The 15 Food Trends You NEED To Eat This Summer

August 12, 2016, 12:15 pm

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This story was originally published on July 8, 2016.

Summer and trendy food go hand-in-hand. When the weather warms up all we really want to do is eat, drink, and Instagram. But with limited summer days and seemingly infinite options for trendy eats, where are we to begin? If you're feeling overwhelmed by the endless social media stream of ice cream cookie sandwiches, galaxy-colored popsicles, rainbow cakes, and more — we're here to help.

Say hello to your very own curated hit list of this season's must-eats. From the famed ramen burger to puffle cones, sushi burritos, and many more, this is the ultimate bucket list for the best in food fads. Don't let summer slip away before crossing off a few of these popular dishes. Foodie friends, we hope you're hungry. It's go time.

**Poke Bowl**
This Hawaiian-born raw fish dish has taken the U.S. by storm. What is essentially a raw bar in salad form, the poke bowl combines cubed fish with various veggies and often a soy sauce marinade. It's bright, light, fresh, and perfect for warm weather.
Photo: Via @christinaslaton.

**Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwich**
The ice cream sandwich has undergone quite a few trendy transformations lately — but we have to argue that the best by far gets awarded to the doughnut combo. And nothing makes a dessert staple better than sandwiching it together with *another* favorite.
Photo: Via **@devourpower**.

**Ramen Burger**
If you haven't yet heard of the Ramen Burger, it's time to get yourself out from under that rock and to your nearest food festival. Ramen burgers were originally conceived of by Keizo Shimamoto as a representation of his dual heritage: He was born in Tokyo and raised in California. They were originally only available in NYC, but thanks to the viral nature of this bucket list item, ramen burgers are now cropping up all over the country.
Photo: Via **@infatuation**.

**Smoothie Bowl**
A bowl filled with blended fruity bliss and artfully garnished with sprinklings of seeds and sweet toppings — it's satisfying to eat AND Instagram. You can make one at home thanks to a never-ending supply of recipes on Pinterest or pick one up at any of your local smoothie shops. We're guessing they've probably gotten in on the trend.
Photo: Via **@bysaber**.

**Rainbow Bagel**
You haven't lived until you've purchased and photographed an infamous rainbow bagel. Bakeries around the globe have been adding the technicolor breakfast food to their menus after the swirly dough went viral earlier this year. How about that cookie cream cheese, though?
Photo: Via **@victoria_marano**.

**Over-The-Top Milkshake**
Milkshakes are back — and we aren't talking about the drive-through window, paper-cup kind. The new trend in milkshakes is bigger and better than your wildest milkshake dreams: think layers of syrup and cream topped with stacks of cookies and marshmallows, all finished off with hot fudge, a slice of cake, and even lit sparklers.
Photo: Via **@blacktapnyc**.

**Nitro Cold Brew**
Iced coffee is nothing new — but nitro cold brew is another story. The trend first made waves last summer in artisanal coffee shops and is now more widely available. Even Starbucks is getting in on the fun. This coffee drink utilizes nitrogen gas for a high pressure brewing process, resulting in a creamy and intense cup of Joe.
Photo: Via **@contracoffeeandtea**.

**Puffle Cone**
What sounds like the name of a cute Pokémon character is actually one of the most explosive food trends of the summer season. Puffle cones are puffed egg-style waffles that originated in Hong Kong. These delicious cones are lovingly wrapped in paper, for easy handling, and then filled to the brim with your choice of ice cream scoops and toppings.
Photo: Via **@cauldronicecream**.

**Sushi Burrito**
The sushi burrito is a brilliant trendy food creation, made for sushi-lovers who are willing to break from tradition. Not only does one order make for a full meal, but you can enjoy it on the go (sans chopsticks). It's sushi, summer-style.
Photo: Via **@cy_eats**.

**Crazy Bloody Mary**
Bloody Marys are a brunching staple that have gained some serious food-trend traction over the past few years. The drink has gone from a classic breakfast cocktail to a wildly accouterment-filled alcoholic meal. From slabs of bacon, to burgers, and even whole fried chickens — the crazy Bloody Mary trend is prime for summer brunches.
Photo: Via **@dcfoodporn**.

