2020 is nearly behind us. In some ways time has flown by. In others, it feels like it’s completely stopped. Weeks of working from our couches, a never-ending deluge of bad news, we’re ready for something uplifting.
In a matter of 14 days, Amazon Prime and Blumhouse Productions released four new horror movies titled Welcome to Blumhouse. The new program will follow a common theme: family, love, redemption, and destructive forces. The first two films, Black Box and The Lie launched Oct. 6. In addition, E…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle Netflix The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) This film, starring Paul Rudd, is not only funny, but also sentimental and heartwarming. Out of work Ben (Rudd) decides to register as a caregiver while struggling through a divorce. He is quickly hired to care fo…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle With the death of George Floyd, Dion Johnson here in Phoenix, and many other people of color, conversations about race, racism, policing and the abuse of power are back on center stage. Hollywood has not been immune to promoting hurtful and tone-deaf narr…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle The state might be reopening a bit, and we at Whiskey and Popcorn are emerging from our home theaters a bit bleary-eyed. It will still be some time before movie theaters choose to reopen, despite getting the green light from the governor. But not to worry…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle Radha, a once-promising playwright, is facing the “Big 4-0” with little, in her mind, to show for it. Caught questioning her abilities as an artist and frustrated with being pigeon-holed as a black artist, she breaks away from it all to become a rapper. T…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle The Oscar nominations are out and with them come questions, confusion and snubs. For the second year in a row, no women were nominated for the Achievement in Directing — aka “best director” category. And while many film critics and industry watchers bemoa…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle When it comes to the world wars, the Second World War seems to capture much of the imagination and romance of Hollywood. World War I not so much. And perhaps that’s due to there being a “less clear” enemy. There aren’t Nazis in WWI. But the First World War […]
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle Shia LaBeouf explores his own childhood in the highly meta and cathartic film Honey Boy. In this film, the child star is 12-year-old Otis. His father is an ex-rodeo clown and convict who now acts as his guardian. We come to discover that Otis, and by exte…
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle Darkly humorous with a biting edge, Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling. Greed, classism and horror are wrapped in a hysterical package that will leave you in stitches. The poor Kim family finds a way to easy street only to …
—By Kaely Monahan and Tuesday Mahrle Nearly four years after the final episode of “Downton Abbey” aired, we return to the home of the Crawley’s. Fans of the show will be delighted to know that the creator Julian Fellowes helmed the movie. It fits seamlessly into the Downton narrative. For th…