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Road House (2024): Big Brawling
The new Road House, a remake of the 1989 cult classic by director Doug Liman, recently hit the screens at SXSW
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FRIDA (2024) for AWFJ
…From the start Frida is awash in micro-hilarities, observations spoken with quirked lips, the pigmented blues of loss, passion splashed in red, and sunlit happiness interrupted by grey. The film is methodical and restrained yet exquisitely rendered…
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Farewell, Sensei: Legendary Mangaka Akira Toriyama
Today, we stand at the precipice of an era, mourning the passing of the legendary mangaka, Akira Toriyama
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Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ Confirmed for Two More Seasons
The global phenomenon, Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender has officially been renewed for two more seasons
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The Gentlemen: The Criminals and the Guns Keep Smoking
Guy Ritchie, the maestro of cheeky British crime dramas, is at it again with his latest Netflix series The Gentlemen.
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Drive-Away Dolls: A Road Trip Romp
Imagine if Thelma and Louise went wild on a road trip with sexual contraband and a penchant for late-1900s sex comedies (yes, I’m giggling too). That’s the essence of Drive-Away Dolls, a movie that takes…
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Hallmark’s Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen with a Fairytale Flair and Romanclusivity
This film has the quality of illustrations lifted off the pages of a book of fairytales. The characters are flawless, the costuming is vivid whimsy flirting on the fantastical, and the storytelling carries the harder…
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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Film Event: Are You Ready for Hashira Training?
Alright, everyone, let’s talk about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba first. This is the anime/manga that brought me back after a few years away. Its compelling narrative refuses to let you sit still, pushing and…
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True Detective Season 5 is a Go! And Issa López is Back!
Good news, True Detective fans! HBO is bringing back your favorite gritty crime drama for a fifth season, hot on the heels of the fourth season’s triumphant finish.
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The Ever Expanding Universe of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
The anticipation is palpable for Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. With the original creators parting ways due to creative differences, the buzz around the show has been undeniable. The question on everyone’s…
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DUNE: Part Two – Once Again Arrakis Decides the Fate of the Universe
The number of people who were crushed at the end of DUNE: Part One is astronomical. If you’ve never read the books, you had no idea that Denis Villeneuve couldn’t possibly complete more than a…
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Will Trent: The Good Gets Better
Will Trent returns tonight for a second round as one of the top two shows on ABC and I have a confession. The first time I watched episodes 1 and 2, I did it for…
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Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
‘Lore of the Wilds’ combines the allure of star-crossed romance with the mystique of fae lore, proving as tricky as treacherous.
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Congratulations to True Detective: Night Country!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
From the Critics Choice Association: The HBOMAX series has received the Critics Choice SOFEE Seal of Female Empowerment in Entertainment. The fourth installment of the hit crime-thriller anthology, is the first season to be led…
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Bob Marley: One Love is a Medley of Many Loves
The challenge with a biopic is to layer the truth with the legendary, to weave the introspective with the iconic. Bob Marley: One Love attains a delicate symphony, and while it occasionally loses focus due…
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SUNCOAST: Salty, Sweet, and Sobering
In this semi-autobiographical tale, helmed by Laura Chinn, a teenage girl is given the space to “get by” while dealing with the end-of-life decisions her family is facing. Doris (Nico Parker) juggles caring for her…
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Madame Web Does Nothing to Lure You In
At some point during my screening of Madame Web, I started looking for the fastest exit. I got a spider bite in Kerala, India, that turned into a mottled, purple-red blister and eventually sent me…
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One Day (2024)
One Day you’ll fall in love, but when? If you’re ready to dive headfirst into a whirlpool of emotional push and pull, you’re ready to press play…
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Lisa Frankenstein: This Undead Heart Misses a Few Beats
Here’s what we’re about to do. We’re about to go back. How far back? 1818 but also the 1980s because Frankenstein is shambling back for a revival. We had a fair warning when the Oscar-nominated…
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SCRAMBLED (2023)
The debut Leah McKendrick cracks open the complexities of fertility with its woman-disrupted sense of humor
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Argylle Review: My Grandmother Would Call it Foolishness (and She’d Be Right)
“Complexity is good in a spy caper,” you’ll need to chant that phrase for most of the 2 hours and 19 minutes runtime. In the realm of not-quite-right action comedies, there are falters and there…
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MONKEY MAN trailer: Glory to Hanuman
