Emma. movie review: this queen bee has a bitter sting
A sly, penetrating zing and a frisson of Insta-influencer horror — of the oppression of performative perfection against a marzipan backdrop — renders Austen’s fluff and nonsense deadly serious.
Clueless
Booksmart movie review: these kids today, with their academic overachievement and their niceness…
A rare treat: a perfect film. Smart, funny, wise, sparkling with wit both visually and in its snappy dialogue. A self-assured directorial debut from Olivia Wilde, confident and effortless. Pure joy.
The Boss movie review: hooray for girl power (boo for nowhere near enough)
Plays with hierarchies and rivalries of women’s lives that often aren’t seen onscreen, and embraces women as powerful. But it’s just not very funny about it.
Barely Lethal movie review: hidden in plain sight
Charming and funny, a wonderfully sweet and silly mashup of spy stuff and high-school comedies, like if John Hughes made a James Bond movie.
The DUFF movie review: a kinder shade of cruel
This high-school comedy avoids the worst clichés of the genre and resists rather than indulges the worst tendencies of adolescence. Which is a rare thing.
cinematic roots of: ‘Easy A’
In Easy A, Emma Stone — in a story based on the classic novel The Scarlet Letter — learns how cruel teenagers can be when she pretends to be the sluttiest slut their high school has ever known. This flick sprang from (among other films)…
trailer break: ‘Easy A’
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… Oh, gosh, it’s The Scarlet Letter done up Clueless style! Awesome! And ya gotta love that the slut-shaming of poor adorable Emma Stone comes about as a result of her trying to help a male friend from getting gay-bashed (though I don’t think the best way to … more…
question of the day: Is Brittany Murphy a tragic symbol of what Hollywood does to women?
I’ve been racking my brain for the last 12 hours, since I heard about the death of actress Brittany Murphy, for the best way to talk about her death, or, indeed, whether I should even mention her at all. Is there anything here worth talking about beyond the — let’s be honest — generic sorrow … more…
Legally Blonde movie review: counsel for the defense
May it please the court, the evidence will show that the defendant Elle Woods, in the person of Reese Witherspoon, is not the dumb blonde bunny of which she is accused of being. Further, your honor, the evidence will show that just because the movie my client is associated with is silly doesn’t mean it doesn’t have something smart to say.
