as the company will ship directly to you)
3. Include one sentence or more about either your favorite image/moment in the new Wonder Woman movie OR your fav thing about the Amazon princess in general (if you haven't yet seen it). I will probably share some of these responses on the blog even if you don't win.

The winner will be chosen at random on Sunday.

P.S. If you like superhero t-shirts (I used to love my Green Lantern tee until the movie came out and then I was embarrassed to wear it fearing people would actually think I was wearing it because of the movie. Shudder!) Film Jackets has a bunch of them for sale.

Naomi Watts Gets Randy with "Gypsy"

Chris here. Just because it's Tony's week doesn't mean we've got only one Gypsy on our mind. Have you forgotten about Naomi Watt's upcoming Netflix series so soon? Well, the streaming platform is here to remind you with the first series trailer - and I have to admit that the show looks far more tantalizing than it did on paper.

Gypsy stars Watts as a therapist who begins to get a little too touchy feely with her patients, including indie brood boy Karl Glusman. With a suspecting husband at home (Billy Crudup, *sigh* isn't it wonderful that he seems to be everywhere nowadays?) the trysts spin into a compulsive thrill of a double life. The first two episodes will be directed by Fifty Shades of Grey's Sam Taylor-Johnson, so expect plenty of kinkiness to go with its character pathos.

Of course, hopping over to television has been in fashion for our major talents for some time, but Watts is one star that could benefit from the kind of character depth that long-form storytelling can allow. It's been far too long since she's had a film that knows what she's capable of, and Gypsy could show a side of her we haven't seen in awhile. Could this be the most immersive and surprising she's been since Mulholland Drive? Gypsy comes to Netflix on June 30!