Reviews
Bros Refuses to Apologize For The Specifics of Queer Romance (Except When It Does): Review
The Pitch: Bobby Lieber (Billy Eichner) is a successful pillar of the gay community in New York City: He’s got a popular podcast, he’s the director of what’s soon to be the nation’s first LGBTQ+ history museum, and he was just named “Cis White Gay Man of the Year.” The only thing missing is a man in his life, but Bobby isn’t into all that: “Love is not love,” he stresses early on to his friends, rejecting the oft-used gay rights sentiment as a lie to get straight people to treat queer folks like human beings. Instead, he chips away at one awkward Grindr hookup after another. But fortune changes when Bobby runs into hunky estate lawyer Aaron (Luke Macfarlane) at a club; they each clock the other as angry and boring, respectively, and their shared fatigue for the performative, ima...
Dahmer Review: Ryan Murphy’s Serial Killer Drama Puts the Victims First
The Pitch: What often gets lost in the lurid stories of America’s most infamous serial killers is how profoundly they expose the cracks in our democracy. Such is the case for Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters), a lonely and disturbed young man who murdered and dismembered 17 young men between the years of 1978 and 1991. The horrific details of those murders gained Dahmer immediate fame when he was finally arrested in 1991 and eventually sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment: this was a necrophiliac, a cannibalistic child molester, a gay man who drugged and killed other gay men at the height of the AIDS epidemic. When the Milwaukee Police Department searched Dahmer’s apartment, they found so many severed body parts that the chief medical examiner described the experience as “more like disman...
Interview With the Vampire Review: AMC Delivers a Proudly Queer Take on the Anne Rice Saga
The Pitch: Vampires are back! Really, our bloodsucking undead brethren never truly go out of style, but it’s been a few years since the sparkly Twilight boom and it’s time for the original kings of the genre to make their way to the forefront. Hence AMC throwing a lot of money behind a lavish adaptation of Anne Rice’s multi-million best-selling gothic saga, The Vampire Chronicles — starting with her most famous work, Interview With the Vampire. The late Rice essentially reinvented the modern vampire, turning them into baroque creatures of sensuality and emotion, and with it, she inspired intense devotion from her fans. It’s no mean feat for any creator to take on this saga for the big or small screen, given that it encompasses hundreds of characters, thousands of years, a total r...
Lil Nas X Introduces the Man Behind the Meme at New York’s Radio City: Review and Setlist
When arriving at a show on the “Long Live Montero Tour” (grab tickets to remaining dates here), you’re first greeted by venue security handing you a Playbill. It’s a jarring experience — particularly, as was the case at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on September 20th, when a local radio DJ is warming up the audience by blasting songs you might have attempted to grind to at a homecoming dance. But this Playbill actually sets the scene well: It has a photo of Lil Nas X on the front, adorned with butterfly wings and all. “I hate writing stuff that isn’t music but my people are forcing me at gunpoint to write this welcome note,” reads the first page in a hand-scribbled passage from the rapper, who certainly isn’t known for doing things in earnest. “This play is about my journey, what I...
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Shines Thanks to a Deadpan Daniel Radcliffe: Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: Based on the 100% true story of comedian/musician/renegade polka king’s rapid rise to superstardom, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is an “unflinching” look at “Weird” Al Yankovic’s chaotic life. From his childhood as a closeted accordion player, to his brief flirtation with the hot underground polka scene, to his excessive rock and roll lifestyle to his artistic struggles, to his tumultuous romance for the ages with Madonna, and his deadly feud with a legendary drug lord, writer/director Eric Appel and co-writer Al Yankovic pull no punches. This is as real and serious as it gets. Related Video Generic Blues: A fake biopic of “Weird” Al Yankovic is most likely a foolproof formula. How wrong can you...
Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson Charm in the Time Loop Rom-Com Meet Cute: Review
The Pitch: It’s a tale as old as time: Gary (Pete Davidson) and Sheila (Kaley Cuoco) meet at a bar, and it’s basically love at first sight. She notices him because he’s the only one in the bar not watching the Big Game. He notices her because she’s funny, witty, unexpected, and a little kooky; their droll senses of humor bounce off each other like electricity. As their night goes from bar to restaurant to slow walks and talks along the riverside, it seems like their moment-one spark is too good to be true. Well, that might be because it is: It doesn’t take long for Sheila to fess up to the fact that their spontaneous meeting wasn’t so spontaneous: She’s lived this night dozens of times before, thanks to a magical tanning machine in a nearby nail salon that zaps you back 24 hours in ti...
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever Is the Worst-Reviewed Movie on Rotten Tomatoes — 20 Years Later, Is It Still That Bad?
