Nick Schager

United States

Entertainment Critic at The Daily Beast

Entertainment Critic @thedailybeast / @beastobsessed Member: @nyfcc, @TheNSFC, @CriticsChoice, @ofcs Endlessly opinionated

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Articles

TV’s Funniest Maniac Says Bye to ‘Righteous Gemstones’

1 week ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

While each of The Righteous Gemstones’ Christian televangelists is out-and-out crazy, none are as rowdily unhinged as Judy Gemstone, whom Edi Patterson has turned into an unforgettable vision of insecurity, irrationality, and insanity.
‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne Doing ‘Colombo’ Is More Entertaining Than Ever

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Nick Schager

Poker Face is a murder-of-the-week procedural in an overtly Colombo vein. Yet Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne‘s modern-day all-star throwback loves movies almost as much as it adores TV, peppering its action with so many references and homages to classic films that it’s surprising each entry isn’t preceded by the Criterion Collection logo.
Natasha Lyonne Doing ‘Colombo’ Is More Fun Than Ever

1 week ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

Poker Face is a murder-of-the-week procedural in an overtly Colombo vein. Yet Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne‘s modern-day all-star throwback loves movies almost as much as it adores TV, peppering its action with so many references and homages to classic films that it’s surprising each entry isn’t preceded by the Criterion Collection logo.
Nicolas Cage Goes Insane in Wildly Chaotic ‘Surfer’ Movie

1 week ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

From Wake in Fright to Wolf Creek, Australia has been depicted in film as a wild and primal wasteland that punishes interlopers foolish enough to venture into its harsh outback.
‘The Four Seasons’: Tina Fey and Steve Carell Suffer Very Fun Midlife Crises

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Nick Schager

Lamenting lost youth is the destiny of the middle-aged. Yet while The Four Seasons understands grown-ups’ wistfulness for wild adventures, crazy nights, and blossoming love, it also understands that recapturing glory days is a futile endeavor—and, in fact, might be something adults, deep down, don’t really want.
Tina Fey and Steve Carell Suffer Very Fun Midlife Crises

1 week ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

Lamenting lost youth is the destiny of the middle-aged. Yet while The Four Seasons understands grown-ups’ wistfulness for wild adventures, crazy nights, and blossoming love, it also understands that recapturing glory days is a futile endeavor—and, in fact, might be something adults, deep down, don’t really want.
Alec Baldwin’s Awful ‘Rust’ Is Haunted by Deadly Shooting

1 week ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

Rust will forever be defined by the tragic 2021 accidental death of its cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and questions about the prudence of completing the feature are only exacerbated by the finished product. Writer/director Joel Souza’s run-of-the-mill Western is far less gripping than the real-life drama that played out on the nightly news regarding star/producer Alec Baldwin’s alleged responsibility for the fatal mishap—charges which were ultimately dropped and dismissed.
‘Thunderbolts*’ Is Finally the Shot in the Arm Marvel Needs

2 weeks ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

Leave it to a bunch of misfits to give the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) a mighty boost. Thunderbolts*, the franchise’s 36th (!) entry, is a Suicide Squad done right, bringing together a collection of bad guys—or, at least, not-very-good antiheroes—for an amusing adventure about battling demons of both a literal and figurative sort.
Tom Hardy’s New Movie Is the Action Extravaganza of the Year

2 weeks ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

Havoc is a perfect title for Gareth Evans’ latest extravaganza, whose stock in trade is merciless, concussive chaos. For his first film in seven years, premiering April 25, the action auteur (The Raid, Gangs of London) envisions an urban hellscape of gangsters, thieves, and crooked and crooked-er cops, in which he stages one blistering bloodstained showstopper after another. Even in a genre that’s long indulged in excessiveness, this is the ruthless over-the-top carnage aficionados covet.
A New Contender for the Worst Video Game Movie Ever

2 weeks ago | thedailybeast.com | Nick Schager

How do you cinematically adapt a video game that itself was designed as an interactive movie? Until Dawn’s answer is that you create something that resembles its source material in name only. Returning to the horror fold after his forays into subpar superhero spectaculars (Shazam! and its sequel), director David F. Sandberg crafts a gory riff on Groundhog Day, trapping a group of friends in a nocturnal cycle of mayhem and madness.