Adrenaline junkies, come out and play-aaah! Let’s watch the trailer for Dev Patel’s Monkey Man together ’cause its got more heatwaves than a car chase in a desert. Here’s the twist: Patel isn’t just the…
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Echoes of the Flower Moon: Martin Scorsese and Lily Gladstone at the National Museum of the American Indian
Sherin and Julian headed out to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian for a special event: a Killers of the Flower Moon ‘Clips and Conversations’ hosted by CNN’s Jake Tapper, featuring Academy Award…
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EXPATS (2024)
Delving into the lives of a close-knit expatriate community, the drama explores the mercurial interplay of friendships, rivalries, and secrets among a group of women, their men, and their other loves, after a series of…
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CRIMINAL RECORD
Are you caught up with Criminal Record yet? This new burner is a hard-bitten London crime drama about the police (pronounced POH-lice for emphasis because this series hits)
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Fitting In (for AWFJ)
This tale of teenaged awakening focuses on the upheaval that detonates when a girl realizes she’s not what society calls “normal”
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True Detective Night Country and Echo: Nations of Unstoppable Women
The connection between Echo and True Detective: Night Country goes beyond their Indigenous women leads; the ancestors, souls reaching back from death, and the power of women united are also prominent
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From StarWars.com: The Mandalorian and Grogu Journeys to the Big Screen
StarWars.com just dropped some good news for fans of The Mandalorian
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The Brothers Sun
Hostile family dynamics is what The Brothers Sun is all about (and it’ll make you feel a lot better about throwing that butter knife at your cousin)
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WHAT IF…? Season 2 Advent Swag
Disney+ sent us an advent calendar to celebrate the second season of their WHAT IF…? series. Keep in mind that we’re artist, so we made this: WHAT IF…?Season 2streamingnow new episodes everyday for 9 days…
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ORIGIN (for AWFJ)
Ava DuVernay is a sculptor of non-fiction, shaping her films into something real and yet interpretive. Her best work is art and reality all at once. Origin is only different in that it is her finest…
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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
Rebel Moon Part One should be good. It has all the component parts: a seasoned director, a story based on the Seven Samurai plot engine, gorgeous production design, a charming and ‘really really ridiculously good-looking’…
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The Taste of Things (for AWFJ)
Filmic Feasts are an irresistible category. The Taste of Things centers on chef Doudin Bouffant and his partnership with his cook, Eugénie.
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BOOK APPETIZER: Witches and Pirates turn the Tides of Love in ‘Sinner’s Isle’
Angela Montoya creates a vibrant world with fascinating cultures and magical systems in ‘Sinner’s Isle’
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American Fiction
As a form of protest, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison pens a satirical clapback called My Pafology, a novel filled with all the tropes he hates. That’s when Murphy’s Law kicks him in the throat (by turning…
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Wonka
I watched Wonka on Thanksgiving day because (the other alignments between Doctor Who and Willy Wonka) it felt like perfect timing.
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The Boy and the Heron
Miyizaki returns to the markers of his style. A young person (a boy this time but traditionally a girl) dealing with the repercussions of war and the portal fantasy through which they escape—but only for…
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Interviews with Colman Domingo and George C. Wolfe for Rustin + The Marvels, Scott Pilgrim, Saltburn, Poor Things, May December
It’s the SHERIN & MAE CAFE featuring Colman Domingo, George C. Wolfe, and a cameo from Julian. Along with the wildest movies we’ve seen in a while.
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MAY DECEMBER (FOR AWFJ)
In a review for AWFJ, Sherin explores the unsettling nature and ultimate effectiveness of May December
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The Marvels – Sherin’s Review
With those opposing portrayals at war in our minds, we went to see the latest MCU team-up with cautious hope
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Blue Eye Samurai
The pages of history are filled with women who posed as men to fight wars, either political or artistic. Not trans men (who also populated history), but women who donned the armor of masculinity that…
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Black Cake
Much like the dessert, Black Cake is many things, blending a murder mystery, a multi-generational drama, a historical thriller, and a tenderly resonant epic.
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Lupin Part 3 (Let’s call it The Third)
Season 2 of Lupin starts with Assane in hiding, separated from his family, and yet still unreformed. Things kick off with a heist and never stop rolling.
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LOKI Season 2 – Sherin’s Review
It’s been a while since a Marvel Studios property left me giddy about what’s next.
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Fair Play and the Game of Reversals
Chloe Domont wanted to challenge the belief that “success is a zero-sum game” and to indict the idea that “masculinity is an identity.” With those goals in mind, I’m calling Fair Play a Victory Royale.
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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar & Other Tales from Wes Anderson
Starting today, with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Netflix will roll out a series of four shorts based on Dahl’s work, written, directed, and produced by Anderson. The others are The Swan, The Rat…
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The Continental: From the World of John Wick and the Art of Vengeance
They made The Continental: From the World of John Wick for Peacock. Now, I get to play their dealer and tell you whether or not this new event series is a win.
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The Straw Hat Grand Fleet Returns: One Piece Gets Renewed For season 2
You already know the One Piece live-action news is good.
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The Other Black Girl
Spinning easily from horror to comedy, to satire, to thriller with “I know that’s right” writing, if you’re not engaged by The Other Black Girl you must be on melatonin.
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The Changeling
Apollo is a rare book dealer. He meets Emma, a librarian, and pursues her relentlessly. They get married and have a son named Brian, a boy who may not be who he seems.
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The Creator: In Search of Sci-Fi
Writer/director Gareth Edwards and co-writer Chris Weitz are asking: What if A.I. develops into androids and some nations grow with them while others turn on them? The answer is their upcoming film The Creator.
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Is it One Piece? Questioning the Live Action Series
When a live-action version of an anime, manga, or comic book happens, the fans ask one question first. Did they get it right? So, Is this One Piece?
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AHSOKA Comes With Gifts
Waiting for Tuesday night and its new episodes of Star Wars: AHSOKA is easier with this box of goodies
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Landscape with Invisible Hand
As long as we exist, humankind will perpetually begin again amidst the rubble of what came before. In bleakest reality, this is proven in the aftermath of war or natural disasters. Metaphorically, it is also…
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BOTTOMS
Imagine a pair of lusty lesbians who dream of getting girls and being ‘qweens’ at their high school. Now imagine it takes place in a world similar to HEATHERS.
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Blue Beetle: The Power of Who You Are
Blue Beetle officially lands in theaters tomorrow. It’s a good movie to see because it’s fun and it’s about family, but also because director Ángel Manuel Soto and writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer explore how fraught achieving…
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Moulin Rouge! at The Kennedy Center: Paint the Town Rouge
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a stunningly gorgeous production and you’ll be happy to sing along.
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Heart of Stone and the Femme Spies We Love
We’re a day away from the premiere of Heart of Stone, the new Netflix movie that puts “femme spies” (named for the 1990 La Femme Nikita) back in the lead. Starring Gal Gadot, Jing Lusi,…
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Red, White & Royal Blue (the movie)
Casey McQuiston’s book is a big swoony romance. And we crave that here on RIOT-US. We had to review Red, White & Royal Blue
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Only Murders in the Building – Season 3
Let’s check the scoreboard. Season 1 was for the podcaster kids. Season 2 was for the true crime kids. And Only Murders in the Building didn’t leave us wondering what’s next. The third season is…
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Abeni’s Song
In his first middle-grade novel, wittily and lovingly dedicated to his twin daughters, Clark is back in his bag.
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Good Omens – Season 2
It should be noted, I have read Good Omens, the original novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, more than some bible-thumping politicians have read the good book. More than necromancers have read the Necronomicon.…
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Susie Searches
Susie is the classic nerdy girl, whose only friend is her mother. The pair read mysteries together and Susie always knows whodunit. She takes that skill into a true crime podcast. But no one is…
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I’m A Virgo, Secret Invasion, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Blackening, Asteroid City and More
On this week’s Geek Girl Riot: Sherin and Julian, your dynamic duo do a round-up all the movies, tv shows, and film festivals you’ll want to watch the week before wrapping with whatever else is…
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Now on RogerEbert.com – Feeling Scene: The Magnetism of Black Punks on Screen
Sherin’s latest pop-culture excavation is up on RogerEbert.com. It’s all about our love for Black/Afro-punks!
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It’s Black Writers Week on RogerEbert.com
The Juneteenth National Independence Day marks the kick-off of RogerEbert.com’s third Black Writers Week. The celebration this week includes film and television, but also other aspects of the African-American experience.
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Sherin’s Takes on Tribeca 2023
Sherin covered the 2023 TRIBECA Film Festival for AWFJ. What did she think and what is her top pick?
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The Flash – Sherin’s Review
If you’re here, I know you’re going to see The Flash. As comic books fans, that’s what we do. We’re magnetized to this stuff. So I’ll keep my review brief.
