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Holiday Classics: Celebrating 35 Years of ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’ | Black Girl Nerds

From decorating the tree to writing letters to Santa, Christmastime is full of traditions. But is it really the holidays without watching your favorite Christmas movie? 


One title guaranteed to be in heavy rotation is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the highest-grossing film in the Vacation franchise. John Hughes (Home Alone) wrote the screenplay based on his short story “Christmas ’59” published in National Lampoon magazine’s December 1980 issue, with Jeremiah S. Chechik (Benny & Joon...
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Review: James Gunn’s Wildly Fun ‘Creature Commandos’ Gives Fans a Taste of the New DCU | Black Girl Nerds

We can always count on James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) to deliver an irreverent story about oddballs and misfits, which is why it makes perfect sense that he’s kicking off the new DC Universe’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters with Creature Commandos. 


The highly-anticipated animated series follows a motley crew of monsters who first appeared in Weird War Tales #93 (1980) by J. M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. Gunn wrote all seven episodes (before becoming DC co-chairmen and co-CEO with Pet...
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Review: Aldis Hodge Shines as a Strong, Suave Detective in Prime Video’s ‘Cross’ | Black Girl Nerds

Since publishing the first Alex Cross novel in 1993, James Patterson’s best-selling series has spawned over 30 books and three film adaptations. Morgan Freeman played the character in 1997’s Kiss the Girls and 2001’s Along Came a Spider, with Tyler Perry taking on the role in 2012’s Alex Cross. 


With Prime Video’s eight-episode series Cross, showrunner and executive producer Ben Watkins (Hand of God, Burn Notice) set out to introduce a new Alex Cross that expands the world of the character pr...
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Celebrating 20 Years of 'Saw': The Horror Franchise Evolution | Black Girl Nerds

“If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.”


Saw had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004, followed by its theatrical release on October 29. From 2004 to 2010, horror fans lined up for the next installment in the franchise, which hit theaters every October. After a seven-year hiatus, the seventh film, Jigsaw, came out in 2017, followed by Spiral: From the Book of Saw in 2021, and the most recent Saw X, released in September 2023. While the next chapter, Saw XI, doesn’t com...
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Cult Classics: An Appreciation of Don Mancini’s Polarizing ‘Seed of Chucky’ | Black Girl Nerds

Since 1988’s Child’s Play, Don Mancini has been the driving creative force behind the long-running franchise. After the first installment, which he co-wrote with the film’s director Tom Holland (Fright Night) and writer John Lafia (who’d go on to direct Child’s Play 2), Mancini continued to pen every screenplay. 


It wasn’t until Seed of Chucky that he made his directorial debut, which hit theaters on November 11, 2004. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well at the box office, making it the last Chi...
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Halloween Classics: Disney’s Forgotten 'Tower of Terror' | Black Girl Nerds

On July 22, 1994, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida debuted the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a dark drop-shaft ride standing 199 feet high, the first thing guests see when entering Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios). The experience begins with riders queuing up in the decrepit Hollywood Tower Hotel, giving them a chance to enjoy the eerie ambiance and creepy elegance of the abandoned lobby covered in dust and cobwebs. 


In the pre-show film, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Sm...
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Review: Ian McCulloch’s ‘Teacup’ is an Intimate Family Drama Wrapped in Survival Horror | Black Girl Nerds

This Halloween, executive producer James Wan (The Conjuring Universe) and first-time showrunner Ian McCulloch (Yellowstone) bring horror to the small screen with Teacup. Although it’s loosely inspired by Robert McCammon’s 1988 novel Stinger, the eight-episode series borrows very little from the source material. 


Maggie Chenoweth (Yvonne Strahovski) is a veterinarian living and working on a secluded farm in rural Georgia. When we meet her, we see she’s a loving mother to her young son Arlo (Ca...
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Review: ‘The Franchise’ Takes a Satirical Look at the Chaos of Superhero Cinema | Black Girl Nerds

Showrunner Jon Brown (Succession) teamed up with executive producers Armando Iannucci (Veep, The Thick of It) and Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall) to explore the bizarre world of franchise filmmaking in HBO’s latest original series The Franchise.


Mendes, who directs the pilot episode, has experience in that arena with the Bond franchise. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “The reality of making [franchise] films is often absurd, chaotic, and decisions are made for the most random of reasons — you are...
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Review: Gary Dauberman’s ‘Salem’s Lot’ Is Ambitious but Doesn’t Leave a Mark | Black Girl Nerds

Salem’s Lot is widely considered one of Stephen King’s best novels. The 1975 bestseller inspired a screen adaptation aired on CBS as a two-part, four-hour miniseries in 1979, followed by a 1987 sequel, A Return to Salem’s Lot. In 2004, the story was adapted as another miniseries for TNT. Most King fans consider ‘79 the definitive version. 


Warner Bros. announced they were developing Salem’s Lot for the big screen in 2019. One pandemic, two strikes, two changed release dates, and a studio rest...
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Review: Brandon Espy’s ‘Mr. Crocket’ Promises a Fun and Frightening Good Time | Black Girl Nerds

This Huluween, writer-director Brandon Espy makes his feature directorial debut with Mr. Crocket, which he co-wrote with Carl Reid (Grounded). The film is based on his 2022 short of the same name featured in the third season of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween series. If you thought that glimpse of the titular TV personality was terrifying, get ready for the stuff of nightmares. 


Set in 1993, the story follows Summer (Jerrika Hinton), a newly single mother raising her young son Major (Ayden Gavin)....
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Review: ‘Apartment 7A’ Has Style but Lacks Suspense as a ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Prequel  | Black Girl Nerds

Since Ira Levin’s best-selling novel Rosemary’s Baby was released in 1967, followed by Roman Polanski’s iconic 1968 film adaptation of the same name, attempts at remaking, reimagining, and continuing the story have been unsuccessful. 


Warning: 56-year-old spoilers ahead for Rosemary’s Baby.Writer-director Natalie Erika James (Relic) sets out to do something different with Apartment 7A, which she co-wrote with Christian White (Clickbait) based on an early draft by Skylar James. The psychologic...
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Review: ‘Agatha All Along’ Casts Wicked Spell Just in Time for Halloween | Black Girl Nerds

Witches assemble!


It’s officially spooky season, and Disney+ has a treat for everyone who wished for more Agatha Harkness. WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer has returned with more magic and witchiness for the MCU in the highly-anticipated Agatha All Along. When we last saw Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) in the WandaVision finale, she was left powerless and trapped in the formerly hexed Westview, New Jersey, by Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). In the pilot episode of Aga...
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Review: HBO’s ‘The Penguin’ is a Grounded Gotham City Gangster Tale | Black Girl Nerds

When Matt Reeves blessed us with 2022’s The Batman, truly one of the best superhero movies of all time, a series centered on Colin Farrell’s Oswald Cobb was already in the works. Now two years later, The Penguin is ready to take over our screens. And yes, Reeves already confirmed that Robert Pattinson’s Batman won’t make an appearance.


The eight-episode HBO Original series from showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc (​Impulse, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) follows a rise-to-power Scarface...
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TIFF 2024 Review: Janicza Bravo’s 'The Listeners,' an Immersive Psychological Drama | Black Girl Nerds

Zola director Janicza Bravo, also known for her work on Kindred and Poker Face, returns to TIFF with a new drama series for the BBC. The Listeners is based on the 2021 best-selling novel of the same name by Canadian playwright, director, and author, Jordan Tannahill, who also adapted his story for the screen. 


English teacher Claire Kutty (Rebecca Hall) lives a comfortable, predictable life with her adoring husband Paul (Prasanna Puwanarajah) and teenage daughter Ashley (Mia Tharia). One day...
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TIFF 2024 Review: R.T. Thorne Makes His Feature Debut with Captivating Post-Apocalyptic Thriller ‘40 Acres’ | Black Girl Nerds

For Canadian writer-director R.T. Thorne (The Porter, Utopia Falls), his post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres, co-written by Glenn Taylor, has been years in the making. This year, he’ll finally premiere his feature directorial debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.


