It’s almost the Christmas season, and once again Netflix merely teases us with in-jokes alluding to the Christmas Prince movies instead of providing a new installment from that cherished cinematic universe. However, the streamer has still come through with a half-dozen new holiday rom-coms and a heartwarming family tale. This year’s Christmas movies are a mix of riffs on existing stories (you’ll see some inspiration drawn from Serendipity and Magic Mike), and unique hooks that may or may not fulfill expectations. Regardless we’ve got hunky snowmen and shirtless dancers, winking nods to Mean Girls and Love Actually, and quite the…

This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. “I like to have fun, you know?” Steven Soderbergh has clearly been having a ball directing over 30 feature films (averaging one per year) since his auspicious 1989 Palme d’Or-winning debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. That body of work has been anything but predictable, from pulpy crime movies (Out of Sight, The Limey) to sci-fi (Solaris) to comedies (Let Them All Talk) to sports flicks (High Flying Bird) to eccentric biopics (Che, Behind the Candelabra). Arguably, the only genres he hasn’t tackled are…

Kyle Mooney still vividly remembers New Year’s Eve 1999. At age 15 he was sitting on his couch with a friend watching MTV and waiting (hoping?) for the world to end. It didn’t happen. Looking back on the evening, the SNL alum smirks and then points out that it was like the “opposite of COVID-19. So many people thought it would be nothing and it turned out to be one of the worst things to happen.” Nonetheless, the memory of the infamous Y2K panic that led to nowhere—and that New York minute where folks were confident the end was nigh…

This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. One of Stanley Tucci’s earliest memories is from the 1964 World’s Fair. “I remember very clearly going to the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens when they built that whole thing,” Tucci tells Den of Geek magazine in an exclusive interview. “I was three, seeing this robot talking, and I remember thinking, ‘That’s incredible, that is the future. I have it so clearly in my mind.” Those animatronics, made by Walt Disney, are a matter of public record. However, there are events following…

This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. Occasionally there is a movie where the plot, the direction, and the special-effects magic all fall by the wayside, and people have just one question: “What was it like working with the star?” It is one of our first questions. “Well, he’s very demanding,” says the film’s director Dougal Wilson. Then, perhaps fearing retaliation, he corrects himself. “No, he’s very reasonable, very hardworking, and very professional.” He is talking about Paddington Bear, the star of Paddington, Paddington 2, and, of course, the…

It is often a function for any awards prognosticator to suggest that this year, whichever it might be, is the most competitive we’ve seen in ages. Sometimes this is true, and sometimes it amounts to a bit of creative fiction, with industry watchers straining to imagine a scenario where anyone could seriously challenge Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for Best Picture, Director, and the whole slew of other awards it inevitably won last March. Still, with all that being said, we can say in complete honesty and without a sense of hyperbole that this year, 2024, might indeed be the most competitive…

Margot Robbie is still befuddled about why Babylon flopped two Christmases ago. For some it might be a strange thing to linger on. The Oscar-nominated actress and producer found immediate mega-success afterward courtesy of the cultural juggernaut that was Barbie (as well as her work as producer on smaller streaming hits like Saltburn and My Old Ass). Yet for Robbie, who recently sat down with Ben Mankiewicz for the Talking Pictures podcast, Damien Chazelle’s epic about the bygone era of Golden Age Hollywood during the height and demise of the silent movie feels like unfinished business. “I love it, I…

A man walks alone in the snow. Hours earlier on this frigid morning, local Romani took his horse and left him stranded—a cruelty or a comfort, depending how you read their warning not to seek out the desolate castle on a hill. There, he is told, awaits only shadow and demons; a nightmare without end. For anyone who has seen F.W. Murnau’s original Nosferatu from more than a century ago, as well as many of the other films that have played in Bram Stoker’s crypt, this all has the unmistakable air of familiarity. Yet in rarefied moments, Robert Eggers’ 2024…

This article appears in the new issue of DEN OF GEEK magazine. You can read all of our magazine stories here. Nobody could forget the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the doomed bloodbath that became a surprise victory in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. But who remembers the king who gave the setting its name? King Helm Hammerhand was a legendary ruler of the horse-loving kingdom of Rohan, whose story was outlined briefly in J.R.R. Tolkien’s appendices to The Lord of the Rings. This December’s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim casts Succession’s Brian Cox…

When folks think of James Bond, a lot of things can come to mind: a finely tailored tuxedo complete with cuffs; a vodka martini shaken, not stirred, and with a lemon twist if you’re a literary purist; or sometimes just beautiful women in an exotic locale. Whatever vice or trapping you imagine for the character, chances are all of the above involves excitement. Action! It’s been the appeal of the character from the very beginning when he sprang from author Ian Fleming’s typewriter. Yet the literary James Bond, it should be noted, is not the cinematic superhero he inspired. Fleming’s…