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Sherin’s Review
Miles, Gwen, and the rest of us get sent hurtling across the Spider-Verse.
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You Hurt My Feelings
This movie brought me back to the movies I watched growing up; where the stakes were low but the relationships meant everything (and you could laugh at trouble).
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American Born Chinese
A myth-enhanced exploration of what it means to be American Born Chinese and the folklore, religions, and culture that comes with it.
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The Little Mermaid (2023)
Following the structure of the live-action princess adaptations before it, The 2023 Little Mermaid mirrors the animated one but with updates that give the girl more agency and it adds a few new songs.
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Fast X Review by Sherin Nicole
Once again it’s on. Fuel up for more of the ferocious fantasy and fantastical physics of The Fast and Furious franchise with Sherin’s review of Fast X
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We’re Heading back to the Wild, Wild West with Letitia Wright in Surrounded
Five years after the Civil War, a formerly enslaved woman and Buffalo Solider tries to stake her claim on the untamed territories. And that’s a problem.
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Dune: Part Two The Trailer Is Here
We have been waiting for this. Probably since we were kids. Definitely for the last two years.
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Queen Charlotte: The Event, The Backstory, and the Review
The series unfolds like a six-course feast, made to delight you, satiate you, and keep you in your seat indulging in more. It’s lovely but it isn’t gentle.
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That Self-Same Metal (The Forge & Fracture Saga, Book 1)
That Self-Same Metal tosses us immediately into danger. The Plague is back in London, but there are worse things afoot. A treaty between the British monarchy and the Fae is fading, and only one person…
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DEAD RINGERS
A 6-episode descent into a story so frenzied you don’t know whether to weep, group text your friends, or toss your obviously possessed TV out the window.
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Mrs. Davis
You’re talking with friends when the conversation turns to “what ifs” and you wonder what would happen if Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez got together to create their own version of Preacher
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The Diplomat
The Diplomat is a feast for your political intrigue cravings (especially if you like a little scandal on the side)
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Renfield
For as long as we’ve known the legend of Dracula there has been a Renfield. The bug eating toady who serves as the blood-drinker’s familiar. Similar to the writers of Grendel and Wicked before him,…
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Suzume – Sherin’s Take
From Makoto Shinkai (writer/director of Your Name), the new anime feature Suzume questions the weight of memory, how it reshapes us, and the ways it stagnates.
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Chevalier
Applause to director Stephen Williams and writer Stefani Robinson for a painterly historical biopic, that presents the Chevalier with the drama, romantic entanglements, and rebellious swagger of the popstar he might have been.
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Praise This
This latest Will Packer comedy, directed by Tina Gordon, gives Chloe Bailey the chance to take lead as the sassy Sam, a LA singer-songwriter who doesn’t know when to pump her brakes.
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Queen Bee by Amalie Howard
Lyra, otherwise known as Lady Ela Dalvi, does exactly as Confucius suggested—“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”—but neither are for her.
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On Geek Girl Riot: Rye Lane, Night Agent, Big Door Prize, D&D, AIR, A Thousand and One, Tetris, Rap Caviar
Geek Girl Riot is speed-dating these featured movies and series this week. Sherin, Renee, and Julian can confirm that “they cute.” Here’s everything (on this episode) and all of them are flexing for your attention:…
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The Only Strings Attached Are Emotional: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
If GDT’s Pinocchio is about anything it is awakenings—the idea of rising to meet yourself or refusing to wake and never knowing flight.
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John Wick: Chapter 4
At last, we return to the Wickiverse and, once again, our hero goes Wicksonian on all opposition.
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Shadow and Bone Season 2, Ted Lasso Season 3 – Previews
Geek Girl Riot is all about spoiler-free previews for Shadow and Bone S2 and Ted Lasso S3 with Sandie Angulo Chen.
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Tan France from Next In Fashion, Luther: Fallen Sun, Chang Can Dunk, The Last of Us, Unprisoned, The Mandalorian S3, Champions
An interview with Tan France kicks off this episode, while Sherin and Julian talk about the best new streaming and films of the week.
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My Dad the Bounty Hunter with Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick HarpiN
Showrunners and creators Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin gave us so many reasons to watch My Dad the Bounty Hunter
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Geek Girl Riot – Episode 294: Poker Face, Harlem, Shrinking
Never fear, your streaming update is here: Geek Girl Riot gives you the lowdown on Poker Face, Harlem, Shrinking, and more new TV—joined by special guest Tim Gordon of Keeping it Reel with FilmGordon
