The State of Scary TV
‘The Returned’ and ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ join ‘The Walking Dead’ in offering high-quality horror.
November 18, 2011
Giving Thanks for The League’s Thanksgiving Episode
The Thanksgiving episode of The League (the show about friends in a fantasy sports league) that aired last night was one of the strongest episodes of any sitcom I’ve seen recently. Like the best outings of its FX sister shows Louie and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, it was a perfect pitch delivered with intensity […]
Read moreSongs of the Week: Jeezy Gets Help From André 3000, Sort of
Young Jeezy feat. André 3000 and Jay-Z, “I Do” Landing a verse from André 3000, the Big Foot of hip-hop, is a great way to show your industry pull. The problem here for Jeezy, though, is that Drake’s album just had a brand new 3 Stacks feature, while this “I Do” verse has been floating […]
Read more
Occupy Tyler Perry
Perhaps it’s a bit of a lowest-common-denominator hack move for me to joke that the 99% of Tyler Perry’s fans have decided to Occupy his blog in protest of casting Kim Kardashian in his new film “The Marriage Counselor”. I prefer to call it an homage. Alas, the perfectly ironic frosting on what figures to […]
Read moreRembert Explains the ’80s: ALF
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our series, “Rembert Tries to Explain the ’80s.” Every so often, we’ll e-mail 24-year-old Rembert Browne a video from the 1980s that he hasn’t seen. Rembert will write down his thoughts as he’s watching it, then we’ll post those thoughts here. The third assignment was given by editor Mike Philbrick: Any […]
Read moreTrailers of the Week: Catch .44, The Iron Lady, and Titanic 3D
Catch .44 (December 9) Daniel Silver: If it weren’t for the presence of the 33-year-old Malin Akerman (sorry, Malin. You’re awesome and I love you) I would have assumed Catch .44 was a cheap Tarantino knock off from 17 years ago. Malin would have been a teen back then, so there’s no way she could […]
Read more
NBC Comedy Recap: Community Now
Every week in this space Grantland will run down the happenings and mishappenings in NBC’s Thursday-comedy night done mostly right. (Note: The order reflects newsworthiness, not quality. Although occasionally the two just might overlap.) 1. Community This week, NBC announced that Community will be taking a mid-season hiatus, stoking rumors that the smart but little-seen […]
Read more
Reality Scorecard: Lamest Police Visit Ever
I hear this all the time: “I don’t watch those shows, so I don’t read the Reality TV column.” Of course you don’t watch those shows, that’s the point. You shouldn’t watch those shows — that would cut into your philanthropy/Paris Review-reading/hot yoga schedule. You shouldn’t know that we are in the midst of a […]
Read more
Box Office Preview: Breaking Dawn to Maybe Break Harry Potter’s Records
It’s Friday and Hollywood has disgorged another batch of movies into multiplexes. Which will reign supreme and why? Below, our predictions for the Top 5 films at this weekend’s box office. 1. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Critics say it’s terrible, but that won’t matter to the fanatical, unshowered hordes who’ve been camped […]
Read more
Gerard Butler Is Not Planning On Making Any Friends in Equatorial Guinea
And more industry news.
Read more
Can Jack and Jill Break the All-Time Razzie Record?
Well, Razzie lovers, things just got interesting, didn’t they? All year, we’ve been disappointed by the movies we thought might be Razzie contenders. Transformers: Dark of the Moon? Coulda been worse. Rise of the Planet of the Apes? Frustratingly good. J. Edgar? Despised by some, not all. It’s enough to make veteran Razzie gurus like […]
Read moreNovember 17, 2011
We Found It on Watch Instantly: My Fake Fiancé
Each week, Netflix Watch Instantly adds hundreds of new titles. Four or five are movies you want to watch, some are bad TV shows or camp classics, and most make no sense at all. Those in the latter category are puzzling: not bad Enough to be good and certainly not good enough to be interesting. […]
Read more
The Recessionary Charms of American Horror Story
The problem with haunted-house stories are that the solution seems so obvious: just leave the house. Put it on Craigslist and find a good real estate agent sometime between after the faucet starts leaking blood and before you ever explore the screams coming from the basement. Sell your car and move into a beige condo […]
Read more
Ricky Gervais to Host the Golden Globes, Then Talk About It For a Whole Year Again
Gervais is back for a third time, but is that a good thing?
Read moreX Factor Recap: Lakoda Murders a Celine Song
On my JFK to LAX flight yesterday, I sat next to a young girl and her father. The adult was wearing a beanie, a gray sports coat, a black MMA-styled t-shirt and a heavy silver chain that reminded me of the kitsch sold at Wings, the beachside stores that litter every coastal town in North […]
Read moreBradley Cooper Is Your Sexiest Man Alive, and Other Stories From This Week’s Gossip Magazines
Every week there are five new gossip magazines covering the same mostly imaginary stories. We scan them for you and select the choicest bits. Consider this your primer for the water cooler. Can men handle being visually dissected? Studies show that both genders feel insecure when they sense their appearance is being inspected and judged […]
Read more