From The%20A.V.%20Club

  • Netflix is a Joke: Ali Wong, Gabriel Iglesias, and Michelle Buteau among upcoming stand-up specials

    Say what you will about Netflix, but they sure do invest in comedy. The 2024 Netflix is a Joke festival is jam-packed with stand-up comics and comedy groups of all kinds. Many of these shows you have to be in Los Angeles to appreciate, but there’s going to be events for the average Netflix user to enjoy from home, like John Mulaney’s Everybody’s In L.A. and the live comedy event The Greatest Roast Of All Time: Tom Brady, airing on Sunday, May 5. Of course, there will also be plenty more...

  • Kate Winslet plays another tough broad in Lee teaser

    Kate Winslet clearly enjoys trading her traditional movie star beauty to play tough, life-hardened women (see: Mare Of Easttown). It makes her well-suited to star as Lee Miller, who traded her own comfortable life as a model-turned-fashion photographer to become a photojournalist on the ground in World War II. Lee, which premieres September 27, doesn’t flinch away from the harrowing realities of warfare, which is exactly what Winslet set out to do as both the star and producer of the film. ...

  • J.K. Rowling’s rampant transphobia makes Daniel Radcliffe "really sad"

    As we’ve witnessed, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s anti-transgender agenda has gone beyond political belief into a full-blown obsession. She posts about gender ideology debates near-daily on Twitter/X, lending her considerable capital (both social and financial) to causes championed by trans-exclusionary radical feminists. This reflects not only on Rowling, but on the entire Wizarding World empire she’s built, including its original stars, like Daniel Radcliffe. Recently nominated for a...

  • Chicago Critics Film Festival 2024: Five movies you shouldn't miss

    I’ll be the first to admit my bias towards the Chicago Critics Film Festival. I’m part of the organization that puts it together, it takes place at my favorite movie theater (Chicago’s organ-scored Music Box Theatre), and it enriches my local community of arthouse moviegoers. I can’t, in good conscience, advocate for anyone to pay through the nose for the privilege of standing in an icy Sundance line, only to pack into a theater filled with high-earning super-spreaders. But I can tell those in...

  • The best horror films streaming on Shudder

    We’re halfway to Halloween, and even though October 31 is still six months away, there’s still one place where you can queue up the best fright flicks available for streaming 365 days per year. When it comes to horror, every day is Halloween at Shudder, a platform that offers the widest range of chillers and thrillers, from blood-drenched slasher flicks to campy creature features to obscure gems from the 1980s and 1990s and all-new exclusive originals like Infested and Late Night With The Devil....

  • The Beast review: An ambitious, compelling monster of a movie

    There’s an instant urgency in The Beast, the latest film from writer-director Bertrand Bonello, that persists despite its hefty runtime of 145 minutes. Even in its quietest moments, as Bonello’s pacing slows to a crawl and we are asked to consider every gesture, every weighty theme piled atop this towering stack of ideas, there’s a feeling that this film is aching to show us something, pushing ahead with an almost desperate need to convey its emotional truths. And if nothing else, The Beast is...

  • Shardlake review: A gritty Tudor murder mystery

    Murderous monks, letter-perfect costumes, and a shadowy violent realm untrodden by period dramas past? It can only be Shardlake, Hulu’s gritty adaptation of the late C. J. Sansom’s bestselling Tudor murder-mystery series. And we’re here to tell you that the show, which premieres May 1, is pretty excellent. Now, we know what you’re thinking: The Tudors have been done to death at this point, right? Wrong. Set shortly after the execution of Anne Boleyn, Shardlake takes us away from all the pomp...

  • May's best Blu-ray and 4K UHD releases: Dune: Part Two, Bob Marley: One Love, and Sasquatch Sunset

    Physical media may be devalued by some in our streaming-dominated world, but you’d be surprised how many great titles are only available on disc. Also, some titles can be so much more rewarding on DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K UHD, especially when they’re loaded with special packaging and bonus features. With that in mind, here’s a look at all the best films and TV series that you can spin starting in May 2024, including Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi masterpiece Dune: Part Two, plus the disc debuts of Bob...

  • Palm Royale recap: President Nixon has entered the chat

    Carol Burnett’s hour has arrived! After three episodes in a coma and six ones slurring minimal dialogue, Palm Royale is finally setting her up to make a splash in the finale. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I have to recap this penultimate episode first. It’s a flashback to the not-so-distant past, Norma (Carol Burnett) asks Robert (Ricky Martin) to tell a little more about himself after he has been nameless waiting on her during a previous season. “Tell me about the man behind the martini,”...

  • Brian Cox reviews "one of the worst books ever," the Bible

    Oh, good, a new contrarian take from Brian Cox just came in! From the old guy who brought you “I could’ve done Napoleon better” and “woke culture is truly awful,” we now have some comprehensive thoughts on the Bible and religion as a whole. Buckle in, guys! “I think religion does hold us back because it’s belief systems which are outside ourselves. They’re not dealing with who we are, we’re dealing [with], ‘Oh if God says this and God does that’, and you go, ‘Well what is God?’ We’ve created...

  • A Tracy Flick doesn't come around every four years

    This May, Glee turns 15. For better or worse—often both, within the same episode—the series is singular. It ushered in a wave of musical TV shows, and with it a new era of merchandising. Its young cast might not have become Euphoria famous, but they were household names for a generation and a constant presence in the pages of tabloids. There’s a case to be made that Glee is the ultimate Obama era show, running from 2009 to 2015 and championing inclusion and difference. But its pilot, the thing...

  • John Mulaney shares Lorne Michaels' words of wisdom about John Belushi and addiction

    The entertainment industry is full of troubled characters and addictive personalities, and Saturday Night Live is no exception. More than one talented star from the long-running sketch show has experienced tragedy, and it’s clear that SNL godfather Lorne Michaels has taken even more care with the younger generation to prevent history from repeating itself. This is evidenced in a rehab anecdote John Mulaney shared during his appearance on the latest episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction...