As a journalist, I've always taken some pride in the fact that, sometimes, the pen is mightier than the sword. The job is to speak truth to power, but at some point, the media becomes the most powerful party. A reporter can take a single fact, or set of facts, and spin them any number of ways. The media is supposed to cover events as they happen, but often times they can influence those events, and it's those cases that are examined in Netflix's new documentary series Trial by Media. It's a great idea for a …

Progress and equality in the entertainment industry, just like in every other area of society, has moved frustratingly slow. The industry is overwhelmingly dominated by white heterosexual men, resulting in a system in which white heteronormative stories are considered “normal” and stories from any other viewpoint are considered risky or potentially offensive. Even this past year, during a time many people to be the most progressive period in the history of moviemaking, Hollywood still struggles with equal representation. (For example, the producers of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker famously made a huge deal about featuring LGBTQ characters, only to …

You can’t say Future Man didn’t keep it weird all the way up through the end. The Hulu sci-fi comedy series with episodes involving a heist inside James Cameron’s house and a deathmatch game show hosted by a far-future character named Susan played by Seth Rogen wraps up its run with an eight-episode third and final season. The series continues to lean heavily into time-travel-centric sci-fi storytelling with raunchy jokes aplenty, and while the final batch of episodes is uneven and even a little too “out there” for its own good, …

Freeform's alternate history witch show, Motherland: Fort Salem, has taken on a more ominous tone in the few days ahead of its release. In the series, which premieres tonight, the United States is facing a silent threat that citizens feel helpless to protect themselves against. But while Americans (and the majority of the rest of the world) take to social distancing to hopefully slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in the real world, the fictional USA of Motherland: Fort Salem looks to a supernatural force for help in fighting their foe. Motherland takes place in the present day, …

How do you follow up a sensation like 2017’s IT? The long-developed adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic horror novel of the same name was a critical and commercial hit, shattering records and delighting audiences (both diehard fans and a new generation alike) with the coming of age tale of the Losers Club and the corrupted history of Derry, Maine; home to the child-eating shape-shifting creature best known as Pennywise the Clown. With New Line Cinema’s IT Chapter Two, in theaters this week, the answer is you follow it up with a wild, enthusiastic swing …

The wait for one of horror's most anticipated sequels is almost over. IT Chapter Two arrives in theaters next month, and the first fan and critics screenings have officially begun. With Collider's fan screening about to kick off in Hollywood, the embargo is officially up and the first round of reactions has hit the web. Director Andy Muschietti returns for the sequel to 2017's record-shattering Stephen King adaptation, and the sequel finds an A-list ensemble taking on the roles of the adult losers -- James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, Bill Hader …

Towards the end of the fifth episode of Fosse/Verdon — the FX limited series that chronicles the personal lives of the legendary Broadway duo— actress/dancer Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) tells her choreographer husband’s new girlfriend exactly how he operates. “See here’s the thing about Bob; he’s so sweet and he’s so charming. He tells you whatever you want to hear, and then you realize he’s a liar,” she says flatly about Fosse (Sam Rockwell). He wants to be free, she explains, for his art (heavily implied air quotes). “And what do you get in …

Watching the Outlander Season 4 finale, “Man of Worth,” made me think of when I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I went with a friend who had only seen the movies and not read the books, and she was thoroughly confused by the end of it. Phoenix played out like the most basic Cliff Notes of the book itself; to keep the runtime manageable, it skimmed through plotlines and emotional beats needed to really make it work. It made sense to me only because I had read the book, and could fill in what the movie …

When Richard Wright’s novel Native Son was published in 1940, it was understandably met with a mix of acclaim and controversy. The book aims to not only chronicle the African-American experience, but how America at large shapes and dictates the lives of African-Americans living in it—it touched on a sense of stark inevitability for many at the time. Updating the book for the 21st century is an ambitious if admirable task, and while director Rashid Johnson in his feature debut shows tremendous talent and promise behind the camera, and the lead performance by Ashton Sanders is …