Film
10 Happy Gilmore Quotes You Probably Say All the Time
Adam Sandler hit a hole in one with Happy Gilmore. The blockbuster sports comedy completely changed the game for the Saturday Night Live comic, extending his appeal well beyond the bratty teens who were already quoting his albums and sketches. Now, Sandler was winning over their parents. Blame it on golf, or Bob Barker, or the ‘70s-fueled soundtrack, but the film was the rare ubiquitous hit for the comedy genre. Everybody saw it, everybody quoted it, and everybody wanted more of Sandler. Not much has changed in the 25 years since its release. Sandler remains a hot commodity, continuing to fascinate us in the most surprising ways (see: 2019’s Uncut Gems), and Happy Gilmore is still one of the most rewatchable and quotable comedies. Editors’ Picks So quotable that it’s almost become a ...
Emma Stone Goes Full Disney Villain in Trailer for Cruella: Watch
At long last, Emma Stone is doing something she’s never done before: go full-blown villain. Disney has just released the trailer for Cruella, their new live-action movie about the iconic 101 Dalmatians antagonist Cruella de Vil, and Stone slips into the titular role with plenty of panache. Watch it below. In the video, Stone commits to the bit by playing up the camp icon’s over-the-top persona and establishing herself as a woman who shouldn’t be messed with. The Oscar-winning actress previously described Cruella as “punk rock”. Between the set design taking place in 1970’s London and her runway-ready gothic outfits, it looks like she was right to make that comparison. Cruella will serve as a prequel to the events of 101 Dalmatians in the same way that Maleficent reimagined what happen...
Happy Gilmore’s Shooter McGavin Is the Perfect Comedy Villain
Editor’s Note: This op-ed originally ran in 2016 for the 20th anniversary of Happy Gilmore. Today, we’ve dusted it off for the 25th anniversary of the Adam Sandler blockbuster. So, grab your clubs, your gold jacket, and meet us in the sand. Happy Gilmore is basically perfect. Disagree with me? That’s your right, but I’m going to stab you with this skate. There’s a lot that makes Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler’s 1996 golf-idiot-savant comedy, so wonderful. Part of it is that it’s almost gleefully simple: failed hockey player discovers that his lousy slap shot could be good for golf and uses his newfound power to save Grandma’s house in a battle of homegrown hero versus rich prick. Part of it is that it’s just funny, made before Sandler started to exhaust his schlumpy charms. But more than anyt...
Tim Burton’s Batman Returns in New DC Comics Series
Cue up the Danny Elfman score — maybe even Prince’s “Batdance” — and get ready to revisit Tim Burton’s Batman universe. Today, DC Comics announced they’re spending this summer in the filmmaker’s Dark Deco’d Gotham City with Batman ’89. Written by original screenwriter Sam Hamm and brought to the page by artist Joe Quinones, the DC Digital First series will tell all new adventures featuring Michael Keaton’s incarnation of Batman. A press release promises the return of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, the debut of a new Robin (perhaps Marlon Wayans, as originally planned?), and the two-faced evolution of Billy Dee Williams’ Harvey Dent. Altogether, there will be 12 new chapters that “pull on a number of threads left dangling by the prolific director.” The first six will debut on July 27th with ...
Bridgerton Actor Rege-Jean Page to Star in Dungeons & Dragons Movie
Rege-Jean Page, the breakout actor of Netflix’s wildly popular Bridgerton series, has been tapped to star in Paramount’s upcoming Dungeons & Dragons feature. The 31-year-old will join a cast that so far includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Justice Smith. The movie adaptation of the beloved role-playing game is being helmed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who previously co-directed 2018’s Game Night. The two re-wrote a D&D script that was based on an original draft from Michael Gilio, and the feature is set to arrive on May 27th, 2022 (though who knows with COVID). Pine was tapped to appear in the film back in December, and earlier this month, Rodriguez and Smith were enlisted to join the collaboration between Paramount Pictures and Hasbro. ...
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar Deserved to Go to Sold-Out Theaters: Review
The Pitch: Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo reunite as screenwriters a decade after Bridesmaids, this time co-starring as the eponymous leads in a new raunchy comedy. Is the magic still there for another hugely successful laugh riot? A Movie That Oughta Be in Theaters: Movies like Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar are a good reason why it remains heartbreaking that movie theaters are mostly ghost towns these days. The new comedy from Lionsgate Pictures was originally intended for theatrical release last summer, and there’s little doubt that it would be best served by playing in front of a large, boisterous crowd. It’s not to suggest that Barb and Star is bad; anything but. Yet it’s undeniably the kind of film that would work at the height of its powers with a ready audience gobbling up every ...
