In franchise fandom, the desire for a director’s cut becomes yet another form of participation mystique. The steady drip of press releases about superhero movies encourages fans to think of themselves as insiders who second-guess everything from the casting to the personnel changes that formerly took place behind the…

The Kingdom of Heaven directors cut is one of those instances where the DC is much better than the theatrical release.

Stan Lee said 50 years ago that you create the illusion of change. Some just know how to do it better than others.

The plot description makes it sound like the makers of this series plan to merge Shirley Jackson with Stephen King. But I still trust Mike Flanagan to make something interesting.

Why would the Rock have to be the one to turns into something?

I’m not sure if you intended it this way, but it sounds here like you’re more concerned with protecting the reputation of the abuser than supporting the victim.

This is the saddest thing.

I think the 1980s, at least after 1983 or so, might be the most boring movie decade of all time. I grew up in that decade, and there’s almost nothing from it I’d want to save, either out of nostalgia or admiration. There’s this bland formalism, everything looks like it was shot for TV, outside of David Lynch and…

I wonder if people made as big a deal about female Hamlet as they did about female Ghostbusters.

Asta Nielson’s Hamlet is a riot. I caught it at the Pacific Film Archive many years ago, and within the span of five seconds the audience might go from prickly discomfort to rib-holding laughter.

How long will it take for that one guy on the dorm hallway to yell Alexa commands loud enough for every single unit on the floor to start babbling about search results at once?

Between this and the Ruby Rose thing, is it just me or is there a bit of dogmatic purity problem among LGBTQ+ activists?

Yeah! It’s sad, in my friend’s case, his co-worker was saying she just felt so overworked and she didn’t have enough time to really write the things she was supposed to be writing, and that was her excuse, and she had completely justified it to herself. That was wild to me.

Perhaps it is just the angle, but the brow of that new mask makes Barry look like a caveman thinking really hard.

Miucin has decided to follow the undergraduate plagiarism playbook yet again: “Whoa, professor, I agree that this looks bad, but I have absolutely no idea how this happened. Maybe there just aren’t very many original things to say about [classic novel].”

I’ll happily admit it’s the weakest of the Netflix seasons (only just though), but it really wasn’t the absolute abomination many people try to make it out as being

The show wasn’t always successful at getting all that across, which didn’t help either.

If the season really wants to shine, though, it’s going to have to make sure that he remembers and appreciates all of the people in his corner that are really making Iron Fist thrilling.

This sounds interesting. Vincenzo Natali can be a little indulgent — his episodes of Hannibal played out like the Bryan Fuller version of show that was already by Bryan Fuller — but he’s made interesting things. And Patrick Wilson has carved out a niche as the intense middle-class dude who only thinks he is ready for…

Real question: Has anyone seen her in anything where she was especially good? I’ve never found her acting to be more than average, but would love to watch something she was good in.