Culture Crash: The End of Game of Thrones
The wildly popular TV show Game of Thrones is set to wrap up its story with six episodes this season, yet its fans may be unsatisfied. The TV show has departed the path of the books.
Culture Crash: The Increasing Cost of Cutting the Cord
Streaming services are multiplying, and none of them carry everything. Many people are finding that satisfying their TV viewing desires through streaming services is getting as expensive as cable.
Culture Crash: Sketch Comic Becomes Movies’ Hottest Horror Director
Jordan Peele used to be best known as a sketch comic, but his second film as a director, “Us,” is showing that the success of his first, “Get Out,” was no fluke.
Culture Crash: Summer Concerts
Summer is almost here, which means the concert and music festival season in almost in full swing. We talk a look at why a day at an amphitheater can stick with you for life.
Culture Crash: Junk Food TV (2019)
Sometimes you want to watch an expertly written and produced hour of television with central themes and a commentary on modern life… and sometimes, you just want to shut your brain off and watch something easy. This is about those latter experiences.
Culture Crash: Do we all have the cultural taste of our 15 year-old selves?
Anecdotal evidence and some real data science both suggest that we never grow out of the things we loved at 15.
Culture Crash: Netflix’s Russian Doll
Netflix’s new show, Russian Doll is an ethical, mysterious, funny drama modeled after the Groundhog Day “waking up in the same moment” plot. It’s an especially great binge-watch.
Culture Crash: Audiobooks
Audiobooks used to be big, cumbersome collections of tapes. Now, they’re simply files on our phones, and their portability and convenience make them a great option for commute-time listening.
Culture Crash: Television Shows Creating Expanded Universes of Their Own
Superhero franchises have spent a decade carefully laying plans for big, expanded universes. But we look at “Veronica Mars” and “Breaking Bad,” two TV shows that have broadened their universes in their own ways.
Culture Crash: The Academy’s Unforced Errors
This year’s Academy Awards have been a series of mistakes, from suggesting a Best Popular Film award to the plan to award from of the evening’s awards during commercial breaks.
Culture Crash: Missing Gems in the Deluge of ‘Peak TV’
There is so much new TV content being made that it can be easy to fall behind or forget to check out a show you meant to watch. We look at a few of these overlooked gems, like Showtime’s There is so much new TV content being made that it can be easy to fall behind or forget to check out a show you meant to watch. We look at a few of these overlooked gems, like Showtime’s “Escape at Dannemora”
Culture Crash: On Ethan Hawke and Oscar Snubs
Every year, there is some outrage over Oscar snubs. This year, many of us wish Ethan Hawke had been nominated for First Reformed. We look at why.
Culture Crash: A New Future for Comic Book Movies
For a decade now, it seemed like comic book movies had settled in to an existence based on these larger cinematic universes. Now, Spider-Man and The Joker are proving comic stories can have their cake and eat it, too.
Culture Crash: Movies to Look Forward to in 2019
With a new year always comes new things to look forward to, so let’s take a look at some of the movies people are anticipating the most in 2019. As a warning, there are a lot of them.
Culture Crash: True Detective
Tonight marks the long-awaited, sometimes excitedly and sometimes with dread, but long-awaited, return of True Detective. The TV phenomenon of 2014 and possibly the biggest letdown of 2015 is back for its third season, and the early reviews suggest this should be more like the incredible first season and not like the dud of a season two.
Culture Crash: Minding the Gap
Minding the Gap tells the story of Liu himself, and of his closest friends from his childhood in Rockford, Illinois. Each came from something of a broken home, and turned to each other, and to skateboarding for an escape from their personal demons. What begins as a movie about kids skateboarding and hanging out becomes a searing look at childhood trauma, the bonds of friendship, and what effect …
Culture Crash: Anthony Bourdain
As the year draws to a close, it’s the time on the calendar when we take a look back at who we lost this year. One such cultural giant was Anthony Bourdain, the famed chef and author turned travel documentarian.
Culture Crash: Roma
You may have noticed a new movie on your Netflix homepage called Roma. It’s Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón’s most personal film yet and an absolute masterpiece.
Culture Crash: A Look Ahead at the Movies Set to Dominate Awards Season
Awards season is officially upon us. The Golden Globes have already announced their nominees, which are as questionable as always. Year-end lists are being finalized, and Oscar buzz is reaching a roar for some contenders. But now is also the time when many of these movies are being released in the first place. So, here’s a guide of what to keep an eye out for to get ahead of the nominee pool.
Culture Crash: The Disappointing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Last month, JK Rowling’s Wizarding World saw its latest installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald be met with a low score on Rotten Tomatoes and countless disappointed Harry Potter fans across the globe.
Culture Crash: Watching Sports with a Second Screen
It used to be that when you were watching sports, you were only watching with the people in the same room as you. Now, sports have become the gold-standard for entertainment that demands a second-screen.
Culture Crash: Amazon Prime’s “Homecoming”
Director Sam Esmail has taken Gimlet’s hit podcast Homecoming and infused it with a whole lot of cinematic flair in his new Amazon Prime series that serves as a throwback to classic thrillers and a trailblazer for the brave new world of 30-minute dramas.
Culture Crash: Filling the Thanksgiving Movie Void with Stuck in Love
In the build-up to Halloween, many of us get in the spooky mood by watching horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or, naturally, Halloween. Before Christmas, seasonal cheer leads people to dig out their old copies of It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf. But there aren’t many Thanksgiving movies.
Culture Crash: Dave Eggers and His Boundary-Pushing Writing (2018)
Throughout his career, Eggers has pushed the boundaries of writing, and no book better illustrates his desire to innovate than his 2014 novel, Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? It’s a book that consists only of dialogue. Each line is introduced with a single dash, and while it sounds complicated, the form actually makes it very straight-forward and easy to …
