Abigail Stevens

Wicked Queer in Boston celebrated its 40th anniversary this spring as the fourth longest-running LGBTQI+ film festival in North America; the documentary extension, taking place in the fall, is now in its third year. I practically lived in The Brattle Theatre for a week earlier in 2024 to write about the fiction films at Wicked Queer, making this November weekend a return to a friendly environment in a cosy historic theatre. Art is one outlet for change, and while simmering in disappointment a...

The first installment in the two-part movie adaptation of Wicked sees a dramatic finale for Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera), and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) — with two of these three heading off on an unclear quest. As Wicked follows the friendship between the future Wicked With of the West and Glinda the Good Witch, things become complicated when they fall for the same man. Fiyero joins Elphaba and Glinda at Shiz University sometime after the official start of term and strikes up a relationship with then-Galinda, later realizing his feelings for Elphaba.

Tim Burton and Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas is a timeless, genre-bending classic, yet the message behind the movie and the character arcs require some deliberation. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, is in a creative slump when he sets out to steal Christmas and execute the holiday himself rather than Santa Claus. In the end, Jack sees the error of his ways, returns Christmas to Santa, and goes on being the Pumpkin King. Along the way, he realizes his love for downtrodden Halloween Town resident Sally, who has always loved him in return.

Netflix's Wednesday plays with many boarding school tropes, reimagining them for the purposes of an Addams Family-inspired story, but one, in particular, could see much better use in Wednesday season 2. Jenna Ortega's Wednesday Addams finds herself drowning in high school traditions and narrative clichés (both good and bad) when she is shipped off to Nevermore Academy, the school where her parents met, as the series' inciting incident. This includes her own versions of the lovable best friend — Enid Sinclare (Emma Meyers) — and the bully who she grows to respect — Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday).

Lady Gaga's acting career saw a major leap forward when she starred alongside Bradley Cooper in 2018's A Star Is Born, for which she was nominated for Best Lead Actress at the Academy Awards while quietly breaking another record. A Star Is Born has been remade three times since the original 1937 iteration, depicting the tragic love affair between a young actress and/or singer who falls in love and gets her big break with help from a washed-up celebrity whose fame is fading.

The schedule of upcoming movies from Robert Pattinson illustrates how the actor's career has taken an exciting new turn in recent years, and he has quickly become one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood. After a couple of smaller roles, Pattinson made his mainstream debut in the single-movie role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. After this, he cemented his status in mass popular culture when he won the role of Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga.

The highly anticipated sophomore and final season of Arcane sees the war between Piltover and Zaun escalating to dire new circumstances, with both personal and political conflicts being hinted at in the season’s unique introduction, once again accompanied by Imagine Dragons & JID's "Enemy." Following Arcane season 1's shocking ending, Jinx (Ella Purnell) is the crux of the impending final battles, driving the armed conflict as well as the emotional storylines. Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) can't let go of her sister no matter how much she might like to; Caitlyn (Katie Leung) is emboldened by a newfoun

Sarah J. Maas' unofficial fantasy saga spans all three of her book series to date, showcasing an occasionally interconnected timeline between A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, and Crescent City. Maas kicked off her career with the young adult Throne of Glass series, depicting the epic tale of Aelin and her allies reclaiming their kingdoms from evil forces. Midway through this series' publication, Maas started on A Court of Thorns and Roses, taking place in a distinct environment and following a new iteration of the Fae, and the intrepid human huntress who is pulled into their...

Hollywood is lucky to have highly imaginative writer, director, and actor Taika Waititi planning to bring his vision to several more intriguing projects in the coming years. Waititi was an up-and-coming director at the time he was tasked with leading the latest Thor movie for the MCU and shocked everyone when he completely redid and reinvigorated the subseries' established tone. Since then, Waititi has created and starred in several more off-beat projects.

Since the company's inception, music has been a vital component in the productions of Disney, and the best Disney songs ever constitute standout moments in cinematic history that will always necessitate a sing-along. 100 years after Walt Disney and his colleagues broke ground in the entertainment industry, moviegoers can recognize the typical formula for a Disney musical soundtrack. However, each new composer to become a staple at Disney has contributed to the company's range of tones and themes in their storytelling with brilliant new songs.

This past week I, like many Americans, have been dealing with feelings of sadness, fear, and confusion (an exact list that has been acknowledged by a text from the Harris-Walz campaign). I am deeply shaken by the non-existent standards of decency that apply to the presidency, and reflecting on how once again, a woman who is in every sense of the word more qualified being passed over for a man — and a clearly uninformed abuser and felon at that. I’m wondering if I should have done more, as I’m sure many people are, if life in general weren’t keeping us busy. There’s a long and difficult road ah

Jenna Ortega's Wednesday Addams, as seen in Netflix's Wednesday, is hardly the character fans would expect to bear any similarities to Ariana Grande's Glinda from Wicked. The Addams Family's daughter is infamously macabre and isolated, enjoying all things horrible and spooky and delivering wonderful deadpan quips. "Galinda," the future Glinda the Good, is bright, bubbly, and sociable, finding herself in a story that also explores an iconic character's school years. Wednesday and Wicked also demonstrate a similar plot point with polar opposite roommates slowly becoming friends, as this is what

The highly anticipated fourth season of Bridgerton is confirmed to be focusing on Benedict Bridgerton's (Luke Thompson) story, and the book from which it will be adapted comes with a built-in time jump that actually makes perfect sense for the second Bridgerton child's arc. In the established format of Julia Quinn's Regency romance series, her book An Offer from a Gentleman follows another one of the eight Bridgerton siblings as he finds love and fulfillment. Benedict's season will be the best yet if Bridgerton's Rotten Tomatoes trend holds, with each new chapter only getting better reviews th

In Meanwhile on Earth (Pendant ce temps sur terre) — a strange sci-fi/maybe-horror drama — a woman in her 20s begins hearing her brother who was lost in space years ago, launching her into a dangerous and morally dubious mission to bring him back. Meanwhile on Earth makes for a subversive extraterrestrial movie with an ambiguous ending, as voices from beyond also start speaking to Elsa (Megan Northam) and demand she perform a series of tasks to get Franck (Sébastien Pouderoux) back. Yet the French indie film, for all its unique aspects, oddly resonates with some mainstream Hollywood media.

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place brings back fan-favorite characters alongside new ones, delivering hilarious sequences of over-the-top humor, as well as a meta-joke about one of the franchise's biggest stars that creates a paradox. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place expands the Russo family tree from Wizards of Waverly Place with the introduction of Justin Russo's (David Henrie) wife and children, as well as the pre-teen wizard Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) he takes in at the request of his sister Alex (Selena Gomez). With some fantastic new spins on the classic series, the revival makes for a great retu