Paul Asay

4 days ago | pluggedin.com | Paul Asay

New name, same old results. Last Monday, Thunderbolts* kinda-sorta changed its name to The New Avengers thus explaining the original name’s asterisk and generating a whole new swathe of publicity in one fell swoop. But at Plugged In, we’re sticking with Thunderbolts*. So it’s only fitting that the movie’s performance also looks awfully familiar. Thunderbolts* once again won the weekend’s box-office crown.

1 week ago | pluggedin.com | Paul Asay

We love it when things go bad. Or, at least, we love it in our entertainment. The Last of Us is one of Max’s most acclaimed dramas. Ditto The Handmaid’s Tale over on Hulu. Sunrise on the Reaping—the latest book in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games saga—sold more than 1.5 million copies in its first week. Some psychologists will tell you that dystopian stories can help us process our own fears and gloomy futures in a safe space.

1 week ago | patheos.com | Paul Asay

You can’t deny the power, artistry and sheer entertainment value of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The film manages to balance horror and humor as well as any. Michael B. Jordan—playing the gangster twins Smoke and Stack—is at his charismatic best. And the music? It swings from foot-pounding blues numbers to tender Irish ballads–transcending the window-dressing treatment music often get and deftly informing both what Sinners says and how it feels. And that’s the point.

1 week ago | pluggedin.com | Paul Asay

“The worst enemy you can meet will always be yourself,” philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote. And so it is in Thunderbolts*. Sure, the film (now called The New Avengers, if one takes Marvel’s publicity stunt at its word) has plenty of other ne’er-do-wells. Embattled CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is plotting and scheming. A titanic bad guy is said to be as strong as all the Avengers rolled into one. Even our heroes have been villains a time or two. But how did they become villains?

1 week ago | pluggedin.com | Paul Asay

Are the Thunderbolts heroes? To Marvel and Disney, they sure are. For decades, the Marvel Cinematic Universe felt invulnerable. Practically every film would fly into theaters, bask in audience applause and collect enough money to buy half of Denmark. But the franchise has looked almost human lately: Sure, it still reliably lands its films at the top of our Movie Monday countdown, but fans have lamented their quality. The MCU was beginning to look a little soft.