5 Comics You Should Read Before Seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp
So, you’re getting psyched for this weekend's Ant-Man and the Wasp and you’ve found yourself a fan of the idea of a miniature woman with wings kick ass and take names. The next step is obvious: It's time to go read some Wasp comics, preferably with Ant-Man involved if at all possible. (Not that it’s…
Westworld Recap, Season 2 Episode 2: The Facade Is Crumbling
Fellow watchers of Westworld, we have cracked the facade. The second episode of Season 2 opens on Dolores' (Evan Rachel Wood) face. Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) asks if she knows where she is; she guesses she is in a dream. He corrects her: "No, you're in our world." The camera pulls back to reveal them seated…
We Need to Talk About That Westworld Season 2 Finale
You gotta hand it to HBO: Their shows know how to deliver explosive endings. No matter how uneven the season of television that came before it, the finales are always blue-fire-breathing game-changers. They may not always be narratively-warranted or cogent, but they are explosive. Which brings us to the end of Westworld Season 2. After…
How Ava DuVernay Became a Creator of Worlds
Late fall in the redwood forests of Northern California, it gets cold. Not wrap-yourself-in-furs cold—we’re still talking 51 degrees—but the kind of cold that demands layers, lest it sink into your bones. Nevertheless, in November 2016, when I visited her movie set near Eureka, director Ava DuVernay was coatless. Just a thermal with a cotton…
On Dirty Computer Janelle Monáe Breaks Out of Her Android Persona
Nearly a century ago, the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote one of his most abiding works, “We Wear the Mask.” Much of the poem’s heat springs from its opening stanza, which plays like a confession eager to break free. Of the disguise so many black Americans choose to wear, he writes: “It hides our cheeks…
Doctor Who’s First Female Doctor Will Bring a New Generation of Whovians
Click:Slew Drive A fun game if you ever find yourself at a comics convention: Try to spot as many gender-swapped cosplayers as you can. Throughout years of going to Comic-Cons and other fan gatherings, I’ve spotted women in drag as Loki, Harry Potter, and—before Paul Feig's reboot—various Ghostbusters. (However, this tends to be a one-way…
With Pose, Prestige TV Becomes Resistance TV
Early in FX’s new scripted melodrama Pose, Blanca, a HIV-positive trans performer, introduces Damon, a gay youth from Pennsylvania, to the glamour and volume of ballroom culture. "Realness is what it’s all about," she tells him as they watch participants compete in the category for "Executive Realness." Having fled the choke of home, Damon (played…
The Messiness of Vampyr Doesn't Weaken Its Bite
Dontnod Entertainment, the development studio behind the newly released Vampyr, has a habit of creating messy games. But don't let that stop you from playing them. Dr. Jonathan E. Reid's office, which he only leaves when the sun sets, has two doors. One opens to Pembroke Hospital, where he works as a surgeon and blood…
Star Wars Is Becoming a Religion, and May 4 Is Its Spring Festival
It’s not even that good a play on words: May the Fourth Be With You. That’s all it takes to have a holiday? A pun? The joke at least has been around almost as long as Star Wars itself; official Star Wars doctrine traces the etymology to an ad congratulating Margaret Thatcher on the day…
The Tricks Pixar Used to Make Coco's Super Slick Skeletons
Pixar’s new movie Coco is heartwarming, gorgeous, and—based on its $71 million opening weekend in the US—very popular. But it wouldn’t be any of those things without its skeletons. Like the toys, monsters, and robots Pixar has dreamed up before, the bags of bones are awfully charismatic. Unlike those creations, their phalanges took a little…