For stage actor Martins Imhangbe, the realm of television is a whole new world. Branching out from his past roles on the stage like in Death of a Salesman and The Tragedy of King Richard II, Imhangbe is making his small screen debut this year in the highly anticipated Shonda Rhimes creation Bridgerton. The show,…
FILM + TV
Netflix has a bit of a problem. When the streaming service first entered the world of original content in the early 2010’s with shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, they quickly established themselves as synonymous with the notion of “quality television” (we don’t need to talk about Hemlock Grove). Like…
https://youtu.be/aSfX-nrg-lI Mank is a phenomenal piece of cinema, but it is not a very entertaining movie. What David Fincher has achieved is a sweeping parlor trick that satirizes the majesty of Hollywood’s Golden Age, captured at a moment when the industry was clawing its way out of the Great Depression. The film’s production and its…
Up and coming actress, yoga teacher and avid mental health advocate Michelle Nunez is keeping busier than ever as as ‘Zane’ in BET’s “Ruthless”. Directed by Tyler Perry, the series is a spinoff of the hit series “The Oval”, where she plays "the most intricate character" she's co-created. When she's not gracing the camera, Nunez…
Artist Sarah Maple is not prosaic. As a multi-disciplinary artist, her sarcastic hyperbolized works are multifaceted, versatile, and controversial. From stand-up comedies, paintings, sculptures, mixed media and more, her works intertwine and connect within their comedic niche, being unequivocally and distinguishably Maple's. Her newest venture, Sarah Maple’s Nazi Sexy Shark Show, is in front of a…
At the age of 90, actor Sir Sean Connery passed away in his sleep at his home in Nassau in the Bahamas. According to his son, Jason Connery, he had been “unwell for some time,” while his now-widow Micheline Roquebrune revealed on Sunday his late-in-life battle against dementia. According to her in a statement to the…
Despite the pandemic, actor Paapa Essiedu has had quite a prolific year. Right off the heels of the critically acclaimed I May Destroy You, on which he played the understated yet complex Kwame, Essiedu is on our screens again, this time in a completely different role. Diving into the seedy underbelly of London, Essiedu's newest…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JaGmaiKRLA During a 2017 interview with Berlinale Talents, 40-year-old writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch) described the year after she had graduated from UCLA as disempowering. Amirpour was married at the time (i.e., 2009). She had written a script. She had landed an agent and a manager, both…
“You are mine.” These are the opening words of Sofia Coppola’s On The Rocks, delivered as a voiceover from a doting father who is speaking to his daughter (presumably in a flashback). Cut to that same daughter’s wedding reception, the bride and the groom disappearing for a midnight swim in a moonlit pool. The metaphor…
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet was simply put, not the grand American “Return to the Movies” Hollywood was hoping for. With a staggering $200 million production budget, Nolan’s most expensive to date, the film has only made back a paltry $3.4 million in the states. Despite perfectly satisfactory reviews, Americans were just not motivated enough (or perhaps…
In spite of the tumultuous last half year, the current pandemic has done very little to derail the typical media storm leading up to the Primetime Emmy broadcast. Perhaps it’s the escapism we have been so desperate to cling onto in short bursts over the last six months, or maybe there really is nothing that…
Disney’s Mulan has had something of a tumultuous lead-up to release: multiple delays, a controversial lead actress, and most recently some questionable end credits. Of all the bumps in the road, the one with perhaps the most potential for lasting effects is its premium pricing mode. Before Mulan faced public scrutiny, it was in much…
It would be churlish to say that Hollywood’s diversity problem has made no progress since the golden age of Hollywood. TV shows like Pose sport the biggest transgender cast of any scripted show in history (with most actors being of color), box office smashes like Crazy Rich Asians highlight the lives of East Asians and…
A cursory Google search yields few resources attempting to accurately define what makes a queer icon, well, iconic. And there’s a good reason for that. Whats makes a queer icon is at the same time simple and incredibly difficult to define. One one hand, its is easy to use blanket terms like “glamorous” or “camp”…
Podcasts are great tools for pacifying a laundry list of ails these days. You can listen for the feeling of company when there is none, for background noise to cheer up mundane household tasks, or just to break up the day and have a laugh. They’re also a great way to be entertained and informed…
While the Primetime Emmy’s do not mean everything (often getting notoriously snubbed can actually be better for PR and viewership, just ask The Wire or Orphan Black), they certainly are a good indication of clout. This year’s Emmy nominations saw a slew of pleasant surprises among many major series and acting categories, from Zendaya’s well-deserved Outstanding Lead…
In spite of the global game of Disaster Bingo this year has been, the 2020 Emmys are a go to air as planned on September 20th on ABC. The ceremony, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, saw its list of nominees announced early Tuesday morning, with many categories reflecting the new nominee selection rule changes announced earlier in…
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia these days, even to a not-too-long-ago time. Y2K-era trends are back in a big way from butterfly clips to platform sandals, and the internet is full of aughts-appreciation, even for those who might have been too young to remember it. But beyond Paris Hilton and flip phones,…
Reality TV is the often the most compelling when it is just that: reality. In the world of dating shows, though, realness is often in short order. Popular shows like The Bachelor, Love Island, and the outrageous Too Hot To Handle seem to favor grandeur over substance, shock value over connection. Enter Dating Around, a…
The historic last couple months of racial equality protests and worldwide pushes for government reform have shone an uncomfortably bright light on the prejudice within the queer community, amongst other social groups. Queer culture is too often unconsciously defined as “white gay male” culture; from gay bars in major cities to homosexual representation on television. HBO…