**Summer Roll**
This new take on summer rolls are as lovely to look at as they are to munch, and our Instagram feeds can definitely back that up. With translucent rice paper wrapped tenderly around sliced fruit and veggies, these refreshing rolls are the picture perfect bite for a picnic or cookout.
Photo: Via **@bysaber**.

**Secret Sauce Burger**
Nothing says summer more than a juicy burger slathered in some trendy secret sauce. What is secret sauce? Oh, you know, that creamy-salty-kinda-spicy sauce that melts in lovingly with the cheese. And whatever the restaurant, they just won't tell you how the hell to make it.
Photo: Via **@supaflyshimmy**.

**Trendy Toast**
Not that we're over avocado, but there's some new trendy toast in town. Whether you're slathering your sprouted wheat bread with sliced berries or sprinkling pomegranate seeds and edible pansies overtop, the toast takeover is going seriously strong this season. Extra points for making several different varieties, lining them up, and instagramming with abandon.
Photo: Via **@secretsquirrelfood**.

**Wine Slushie**
What could be more refreshing than an ice-cold glass of rosé in the summer? A frosé, that's what. Frozen wine is popping up everywhere so don't be surprised if you spot it at your local watering hole. It's cool, sweet, portable, and incognito in a plastic cup with a straw. Cheers.
Photo: Via **@daniaustin**.

**Something Lobster That Isn't A Lobster Roll**
Lobsters are the crustacean mascots of summer and lobster rolls are pretty much always our go-to vessel. But there are plenty of other options to indulge in, like lobster grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and more. We'll still probably have a few lobster rolls, but this year is all about trying something new.
Photo: Via **@indulgenteats**.

We leave you here, with your very own checklist for printing. Go forth into the heat and get to grubbing.
Illustrated by Paola Delucca.

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↧

How To Watch Porn On Your Phone — The Right Way

August 12, 2016, 12:20 pm

≫ Next: Boomer Phelps Slept Through His Today Show Appearance

≪ Previous: The 15 Food Trends You NEED To Eat This Summer

We use our phones for everything these days. If that includes watching porn, don't worry: You're in very good company. There's still a stigma around phone porn usage, however. Even if you're a proud watcher, you may not want to advertise the fact right on your home screen.

In truth, that would be tough to do, anyway. There's no porn section of the App Store. And while the App Store and Google Play include plenty of apps with mature, sexy content, outright porn is prohibited in both markets. But that's okay — there are ways around it and ways to make the experience safer and less clunky.

Whether you regularly use your phone to watch porn or you've merely thought about it, there are things you can do to make that experience better. Read on for our best tips for watching porn on your handset.

**Use A Secure Web-Browsing App**
To make sure your connection is secure and private, try an app such as Anonymous Deep Web Browser for Android. The app gives you an anonymous IP address so that other sites can't see your information. It will also clear your search history and has ad blocking support — a major bonus for porn sites which always litter your screen with pop-ups.
Photo: Google Play.

**Browse In Private**
The easiest way to watch porn on your phone is with your browser, but you don't want your search history trailing behind you. To solve that issue, search in private. On Apple's Safari, you can do this by tapping the plus sign for a new browser tab and then tapping Private in the lower-left-hand corner. When you're done, close out of the tab, un-tap Private, and whatever sites you visited should stay private.
Photo: Courtesy Apple.

**Browse In Incognito**
You can do this in Chrome, too — just as you would on the desktop. Just head to the settings button in the upper right (this is the same whether you're on iOS or Android) and tap "New Incognito Tab." Browse to your heart's content. When you're done, tap the tabs icon, located next to the settings button, and close out of your Incognito tabs.
Photo: Courtesy Google.