Over a decade after a worldwide famine, military veteran Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) and her blended Black and Indigenous family survive on their ancestral farm in rural Canada. She and her partner Galen (Michael G...
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Review: Alfonso Cuarón's ‘Disclaimer’ Is a Star-Studded Psychological Thriller | Black Girl Nerds

Based on the 2015 novel by Renée Knight, Disclaimer could have been a conventional two-hour film. But Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, Children of Men) wisely took advantage of longform, writing, directing, and executive producing a seven-episode Apple TV+ series. 


Journalist/documentarian Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) has an idyllic life. She’s in a loving marriage with her doting husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), is admired by co-workers like Kim (Hoyeon), and, when...
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Cult Classics: Celebrating the 20th Bloody Anniversary of Edgar Wright’s 'Shaun of the Dead' | Black Girl Nerds

Edgar Wright’s (Last Night In Soho) 2004 zombie horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead is a fantastic film with a perfect ending that feels finished. But that doesn’t stop fans and studio execs from longing for more of Shaun’s story. 


Twenty years later, Wright and co-writer/star Simon Pegg are still asked about it. In a July 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Pegg said that if a reboot, remake, or sequel were to happen, it would be “a cynical and exploitative exercise.” Plus, we have the “...
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'Only Murders in the Building' Season 4: Murder, Melodrama, and Hollywood Antics

Since debuting in 2021, Steve Martin and John Hoffman’s (The Larry Sanders Show) comedy-murder mystery Only Murders in the Building has proven to be a beloved series we can count on every summer/fall. There are no staggered release schedules or years between seasons here. 


Warning: Spoilers for Seasons 1–3In Season 3, Oliver (Martin Short) made his big Broadway comeback with Death Rattle, only for the play’s leading man, Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd), to be murdered. Although, he doesn’t die on sta...
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Shows to Watch If You Love ‘The Umbrella Academy’

Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy came to an end this summer. Despite the divisive series finale, longtime fans will still miss the chaotic Hargreeves siblings and their constant effort to save the world from an apocalypse they inevitably caused. 


If you’re looking for shows to fill the TUA-shaped void in your life, here are some titles to check out. This BBC sci-fi series stars Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning, a British con artist who returns to Canada to reconnect with her adoptive family and...
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Review: Lee Daniels Delivers Drama But Not Much Horror in ‘The Deliverance’

From The First Omen to Immaculate, demonic possession horror movies are having a moment, though the subgenre arguably never really went out of style. This summer, writer-director Lee Daniels (Precious, The United States vs. Billie Holiday) debuts his first foray into horror with The Deliverance. The film, co-written by David Coggeshall (Orphan: First Kill) and Elijah Bynum (Magazine Dreams), is loosely based on the true story of the Ammons family in Gary, Indiana (which was also covered in Zak B...
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Review: ‘The Umbrella Academy’ Says So Long and Goodbye in Its Fourth and Final Season

Depending on who you ask, the third season of The Umbrella Academy, based on the Dark Horse comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, was either its best season yet or its worst. Most would agree that there was a lot (maybe too much) going on, especially when there are twice as many characters. Showrunner Steve Blackman (Legion) made sure the Brellies were at the center of Season 4, which is only fitting since this is their last hoorah. But before we can get into that, we need a little recap. 


Spo...
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Review: ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ Reimagines the Hero and His Rogues in Surprising and Intriguing Ways

When Warner Bros. approached Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm about doing a revival/continuation of the popular series, he wasn’t interested. But with J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Matt Reeves (The Batman) attached as executive producers, Timm and his producing partner James Tucker (Batman: The Brave and the Bold) came up with something completely different that blended film noir, Golden Age comics, classic horror films, and Universal monsters. 


Timm has made...
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