Of all the shows you list, most of them (12) are HBO originals, Starstruck and The Tourist are imports, etc. The real “Max originals” are Hacks, The Flight Attendant, Station Eleven, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Made for Love and Our Flag Means Death (to which I would gladly add Harley Quinn, Peacemaker, The Other…

HBO is far from self-destructing. It’s actually the division of Warner Bros. Discovery which is the safest at this point, it’s just that their name is taken out of the streaming service to make it look more palatable to the red states, as Zaslav assumes that people would otherwise think that it’s intended specifically…

They’re reviewing Ted Lasso every week, because they think that a major entertainment site focusing on TV is supposed to be reviewing the comedy that’s winning all the Emmys and if they didn’t it would look like a major oversight on the front page. But you can notice for instance that the reviews for a few shows like…

Celebration is actually a scaled-down version of the original concept for EPCOT, before the name was reused for the crappy theme park that’s part of Disneyland.

I confess that I was trying to be provocative and sarcastic with that phrasing. And you’re right to point out that we’re applying modern constructions and concepts to something that read much differently at the times. But the physical thing that got much mentioned about Cleopatra is her looks and her big nose, not the…

One thing is sure, given the official representations that she more or less approved. Cleopatra would “identify” as white. The contemporary historians failed to depict her as exotic-looking or dark-skinned (even if she actually was), the Roman leaders didn’t regard her as an inferior due to her race (being a woman…

There is gaslighting. There was definitely racism and prejudice based on the color of the skin. But the issue at hand here is that Americans are projecting their own local model of systemic racism relying on slavery and discrimination onto the history of other countries, erasing their specificities, just to…

It’s becoming something of an issue in many foreign countries. I get it that every country should have a debate about cultural representation and appropriation, about the things people take as “granted” because they’re old and established, while they are actually anything but granted.

It’s interesting that the date gone wrong between Nate and Anastasia was very reminiscent of Taxi Driver, when a very misguided Travis Bickle, who knows no better, invites Betsy to watch a porn movie and she takes the first excuse to leave. Except that Anastasia here is simply callous as she can’t stand being at a…

“Lucasfilm announced that Dave Filoni will make his feature directorial debut”

On Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft or Rough and Rowdy Ways, his singing is quite controlled and appropriate to his vocal range. And the PPV special from 2021, Shadow Kingdom (which is easy to find as a bootleg), showed that he could revisit his old songs with extremely interesting new arrangements and strong vocals.…

Just check a song such as Moonshiner or Percy’s Song, which both remained unissued for several decades. In the sixties and seventies, he could he sing in tune whenever he wanted. He had a limited voice, but also more than compensated it with expressivity, pushing the expectations of what a rock ‘n roll singer could…

I guess that the terms of the deal for the buyout specifically prevented Disney from firing him during a specific amount of time.

Perlmutter had nothing to do with Marvel Studios for a decade. Due to him interfering with production (like the Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle thing), Disney took advantage of some corporate reorganization to have Kevin Feige answer directly to the head of film at Disney, Alan Horn, with Perlmutter no longer part of his…

You’re entirely right.

The ladder stuff came out of necessity in the game. They needed something quite long where very little happens to download the next part of the map in the background without showing a “loading…” screen. Same thing as the lifts in Mass Effect 1.

One of the nurses in surgery was played by Laura Bailey, who was Abbi in TLoU part II.

I suggest a much more challenging feature to write.

Allison Williams has been in two horror hits (Get Out and M3gan). Ebon Moss-Bachrach is now in The Bear. Gaby Hoffmann did Transparent (handled possibly by an even more irritating showrunner than Dunham herself), and Lena Dunham was at her best in Seven Days in Hell, as the Jordache designer.

Which is the main issue of Don’t Look Up. The message is that big decisions are being taken by terrible people and that we’re doing nothing about it, because we’re easily distracted by stupid shit. Compare this with Glass Onion, a film that asks us to see powerful people for what they are, rather than supposedly…