The Worst. Movie. Ever. is a masterpiece. Seriously. .Enough time has passed since Showgirls flopped spectacularly that it's time for a good, hard look back at the sequined spectacle. A salvage operation on a very public, very expensive train wreck, It Doesn't Suck argues that Showgirls is much smarter and deeper than it is given credit for. In an accessible and entertaining voice, the book encourages a shift in critical perspective on Paul Verhoeven's...

Damn good coffee, cherry pie, and the "big bang of auteur television." In 1990, avant garde filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet) and acclaimed television writer Mark Frost (Hill Street Blues) teamed up to create a television show that would redefine what the medium could achieve in a one-hour drama. With Twin Peaks, the duo entranced audiences with the seemingly idyllic town, its quirky characters, and a central...

Gus Van Sant's 1991 indie darling My Own Private Idaho perplexed and provoked, inspiring a new ethos for a new decade: being different was better than being good. Gentlemen of the Shade examines how the film was a coming-of-age for a generation of young people who would embrace the alternative and bring their outsider perspectives to sustainability, technology, gender constructs, and social responsibility. My Own Private Idaho - fragmented and saturated...

A fascinating investigation of a beloved comic strip The internet is home to impassioned debates on just about everything, but there's one thing that's universally beloved: Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Until its retirement in 1995 after a ten-year run, the strip won numerous awards and drew tens of millions of readers from all around the world. The story of a boy and his best friend a stuffed tiger was a pitch-perfect distillation...

Megan Fox, a diabolic indie rock band, toxic friendship, fluid sexuality, feminist reckoning, and a literal man-eater in the body of a high school cheerleader: Jennifer's Body has it all Featuring an original interview with director Karyn Kusama What would be an easy sell in 2021, women at the helm (screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Karyn Kusama), a bankable cast (Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried), and a deceptively complex skewering of gender politics,...

The right reasons to fall in love with The Bachelor When it debuted in 2002, The Bachelor raised the stakes of first-wave reality television, offering the ultimate prize: true love. Since then, thrice yearly, dozens of camera-ready young-and-eligibles have vied for affection (and roses) in front of a devoted audience of millions. In this funny, insightful examination of the worlds favorite romance-factory, Suzannah Showler explores the contradictions...

A smart, engaging investigation of the show that brought real teens to TV My So-Called Life lasted only 19 episodes from 1994 to 1995, but in that time it earned many devoted viewers, including the showrunners who would usher in the teen TV boom of the late '90s and the new millennium. With its focus on 15-year-old Angela Chase's search for her identity, MSCL's realistic representation of adolescence on TV was groundbreaking; without her there would...

On an ordinary summer's afternoon, Alice tumbles down a hole and an extraordinary adventure begins. In a strange world with even stranger characters, she meets a grinning cat and a rabbit with a pocket-watch, joins a mad tea party and plays croquet with the Queen. Lost in this fantasy land, Alice finds herself growing more and more curious by the minute.

Celebrate the 90th anniversary of The Little Engine That Could with this all-time classic reillustrated by Caldecott Award-winning artist Dan Santat! "The kindness and determination of the Little Blue Engine have inspired millions of children around the world since the story was first published in 1930. Cherished by readers for ninety years, The Little Engine That Could is a classic tale of a little engine that, despite her size, triumphantly pulls...

This illustrated storybook is adapted from the classic movie, 'E.T.' After E.T. is stranded on Earth, he takes refuge with Elliott, a lonely boy in need of a friend ... and together they find a way to send E.T. back home. Along the way, they learn important lessons about courage, friendship, and the power of the imagination.