“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.” So speaks Zuzu Bailey in Frank Capra’s classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). While we cannot attest to her theological assertion, it might surprise you to know that much of the emotional truth of that film, and its story of an optimistic man finding himself down and out, and existentially stressed in postwar America, is partially drawn from James Stewart’s own life. “It’s a Wonderful Life has become synonymous with the holidays and with spiritual rebirth and perseverance, all those things that really embodied Jim were infused into this picture…

Happy holidays! Whether you’re a staunch believer that the holiday season shouldn’t start until December 1st or the type of person who keeps their decorations up year-round, there’s no denying that we could all probably use a little extra magic this time of year. Thankfully, between cable and streaming service there’s plenty of holiday cheer to go around with an impressive number of holiday movies and TV shows available to watch throughout November and December 2024. No matter when you might catch the festive bug this season, you’re bound to find something that will spark the good tidings and joy…

While 2024 is not entirely over, it’s certainly winding down on some cold notes as the nights grow longer and the weather brisker. The holiday season leaves some relieved, others restless. For us, it’s a chance to take stock of the year that’s been and to count whatever blessings you can find. And even in a year as marked by upheaval and post-strike fallout as 2024, there have been more than a few occasions in film and television to get us grinning. So without further ado, here are some of the movie and TV moments to be thankful for in…

The most important scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t when Tony Stark tells a crowd, “I am Iron Man.” It isn’t when Black Panther first exclaims, “Wakanda Forever!” It isn’t when Thanos snaps his fingers. It’s when the Avengers slump down after the Battle of New York and enjoy some much deserved shawarma. The heroes don’t do anything spectacular. They have their costumes undone and they slouch instead of stand. They don’t even speak with one another. At that moment, the MCU crystalized into a franchise less about superheroes using their fantastic powers to save the world, and more…

Where is the Batman? Lately, that’s a question asked not just by Gotham City criminals, but by superhero movie fans as well. With The Batman and The Penguin winning over fans to Matt Reeves‘s realistic take on the world of the Dark Knight and DC Studios relaunching their universe, expectations for the Caped Crusader have never been higher. While speaking with Collider, DC Studios co-head James Gunn provided an update about the future of the Batman in the revamped DCU. “There’s no set timeline for anything,” Gunn said. “The one thing that I’ve tried to make clear to people from…

This article contains Gladiator II spoilers. “Filling the Colosseum with water looks silly,” one friend said months ago after the first trailer for Gladiator II dropped. “Why are there battleships in the arena?” asked another while watching the scene where Paul Mescal’s Lucius manned an oar and dodged arrows before the mob of Rome. Yet as you have likely heard by now, the Romans really did stage miniature naval battles for the citizenry’s amusement and distraction—including probably inside the Colosseum (though some still dispute the claim). Even so, there is one element in Gladiator II that does strain incredulity: the…

When it comes to climactic finales, a great sword fight can put an action movie over the top. From the classic swashbucklers of the 1950s to the global genres of samurai dramas and Kung Fu flicks—not to mention the occasional fantasy or comedy—sword fights are the cutting edge of fight choreography.  The best sword fights fuse emotionally charged conflicts with precisely choreographed action. The stakes must be big for characters to want to cut each other so deeply. And there are so many levels of great sword fights. As absurd as it seems, the hilarious fight between King Arthur (Graham…

“It’s like being inside joy.” That’s how Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) describes the experience of entering the Nexus, the strange phenomenon that drives the plot in Star Trek: Generations. When one enters the Nexus, their deepest desires, their deepest needs, come to life. Which is why the scientist Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell) will do anything he can to get back to it after he’s ripped away during a Starfleet rescue mission. The Nexus provides more or less what you’d expect for William Shatner’s James T. Kirk, including a ranch with horses, the promise of adventure around the corner, and a (probably)…

Would 2021 be the year “the movie musical took its last bow?” Like many others, The Guardian posited exactly such doom and gloom after Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights flopped (as did the Dear Evan Hansen movie, but that one was less surprising…). Meanwhile Ridley Scott himself lamented the movie diets of Millennials when he complained in the same year that younger filmgoers didn’t show up for The Last Duel.  Had movie tastes permanently changed for the worse after the pandemic? We’ll admit that even we entertained some of this, as did The…

When Wicked opened on Broadway 21 years ago, famed New York Times critic Ben Brantley provided the musical with one of his typically backhanded notices. While giving high marks for Kristin Chenoweth’s undeniable talent in creating Galinda, as well as specific elements of the production like Eugene Lee’s sets, the Times arbiter remained cool toward the musical’s songs, book, and even its allegorical ambitions. “As a parable of fascism and freedom, Wicked so overplays its hand that it seriously dilutes its power to disturb,” Brantley wrote when comparing the show’s vividly technicolor subtexts to the more opaque leanings of L.…