The L Word changed the world. When the series debuted in January 2004, it was the first of its kind to portray lesbian life in an aspirational light. As in, so many women and queer people watching really, really wanted the glamorous, hyperdramatized lives of these somewhat (okay, very) flawed but ambitious, attractive, and proudly out (for the most part) women.
Many of these envy-worthy lesbians are connected by the Chart, a whiteboard (turned website in later seasons) drawing lines between hookups of queer women around the globe, oddly personifying the interconnectedness of, well, real queer women around the world.
If you’re like us, you already know that Veronica Mars turned 10 earlier this week. You also likely binge-watched all three seasons of the Rob Thomas teen-detective show leading up to the Kickstarter-funded film sequel that arrived in theaters this past March. But even if you remember all of the details of the goings-on in the town of Neptune — the names of each and every mean girl, the 09er frat boys, the PCHer gang members, and the wide array of special guest-stars who roll into town for a quick visit (Paris Hilton, Kevin Smith, Aaron Paul, Joss Whedon, and Kristin Cavallari, to name but a few) — it’s never not going to be fun to revisit the series about a young detective (Kristen Bell) who understands more about the dark side of human nature than any teenage girl ever should.
Spend your Valentine’s Day listening to this guy. What is love? Baby … don’t hurt me, but you’ve got to love the way comedy music has progressed and expanded in the last two decades. A genre once defined solely by one curly-haired parodist now boasts a veritable canon of material provided by shows Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Big Mouth; sketch groups like the Lonely Island; guitar duos like Garfunkel and Oates, Flight of the Conchords, and Tenacious D; and artists like Reggie Watts, Bo Burnham, and Awkwafina.
From a new Miyazaki movie to Mortal Kombat Legends. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Disney, GKIDS, Universal Pictures Some bittersweet themes — retirement, aging, and endings generally — run through several of the upcoming animated film and TV releases of the fall, a time when nature slows down, the air chills, and we find excuses to break out our cozy sweaters. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the new animation isn’t stuffed with life or liveliness.
1923 Nothing Left to Lose Season 1 Episode 8 Editor’s Rating 4 stars **** «Previous Next « PreviousEpisode Next Episode » 1923 Nothing Left to Lose Season 1 Episode 8 Editor’s Rating 4 stars **** «Previous Next « PreviousEpisode Next Episode » “Nothing Left to Lose” was not the finale episode I anticipated — like, not even close — but maybe (just maybe!
Rapper 2 Chainz, legal name Tauheed Epps, has been hospitalized after a three-car crash in Miami last night. Epps seemingly confirmed the news by sharing a video on his Instagram Story of what looks like Epps sitting in an ambulance, with a car heavily damaged in the background. TMZ reports that his car was hit from behind by a driver who was suspected to be under the influence as Epps was exiting the freeway.
Battleship Potemkin. Everyone knows about how great the Criterion Channel is, but have you heard about the Kino Film Collection? You should. The film distributor Kino Lorber — known for its arthouse and international releases — launched its own channel on Prime Video in November. For $5.99 per month, the collection includes new Kino Lorber releases like Chile ’76 and Four Daughters along with hundreds of catalog titles from acclaimed filmmakers like Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Bujalski, Jia Zhangke, Jafar Panahi, and Todd Haynes.
Jurnee Smollett as Eve. I don’t quite remember the first summer I went to Loreauville, Louisiana. But I distinctly recall the emotions of returning to those acres of land, where my great-grandfather built a home we’ve called our own for 100 years — awe and glory, love and hope, and a twinge of melancholy. These same emotions take hold whenever I watch Eve’s Bayou, the debut of writer-director Kasi Lemmons, which premiered 20 years ago this month and uses rural Louisiana as the setting of its spellbinding tale about a young black girl’s adolescence.
When it feels like the world’s against you, you’ve got to rise up and take action. That’s something queer people have been doing in cinema since the beginning: kicking ass, doing crime, and shaking up a society that feels built to discard them. Queerness and crime manifest themselves in different ways in cinema’s history: Lawbreaking can be a last-ditch effort to make an impact; a desire to integrate into society or remain further from the mainstream; a glorious revenge on heteronormative society — or it can just be really freaking fun.
The Showtime reality series Gigolos (Thursdays at 11 p.m.), which traces the lives of four poorly dressed male prostitutes with bad tattoos, inspires a lot of double-takes from the viewer. They’re caused by the full-frontal nudity and the awkward, graphic hookups with and allegedly paid for by women, but the biggest “Whaaa?” comes during the credits, when it lists Richard Grieco as executive producer. Yes, it’s the same torn-jeans-wearing Richard Grieco who starred alongside Johnny Depp on 21 Jump Street, then moved on to the spinoff Booker, then such movies as Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain and the upcoming Mighty Thor.