Until 2005, Jeannette Walls was best known for being the gossip writer for MSNBC.com — which is to say she wasn’t known at all. Us Weekly staffers used to receive a thick gossip roundup packet each morning, and the Xeroxed print-out of her column was perpetually located in the back because her items were so expendable. […]
The Gunslinger vs. The Man in Black. Does this rivalry mean anything to you? Hint: It has nothing to do with Johnny Cash or Smokey from Lost. If the answer is yes, the ensuing review of The Dark Tower will likely be worthless. You’ve already invested time in the inner-workings of Stephen King’s landmark eight-book […]
Deep in the frozen tundra of a Wyoming Native American reservation, a teen girl’s body is found bloodied and barefoot in the snow. What happened and how did she get there? That’s the simple premise behind Wind River. A somber yet riveting thriller, the film simmers with tension amid a stinging and unforgiving backdrop. This […]
Dunkirk needs to be seen on an IMAX screen, Andy Serkis will not get an Oscar nomination for War of the Planet of the Apes, comic wonder Tiffany Hadish is the new Melissa McCarthy, and do not take your kids to The Emoji Movie no matter how much they beg. Now that July movie burning questions have […]
Full disclosure: Detroit is a movie that hits uncomfortably close to home — and yet, in many ways, is a foreign-language period piece. I grew up in the Southeastern Michigan suburbs in the 1980s. My mom and her family lived downtown in its bustling heyday. And like many other Caucasians, they ultimately uprooted to safe confines […]
The Emoji Movie depicts a bleak dystopia in which teens are so engrossed in looking down at their smart phones that they bump into each other and fall to the pavement. They can’t be bothered with texting because, as one student declares, “words aren’t cool.” Only miniature icons will do. Truly disturbing stuff. I wish […]
I’m back in my home city for the Detroit premiere at the Fox Theater. Here’s my report live from the red carpet on July 25 . (That’s exactly 50 years to the day of the events that transpire in the drama.)
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah, five months early. The nice folks at Comic-Con have given us all a sled-load of shiny presents — in the form of brand spanking-new movie trailers. Now it’s time to unwrap the superheroes, super villains and super-familiar franchises coming soon. MaraMovies decides which trailers should be treasured . . . or […]
Julia Roberts recently signed a deal with Amazon. She’s going to star in a drama called Homecoming. It’s based on a six-part podcast from Gimlet Media that launched in November. The fictional political thriller, created by red-hot Sam Esmail of Mr. Robot (and Mr. Emmy Rossum) fame, centers on staffers at a secret government agency and […]
“Are you going to Comic-Con this year?” “You should go to Comic-Con.” “Ohmigod, I love love going to Comic Con!” I hear the first two sentences at the outset of each summer. I’ve never heard the last sentence in my life. Every mid-July, hordes of sci-fi and comic book fanatics leave Mom’s basement and descend […]