Full Trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League Revealed: Watch
Like a Valentine’s Day gift showing love to all the fans who made this happen, HBO Max has shared the full trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Check it out below. The first preview of Zack Snyder’s director’s cut of the critically panned 2017 film actually arrived back in August, but a lot has changed since then. Most notably, Snyder convinced Warner Bros. to allow him to do reshoots, with the studio offering up a reported $40 million for additional footage. That’s on top of the $30 million they’d already allotted him to add new score from original composer Junkie XL, redo special effects and coloring (including turning Superman’s suit black), and bring to life the script’s primary antagonist, Darkseid. As if all that weren’t enough, Snyder actually added a whole new character to his...
Judas and the Black Messiah Puts a Nostalgic Lens On a Modern-Day Struggle: Review
The Pitch: The early morning of December 4th, 1969 served as an exclamation point for this country’s most tumultuous decade. The assassinations of Medgar Evers, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X; became jarring reminders that the virtues of morality, peace, and equality would never supersede the ideology that the United States was built on – racism. At 21 years old, Fred Hampton’s life may have been cut short, but his legacy continues to live on. Directed by Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah is not only a film about the political killing of one of the movement’s most promising figures, but an exploration of the inner turmoil plaguing the man who set him up – and the mindset of many others like him. In a powerful montage, the film opens with footage focused on quotes and spee...
Trump’s Lawyers Used Madonna and Johnny Depp in Impeachment Defense
Madonna (photo by Paul Morigi), Donald Trump, and Johnny Depp (photo via YouTube) Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial has been taking place over the past few days, and his lawyers haven’t been doing that great of a job defending him. For example, on Friday they argued that Democrats have previously used the same type of provocative language that Democrats are now claiming the former president used to incite the Capitol siege. To prove their point, Trump’s lawyers played a video that featured “fight” rhetoric used by Madonna and Johnny Depp, neither of whom provoked a violence insurrection. Trump’s attorney David Schoen accused the House impeachment managers of deceptively editing Trump’s words in their own video, which focused on Trump’s rallying cries on January 6th that were the...
New Tom Petty Documentary To Premiere at SXSW 2021 Film Festival
With Sundance now behind us, South by Southwest has gone ahead and announced its feature film lineup for 2021. Set to take place virtually from March 16th to 20th, the Austin-based festival will screen nearly a hundred new features. Not surprisingly, the major highlights of the lineup are of the musical variety, specifically documentaries Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, and the Charli XCX-focused Alone Together. “It’s been a year unlike any we’ve experienced, first marked by the cancellation of SXSW 2020,” said Janet Pierson, Director of Film. “We feel privileged to have been able to pivot to SXSW Online and present a fantastic treasure trove of programming, including a pared down and wonderful selection of films that we know will delight, ente...
Robin Wright Tries to Ground Herself in the Sumptuous But Hollow Land: Review
The Pitch: Edee (Robin Wright) wants to get away from it all — life, family, civilization. She’s mourning something, or rather, escaping, but we don’t know precisely what. Flashbacks to a husband (Warren Christie), a son, and a concerned sister (Kim Dickens) give us plenty of clues, though. Packing up a U-Haul and driving across the country from Chicago to a remote cabin in Quincy, Wyoming, Edee makes it clear that she wants to be left alone to fend for herself. Edee sends the truck and U-Haul away, leaving only herself and a sparse collection of canned food to fill her new home. Naturally, the city slicker doesn’t make it long before weather, starvation, and dangerous wildlife force the intervention of a kind stranger named Miguel (Demián Bichir), who helps her back on her feet and t...
Debating the Essential Hannibal Lecter
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Art is subjective. Music and movies aren’t about competition; they’re about artistic expression. Well, for those of you who know better than to believe those lies, welcome to another installment of Vs. This time, Justin Gerber, Clint Worthington, and Dominick Suzanne-Mayer debate over who played the best Hannibal Lector as Ridley Scott’s Hannibal turns 20 and Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs turns 30. Mind you, this piece originally ran in 2016. Justin Gerber: I grew up on Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal. It earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor. It gave his career a boost it desperately needed, and he’s been pretty much riding the waves ever since. He’s great. No question. However, there’s something about the laissez-faire performance of Brian...
