The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
April 5, 2013
Afternoon Links: Horror Conventions, Infinite Jests, and Illegal Bieber Tats
The Days of the Dead horror convention is in Los Angeles this weekend, and judging by the website, it looks like it might feature Mrs. Potato Dick on stage 15. Too scary for you? I’m not going to entertain that argument because we live in a world that houses giant spiders the size of your […]
Read moreTrailers of the Week: The Great Gatsby, This Is the End, Carrie, and More
Silver: Rem, happy “(Mostly) Single Sentence Movie Trailer Review Friday”. It’s my favorite day. Browne: This is going to still take six hours. LET’S GO. 2 Guns (August 2) Silver: If all that was ever released from 2 Guns was this trailer I’d be happy, so just imagine the elation I’m feeling knowing that a […]
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Songs of the Week: With Special Guests ItsTheReal
In the past week, brothers Jeff and Eric Rosenthal of sketch comedy duo ItsTheReal have released a DJ Drama–hosted mixtape, Urbane Outfitters, with the likes of Hannibal Buress, Bun B, Maino, Lil Jon, and Freeway; been written up in a variety of outlets, from the New York Times to Billboard to Fast Company; and retweeted […]
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Roger Ebert and Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: An Appreciation
Roger Ebert, who died yesterday at 70, had been reviewing movies at the Chicago Sun-Times for just three years when he first collaborated in 1970 with the honorary mayor of Rack City, director Russ Meyer. Ebert had something important in common with Meyer: a complete lack of snobbishness. Both men were interested in lucid entertainment, total absorption, titillation […]
Read moreHere Is a Mad Men Supercut of Roger Sterling Being Amazing
Anyone know when the new season of Mad Men premieres? Oh, it’s Sunday? Hadn’t heard.
Read moreVOD Report: Classic Dumb Comedies Are the Only Foolproof Choice on VOD This Week
Opportunistic Backlist Revival Theme of the Week: “April Foolishness” “April Fools” is the (very) loose peg for this very random collection of silly, dirty, or otherwise outrageous comedies, including Wayne’s World, The Birdcage, Baby Mama, Old School, both Bill & Ted movies, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Hangover, Billy Madison, Date Night, Best in […]
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3 Nerdy Jurassic Park Footnotes Before You Head Off to See the T. Rex in 3-D
I’m Grantland’s official Jurassic Park historian, and I take that job pretty seriously. A couple of years ago, the editors here granted me several thousand words to write about scene-by-scene breakdowns of JP (the same kind being performed on The Shining), the film’s sexual politics, and Michael Crichton’s literary process. Frankly, those were all the […]
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The People’s Critic: Remembering Roger Ebert
Moviegoing is basically a passive pastime. You buy the ticket, head into the theater, sit, behold, and leave — happy, sad, mad, moved, amped up, let down, confused. The movies happen to you. But Roger Ebert, who died yesterday at 70, happened to the movies and, by extension, he happened to us. For a quarter […]
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Grantland Reality Fantasy League: A Genuinely Shocking Moment on Real World: Portland
It’s time to add some new shows to the GRTFL. With only Survivor and Real World in the lineup, we had to diversify. I was going to wait it out until Des made her debut as The Bachelorette on May 20 … but then this happened. With Ready for Love, NBC is straight gunning for […]
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The Evil Dead Remake: If You Want Blood, You’ve Got It
Fun-ish fact: The superabundant carnage in Evil Dead, first-time director Fede Alvarez’s relentlessly brutal and relentlessly competent update of Sam Raimi’s 1981 no-budget horror landmark, was apparently created using nothing but practical effects. That means no CGI — just real, honest-to-crap prostheses, good old-fashioned camera tricks, and fake blood in reportedly record-breaking quantities. The blood […]
Read moreApril 4, 2013
Afternoon Links: R.I.P., Roger Ebert
After announcing his leave of presence, Roger Ebert passed away today in Chicago after a long battle with cancer. It’s a sad day for movie geeks, writers, and New Yorker caption hopefuls. Bust out your old Mad magazines and dim the lights. See you at the movies, Mr. Ebert.
