Author: Amy Davis

Studio Ghibli has taken a rather unorthodox route in marketing Hayao Miyazaki’s final film,  “How Do You Live?.” There is no trailer, a minimal plot summary, and only one cryptic poster to advertise the film, until now…  The movie has already hit theaters all over Japan, and the releasing booklets/pamphlets given to theater-goers, contain film stills. So thanks to those, audiences outside of Japan now have a sense of what “How Do You Live?” looks like. These stills show off Ghibli’s patented animation style, that has been developed through decades of critically acclaimed animation. Acclaim that has garnered them the…

The 75th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards have officially been pushed back to January 2024 from the originally planned September 18th, 2023 date. The four month delay is due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. You can read the list of nominees for this year here. This move now places the event squarely at the beginning of the Hollywood awards season.  The new airdate of January 15th means the Emmys, which honor the best shows, will air weeks before the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which honors film and television actors. It also means the show will air one day after…

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Netflix series “The Fall of the House of Usher” has been given first look images and a fall release date. Because a show based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe premiering in October is just *chef’s kiss*.  Flanagan created the eight-episode limited series based on the short story by Poe. He also directed the first four episodes, with Michael Fimognari directing the other four.  “The Fall of the House of Usher” follows the Usher siblings Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline (Mary McDonnell). The duo has built an empire out of the company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, granting…

As much as we all love(d) the superhero bubble, fatigue from the massive volume of content is starting to set in. In response, HBO has just greenlit a new Marvel Comics/DC Comics parody series, “The Franchise.” This series is created by Sam Mendes (“Skyfall”) and Armando Iannucci (“Veep”), with Jon Brown (“Succession,” “Veep”) as showrunner. “The Franchise” will be a half-hour comedy series that takes a satirical behind-the-scenes look at a fictional struggling superhero movie. It will revolve around the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The series shines…

A H-E-B supermarket in Hutto, Texas is capitalizing on the current heat wave in a hilarious way. TikToker Emily Cormier Hinds recently went viral after posting a video of a heat induced apology cake that she found in the store. Proving once and for all, that H-E-B’s has everything. The video shows a cake for $29.98, covered in white icing, with the words “I’m sorry for what I said when it was 109° outside.” This text is, fittingly, surrounded but little yellow suns. Or as Jerry Lee Lewis would probably call them, “Great Balls of Fire.” Hinds says she was…

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has set physical DVD release date for Netflix’s “Cobra Kai!” This physical media release will include all 10 episodes along with bonus features like deleted/extended scenes, and a blooper reel.  Season 5 of “Cobra Kai” takes place after the dojo wins the All Valley Tournament in Season 4. A victory that is won because Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) cheated. To make good on their deal with Silver and John Kreese (Martin Kove), Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) have to close their respective dojos. This allows Silver to continue his plan to franchise Cobra…

Over the weekend, “Insidious: The Red Door” hit the $182,430,087 mark at the worldwide box office. Making it the highest-grossing horror movie of 2023, to date! This milestone also makes the 5th entry into the “Insidious” franchise, the highest-grossing in the series. “Insidious: The Red Door,” beat out Universal’s “M3GAN” which ended its 2023 theatrical run at $180 million. The only other horror movies that have come close are also additions to long-running franchises with “Scream VI” at $168.9 million and “Evil Dead Rise” with $146.7 million. “Meg 2: The Trench” could possibly take the crown from “Insidious.” In its…

HBO’s “Succession” and FX’s “The Bear” were the top winners at the 39th annual Television Critics Association (TCA) awards. In the past, these awards were presented in a ceremony on the closing weekend of the semi-annual press tour. But due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the winners were announced online instead.  Both “Succession” and “The Bear” were the only series to walk away with multiple awards this year. “Succession” took home the prestigious Program of the Year award. As well as its 3rd win for Outstanding Achievement In Drama, which it previously won in 2022 and 2020. While…

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) for Marin County recently pulled over a driver in the HOV lane. The reason? He was using a mannequin to fulfill the multiple-passenger requirement. To their credit, the driver at least tried to make the mannequin look a bit more human. It had clothes on, a hat, sunglasses, and even some tattoos. “That moment you get pulled over for a carpool violation and your passenger in the back chooses to remain silent,” CHP Marin wrote on a no longer available Facebook story. We aren’t sure if the 5th amendment applies to plastic, but it was worth…

Toymaker Mattel has revealed a brand new Weird Barbie will be joining their signature line! The doll is based on Kate McKinnon’s character from Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar “Barbie” movie.  These Weird Barbies come complete with a mismatched outfit, drawings all over their face, and legs that can do the splits. Even though McKinnon has admitted that she did not do those impressive splits herself. That effect was some movie magic pulled off by production designer Sarah Greenwood. “Sarah who did the set design was like, ‘I’ve made all these holes in the wall where she can put her real leg…