BY RICHARD SUPLEE GEEK SPACE CORRESPONDENT Dark Phoenix could be the last X-Men movie, in which case the franchise ends not with a bang but a whimper. The plot is a bit of a hot mess. Right away the X-Men jump into space to rescue some stranded astronauts and Jean Grey (Game of Throne’s Sophie Turner) is bombarded with a mysterious red energy known as the Phoenix Force that supercharges her powers. Predictably, she is also tempted to the dark side by the power. The rest of the film is just the X-Men trying to either save or kill […]
REVIEW: Black Mirror Season 5
FRESH AIR: When CBS All Access unveiled its new version of The Twilight Zone earlier this year, the general consensus was that the initial episodes in the new series had fallen short of Rod Serling’s original version. Not only were they unworthy of The Twilight Zone of old, but they also weren’t nearly as good, or as smart, as a show that had begun in England in 2011, Black Mirror. Watching Black Mirror‘s three brand-new installments on Netflix makes it clear that the series, in our current TV universe, claims and holds the fantasy anthology series crown. Charlie Brooker […]
CINEMA: God Of Thunder
ROLLING STONE: “Setting out across a 1975 America exhausted politically, economically and socially, a busload of musicians—assembled by Bob Dylan—hits the road in search of new creative horizons. The resulting tour, the Rolling Thunder Revue, would reveal a Dylan rarely seen: playful, mask-wearing, intense, expansive, rejuvenated,” Netflix said of the film. “Masterfully capturing both an icon and a nation in transition, director Martin Scorsese tells the tale using footage that was abandoned for decades, now gorgeously restored, taking viewers into the heart of a freewheeling, electrifying musical gamble. Inspired by Dylan’s own restless spirit, Scorsese performs some breathtaking sleight of […]
Win Tix 2 Freakonomics Radio Live @ Kimmel Ctr
Photo by AUDREY BERNSTEIN Freakonomics Radio, one of the ten most popular podcasts in the country, is hosting a live show at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on June 6th and we have a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky Phawker reader. What’s that you say? “What is this *makes sarcastic air quotes* freakin’ nomix thing you speak of?” Oh brother, where art thou?!? Time to get your freak on. Here’s a brief history of time as it applies to Freakonomics from their web site: It began when New York journalist and author Stephen J. Dubner [pictured] […]
BON IVER: Hey, Ma
JUST ANNOUNCED: Bon Iver @ Wells Fargo Center on October 10th with Feist. Tickets go on sale HERE Friday June 7th @ noon. PREVIOUSLY: The live band is a tight five piece — two drummers, two guitarists (counting Vernon) and a bassist — capable of rendering the densely idiosyncratic sonics of the last two albums with razor-sharp precision and note-perfect fidelity complimented by a magnificently choreographed light show and the Met’s perfect sound forever. They look less like a band than starship technicians manning their work stations within the elaborate H.R. Giger-esque Rube Goldberg contraption that is the stage set. […]
CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIAL: A Measured Response
Brilliant.
CINEMA: Destroy All Monsters!
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (dir. by Michael Dougherty, 131 min.) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC It’s been five years since Godzilla reboot decimated the multiplexes. That film was an artier take on the monster film, directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Rogue One), that seemed to focus more on the human story than the giant lizard namesake that has spawned 30+ films. Since then there has been a refocus of the series, thanks of course to Marvel, to franchise up these monster films. This re-think was introduced in the follow up Kong: Skull Island, which setup not only one […]
Win Tix To See The National + Courtney Barnett
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER If Joy Division had a horn section and beards and grew up in Cincinnati in the ’80s instead of Manchester in the ’70s, they would have been called The National and Ian Curtis would still be dead. Speaking of which, we have a pair of tix to see The National perform on June 11th at the Mann Center with very special guest Courtney Barnett! To qualify to win them, you must be signed up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead), trust us you want to do this. You get first dibs on concert […]
DEAR PRESIDENT TRUMP: Congratulations On Being Only The Second Fattest Man On The Stage For A Change — Also, This Looks A Little Gay
BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Memorial Day is unquestionably the most important, most hallowed, most patriotic of ALL national holidays. It pays homage to the more than 2,750,000 men and women who bravely made the ultimate sacrifice protecting and defending the rights, privileges and liberties the rest of us so often take for granted. So, where was the five-time draft-dodging president of this great nation? You were hitting the links and watching sumo wrestling with the Prime Minister of Japan a couple thousand miles away. Did you have to be there? Nope. Were you forced to choose this particular holiday […]
Win Tix To Attend An Advance Screening Of Dead Don’t Die + A Q&A W/ Director Jim Jarmusch
Director Jim Jarmusch put the dead in deadpan. His films are elegantly cool pregnant pauses broken up with stillborn dialog and opening and closing credits scored with terminally hip soundtracks. His films wear sunglasses after dark, they smoke in places where no smoking is prohibited and they were cool before it was cool to be cool. Heretofore, Jarmusch has filmed the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the […]
CINEMA: The Graduates
BOOKSMART (directed by Olivia Wilde, 102 minutes, USA, 2019) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Olivia Wilde, who is probably best known for her role as Quorra in Tron: Legacy, steps behind the camera for her feature length directorial debut, the whip-smart, woke teen comedy Booksmart. This SXSW darling is the story of two joyless, over-achieving besties, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) who have an epiphany the night before graduation: they could’ve had fun AND excelled in their academic studies. And so, they endeavor to make their way to the cool kid’s party happening that night, detouring along the […]
DADDY LONG LEGS: Pink Lemonade
Brooklyn, NY-based trio DADDY LONG LEGS—Brian Hurd (vocals, harmonica, guitar), Murat Akturk (slide guitar), Josh Styles (drums, maraca) made their Yep Roc Records debut May 10 with Lowdown Ways, their third studio album. Produced by Jimmy Sutton and engineered by Alex Hall (JD McPherson, Pokey LaFarge, Jake La Botz) at Hi-Style Studios in Chicago, the album features 12 original compositions with songwriting contributions from JD McPherson and Sutton. A new direction from their first two studio albums (released by Norton Records), Lowdown Ways sees the boys widen their sonic horizons with field hollers, gospel, Cajun, and Mississippi Hill Music, coupled […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
Illustration by STATS via THE NIB FRESH AIR: The NRA, which has, for decades, been regarded as an unstoppable, powerful, political force, is now being torn by internal conflicts. A power struggle at the top of the leadership came to a head last month at the NRA’s annual convention. Leaked documents have revealed the CEO’s extravagant spending on clothes and travel with the use of NRA money. The NRA is suing its own advertising PR company. Its revenues are falling, and its tax-exempt status is being investigated by the New York state attorney general. My guest is New York Times […]