Read moreGirls in Hoodies Podcast: Survivor, Real Housewives, Cat Marnell, and Mad Men Preseason Chat
Maybe today isn’t the best day to get morbid on y’all, but this week’s tragic French Survivor deaths made us wonder, Carrie Bradshaw–style, about how dependent pop culture is becoming on high-risk entertainment. From the literal task of surviving on Survivor to the more murky waters of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to druggie blogger […]
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Rembert Explains the Sitcom Fonts of the ’90s
It’s like the networks just gave up. All at once, as soon as the Y2K dust cleared, proving that the human race could truly prevail through anything, certain important funding streams were seemingly drained to zero. Departments were closed (I think), talented people were fired (probably), and dreams were shattered (mine, at least). Of all […]
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Let’s Help NBC Pick a New Host to Replace Jimmy Fallon on Late Night
By now we all know that Jimmy Fallon is taking the Tonight Show to New York, and that Jay Leno, at least temporarily without a desk to call home, is facing down the prospect of spending more quality time organizing his airplane hangar full of antique steam cars and pressed denim shirts. But NBC’s sudden […]
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NBC’s Hannibal Serves Your Gore Platter With a Generous Side of Intelligence
I hate the sight of blood. Not in real life, where I tend to order my steaks the way Lil B prefers his swag, but on television, where arterial splatter has become dispiritedly commonplace. On dramas both good (Boardwalk Empire) and bad (The Following), crimson is the chosen color for a crude, paint-by-numbers approach to adult […]
Read morePeople of the Anti–Lena Dunham Movement, Hail Your New Overlord: Charlie From Girls
“They’ve just started work on Season 3, and Chris is at odds with Lena …”
Read moreInside ILM: A Star Wars Fanboy Visits Lucasfilm Headquarters
“It was a far less frightening, but an equally self-reflexive version of that scene in Being John Malkovich where Malkovich goes inside his own head.” Dan Silver: When asked, that’s the way I describe my (all too brief) time spent at LucasFilm and ILM. Over the years, I’ve been extremely fortunate to have found myself […]
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Five Questions on American Idol: Between a Rock Week and a Hard Place
Whatever doesn’t deafen you makes you stronger: Grantland’s Jay Caspian Kang, Mark Lisanti, and Emily Yoshida have returned, bowed but not broken, to tackle another season of American Idol. Only seven contestants remain. Things are getting real. One We’re down to the Top 7, and usually at this point there’s at least one or two […]
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The Americans Season 1, Episode 9: ‘Safe House’
Everyone takes their work home with them. How could we not? Especially these days, when the demands of a high-maintenance boss can buzz in your pocket from miles away. But cell phones have only taken something universal and made it immediate. There’s never been an emotional car wash to run through on the commute home, […]
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Bradley Cooper Is a Student of the Tao of DiCaprio … and Other Absurdities From This Week’s Tabloids
Star Bradley Cooper & Leonardo DiCaprio? “Bradley Cooper is getting a lesson in no-strings-attached hookups from Hollywood’s ultimate bachelor, Leonardo DiCaprio! The guys [both are 38 years old] got to know each other during awards season, and Leo took Bradley under his wing. Bradley was moaning about finding Mrs. Right. But Leo told him to chill […]
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Survivor: Caramoan, Episode 7: Blindside Time!
After writing about the Koh-Lanta deaths and then talking about the assorted perils of reality shows on the Girls in Hoodies podcast, I was feeling kind of mixed on the whole Survivor thing this week. It isn’t that I don’t still love Survivor, but I felt like taking a little bit of a break from […]
Read moreB.S. Report: Bill Carter on Late Night TV and David Jacoby on Real World
Bill Simmons talks to Bill Carter of the New York Times about the latest moves in late night TV, then dials David Jacoby to discuss the history and future of MTV’s Real World franchise. Listen to the podcast here: ESPN.com Podcenter. Subscribe to the Grantland Network on iTunes, and check out our podcasts page.
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Only God Forgives Trailer: Can I Interest You in Ryan Gosling Dragging a Guy Down a Hallway by His Teeth?
Gosling and his Drive director reteam.
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