They were coy little things when they began — back when the world bid adieu to Don Draper and people booked stays at The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. They took a spirit ride down to the slower states when they…
Hold the Dark Movie Review: Jeremy Saulnier thriller catches eyes but boggles brains
There’s a certain atmosphere that materializes when one utters the name “Jeremy Saulnier.” Say it once, and the room fills with a sense of tin-flavored terror. Say it again, and the air chills, the sea stills, the wind tumbles from…
Book Review: Loose Units by Paul F. Verhoeven
I read the first two-thirds of Australian writer, broadcaster, and entertainer Paul F. Verhoeven’s stirring-but-not-slipshod, sentimental-but-not-schmaltzy debut book Loose Units like rich people eat dinner: in perfect portions, prix fixe-style, each course more delicious and eye-widening than the last. Like…
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl Movie Review: Electric anime rom-com is one of 2018’s best
The first shot of starry-eyed, risk-taking filmmaker Masaaki Yuasa’s latest venture, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl, is of the nominal gal gulping down a glass of white wine in the midst of a wedding reception. For a moment…
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Movie Review: Lily James Shines in Cozy 1940s Romantic Drama
If one didn’t know any better, they might mistake The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for a Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco song — one from the bands’ hypothetical folk-driven albums that would come later…
The Spy Who Dumped Me Movie Review: Clever Concept, Confused Execution
The Spy Who Dumped Me is a lot like star Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton impression: There’s so many aspects it gets right — the back-and-forth comedic tradeoff between her and other leading lady Mila Kunis in the film is every…
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Movie Review: A Superb Sun-Soaked, Sentimental Sequel
There are three things in this otherwise unknowable life of which I am certain. The first is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be infinitely more fun than it already is if studio brass would hand Taika Waititi the keys…