According to Rotten Tomatoes, there has never been a movie quite like Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. The 2002 film, which stars Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu as espionage agents on opposite ends of an action-packed conspiracy, turns 20 years old today, and it bears one of the most unfortunate distinctions in the entire entertainment industry: It has 118 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and every single one of them says it’s bad. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is not the only movie with a 0% on the internet’s best-known review aggregator, but not all the zero-percenters are equal on that site. Even notorious duds like Jaws: The Revenge and Highlander II: The Quickening only have a fraction of the reviews have been logged for Ballistic. The odds that out of 118 critics, not a single one of them ever gave ...
Primavera Sound LA 2022 Was a Festival of the Future with Arctic Monkeys, Nine Inch Nails and More: Recap
Primavera Sound’s approach to live music has been nothing if not influential; since its inaugural edition in Barcelona back in 2001, Primavera Sound’s lineups have expanded in size and scope, but have never lost the futuristic, progressive edge that have captivated fans and festival organizers alike. The heavily curated, forward-thinking selections of music represent some of the most exciting artists around, whether it be in the pop universe or the fringes of genres. Twenty years in, Primavera Sound is expanding to the Americas, including three new editions in South America and one Los Angeles festival, which was originally scheduled to mount in 2020 (before the pandemic cancelled both 2020 and 2021’s festivals). Taking place at Los Angeles Historic State Park last weekend (September 16th-...
Primavera Sound LA 2022 Photo Gallery: Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, Nine Inch Nails, and More
This past weekend (September 16th-18th), Primavera Sound held its inaugural Los Angeles edition at L.A. State Historic Park. Featuring heavy-hitting headlining sets from Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, and Nine Inch Nails, the weekend proved to be a successful American translation of the iconic festival. Amazing sets didn’t stop at the headliners, though, as the festival’s deep lineup did not disappoint. Notable sets came from acts like Arca, Mitski, Clairo, Fontaines DC, Tierra Whack, and Stereolab, as well as Faye Webster, James Blake, Mayhem, and Squid. Check out actions shots of such artists and more below, courtesy of photographer Debi Del Grande, who was on the ground for Consequence all weekend long. Advertisement Related Video [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_...
House of the Dragon Episode 5 Recap: The Worst People in Westeros, Ranked
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon, Season 1 Episode 5, “We Light the Way.” To read last week’s ranking, click here.] Game of Thrones was a show that became famous for the shades of grey to be found in its heroes and villains alike, and so far the prequel series House of the Dragon has shown every indication of following in that proud tradition. Thus, Consequence is happy to bring you Who’s the Worst Person in Westeros, a weekly ranking of House of the Dragon‘s most important characters, and just how unsavory they ended up being each week. Everyone on screen, including dragons, is eligible for this list (though expect for the show’s series regulars to be heavily featured from week to week). Advertisement In “We Light the Way,” there’s a minimal amount o...
Confess, Fletch Review: Jon Hamm Finds His Perfect Post-Mad Men Role
The Pitch: Irwin M. “Fletch” Fletcher (Jon Hamm), an investigative journalist of some repute, arrives in Boston to help his lady friend Angela (Lorenza Izzo) retrieve some of her father’s paintings from an eccentric art dealer (Kyle McLachlan). But before he can unpack his bags, he finds a dead body in the apartment he’s borrowing. Pegged by two homicide detectives (Roy Wood Jr. and Ayden Mayeri) as the primary suspect, Fletch has to clear his name, secure the missing artwork, and fend off the advances of Angela’s stepmother (Marcia Gay Harden). Cards on the Table Time: Since he broke into the global consciousness through his still-outstanding work as morally bankrupt ad man Don Draper in AMC’s Mad Men, Jon Hamm has seemed content to serve as a utility player: For the better part of 15 yea...
Moonage Daydream Captures David Bowie’s Legacy and a Life Lived Magnificently: Review
The Pitch: The new David Bowie documentary, Moonage Daydream, succeeds not only for what it is, but what it isn’t. That has a lot to do with the clichés — and, occasionally, limitations — of the well-trodden format of the music documentary. We know bad ones — or just boilerplate ones — when we see them. They typically open in medias res; the subject mumbles something backstage through celluloid grain and a plume of smoke. Here come the talking heads: Jakob Dylan, Dave Grohl, Bono. The director takes us from the cradle to the grave — and you’re left a few bucks poorer, wondering if this is all music is, in the end. But never fear: Brett Morgen is at the wheel of Moonage Daydream, the new documentary plumbing the depths of Bowie. You may remember Morgen because he directed Kurt Cobain: Monta...
