Steven Scaife

1 week ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

Not every book needs a multi-episode TV adaptation. And based on how most of those adaptations turn out, most do not. As adapted from Alafair Burke’s novel of the same name, however, Amazon’s The Better Sister features a familial web so tangled that it all but justifies its existence. High-powered publishing exec Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel) is married to lawyer Adam (Corey Stoll), who used to be married to Chloe’s alcoholic sister, Nicky (Elizabeth Banks).

1 week ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

The latest from Katamari creator Takahashi Keita might sound conventional, given his typically kaleidoscopic standards. Where Wattam followed a green block man called the Mayor with a mustache on his face and a bomb under his hat, To a T centers on a human teenager with no political convictions. The character, whose default name is Teen, lives in their small town with their single mom and dog, whose default name is Dog.

3 weeks ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

The rogue security cyborg (Alexander Skarsgård) at the center of Apple’s Murderbot is less a vengeful killer than a quiet quitter. Having hacked the module that compels it to follow orders, Murderbot doesn’t seek revenge against the humans who birthed it into a lifetime of corporate bondage, it just wants to be left alone to watch TV. The robot continues to give its security job the absolute minimum of attention while downloading soap operas directly into its eyeballs for covert binging.

1 month ago | ign.com | Steven Scaife

Clown in a Cornfield opens in theaters May 9. Some titles let you know exactly what you’re in for, and if Clown in a Cornfield isn’t a memoir by a Midwestern comedian, then it can only be a slasher. Adapted from Adam Cesare’s acclaimed 2020 novel, it’s full of rowdy teens who drink and then die at the hands of, yes, a red-nosed madman in a maize crop.

1 month ago | slantmagazine.com | Steven Scaife

Vagabond sleuth Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) may have the ability to spot any lie, but almost as uncanny is her way of entangling herself in the lives of strangers who just happen to turn up dead. We witness a murder play out in the opening third of each episode of Poker Face and then flash back to see everything from a different perspective, in the process learning how Charlie was enmeshed in the events that took place.