Movies

By Crystal Bell Less than a minute into our conversation, Leah Lewis tells me how she’s been taking care of herself — “mentally and physically” — while quarantining in her Los Angeles home. It’s late April, and the usually benign question of “how are you doing?” is now a loaded phrase that means, in essence, “how are you coping?” The 23-year-old star of The Half of It assures me she’s been eating a lot (she and her boyfriend challenge each other to cook-offs in the kitchen), reading a lot (she’s currently in the middle of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood), calling a lot (she talks to her best friend and co-star Alexxis Lemire at least “five times a day”), and painting her toenails a lot. She journals every day, a ho...

By Crystal Bell Daniel Diemer spruces up a small area of his Studio City apartment for a full day of Zoom interviews in promotion of the new Netflix film The Half of It, but he only keeps things professional from the waist up. A sartorial mullet, of sorts. “I’m wearing sweatpants,” the 23-year-old actor says matter-of-factly over the phone. He’s sitting in front of the television in his living room, where his roommates are currently prohibited from snacking too loudly, telling me about his days as a teenage gig worker in his Canadian hometown, British Columbia’s Brentwood Bay. In no specific order, he coached ping pong, picked blueberries, published a children’s book about a penguin detective, did some low-level accounting work, coached tennis at the same summ...

DC fans, rejoice: The Snyder Cut of Justice League is finally being released! Well, kind of. Director Zack Snyder, who initially helmed the 2017 superhero blockbuster but left before production was complete due to a family tragedy, revealed on Wednesday (May 20) that the world will soon indeed get to see his vision of the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Snyder Cut will hit the new streaming service HBO Max (launching on May 27), likely sometime in 2021. The final shape it’ll take remains a question, though it could be one four-hour cut of the film or split up into six “chapters.” After Snyder left the film in mid-2017, Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought in to retool the film and to keep its slated release date in November. But the mythical Snyder Cut...

By Crystal Bell Director Alice Wu knows the power of a deadline. If her years as a software engineer for Microsoft taught her anything, it’s that true efficiency is achieved through self-imposed stress (and better time management skills, but that’s besides the point). In late 2016, she applied that knowledge to a script she had been mulling over for months. The filmmaker cut a check for $1,000, sent it to a trusted friend, and made them promise: If she didn’t finish the draft in five weeks, the money would be donated to the National Rifle Association. The guilt, coupled with constant pressure from her close circle of progressive friends, was just the motivation she needed to finish it. So in a weird way, Wu has the NRA to thank for what would eventually become The Half of...

What’s perhaps most memorable about 1983’s classic, Martha Coolidge-directed teen romance, Valley Girl, is its “trippin’-dicular” soundtrack, anchored by Modern English‘s “I Melt with You,” which plays over one important montage and closes out the end credits. The iconic track makes a reprise in the musical update to the charming ’80s time capsule, which arrived on-demand on May 8, but it is bolstered by the addition of other popular cuts from the era, including songs by Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Joan Jett. In addition to its sparkly sonic identity, the 2020 film comes with new faces and new themes. Starring Jessica Rothe and Josh Whitehouse, as well as controversial YouTuber Logan Paul, the remake riffs on the...