**Employ A Bedside Dock**
The one downside to the convenience of using your phone as your porn player of choice: It requires your hands. If you'd prefer to go hands-free, grab a dock you can position on your nightstand or coffee table. Twelve South's HiRise dock is a great option — it starts at $25.
Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

**Download A Third-Party App Store**
Android users have another option here: Downloading a third-party app market, such as Aptoide. Now, downloading a third-party app store comes with some risks, namely, that the apps haven't been vetted by Google. This means it's possible you could end up with a nasty piece of malware on your phone. However, Aptoide scans many of its apps for viruses and the market is recommended by Android Authority, so it's not completely sketch. Why download a market such as Aptoide? Because it's not regulated by Google, it's got porn apps — plenty of 'em.
Photo: Courtesy Aptoide.

**Cumdroid**
Or, you can download a title such as Cumdroid. Android-phone owners can download it for free or upgrade it with a $5 purchase to go ad-free and gain the ability to download videos. It sources videos from YouPorn, XVideos, and xHamster, among other sites, and perhaps surprisingly, also has a pleasant user interface.
Photo: Courtesy Cumdroid.

**Pornhub**
If you've got an Android device, you're in luck: You can now download Pornub's app. To get it, you'll have to lower your security settings: Go to Menu, System Settings, Security, and then check the box allowing downloads from "Unknown Sources." Once you've downloaded the app, we'd recommend unchecking that box again. Downloading an app this way does open up your phone to malware, so proceed with caution.
Photo: Courtesy Pornhub.

**Add A Site To Your Homescreen**
iPhone owners have no need to fret. Just because PornHub isn't in the App Store doesn't mean you can't still add it to your homescreen: You can add shortcuts to your favorite websites on your homescreen and they look just like app icons.
To do this, navigate to the website of your choice (I picked Refinery29.com for this example, naturally), then tap the share button at the bottom of the screen. Scroll right and tap "Add to Home Screen." From there, you can customize the name of the app and what URL the shortcut goes to. So, while the URL may direct to your favorite porn site, you could label the app "Puppy Videos" or "Productivity App" to throw any iPhone snoops off your trail.
Photo: Courtesy Apple.

**Use A Folder**
For an added layer of protection against prying eyes, store those shortcuts in a folder. We recommend naming it something dull and unremarkable. "Websites" could do.
Photo: Courtesy Apple.

**Use YOUR Phone Only**
If you're lucky enough to have a phone comped to you by the company you work for, kudos — just make sure what you do on there stays professional. Do not watch porn (or send sexts, or take scandalous photos) with a work device — even in Incognito Mode.
Photo: Courtesy Google.

**Don't Browse In Public**
And it should go without saying: Don't browse in public. You may think no one can see your screen while you're huddled in seat 24C of United Airlines flight 1649, but chances are yes, someone will glimpse the action on your phone at some point. Save it for when you're really, truly in private (or with someone who wants to watch it with you).
Photo: Courtesy Apple.

**Clean Your Screen**
And when you're done, it's not a bad idea to clean your screen using something like Whoosh! (which starts at $7). Your phone can harbor a variety of bacteria, after all.
Photo: Courtesy Amazon.

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Boomer Phelps Slept Through His Today Show Appearance

August 12, 2016, 12:30 pm

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Michael Phelps may have taken home multiple gold medals, but his son Boomer has been stealing the show at this year's Olympics. On The Today Show Friday morning, Boomer was the first one Matt Lauer wanted to talk to. But unfortunately for Lauer, the kid slept through the whole damn thing, Pop Sugar noticed.

As Michael's mother Debbie Phelps talked about how great it's been to watch her son succeed, Boomer just sat in his mom Nicole Johnson's arms, totally oblivious. He opened his eyes and squirmed around a bit, but being on TV was clearly not too exciting to him. He's already basically a celebrity, after all.

Hoda Kotb asked Johnson what it'll be like when Boomer learns what, exactly, his dad does for a living. "It's amazing," she said. "And to be able to share it with Boomer, even if he won't remember, outside of all the pictures and all the videos, it's really neat."

It'll also probably be cool for Boomer to grow up and realize he was TV-famous as a baby.

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The Top Beauty Looks To Copy This Weekend

August 12, 2016, 12:30 pm

≫ Next: What You Need To Know Before You (Inevitably) Lose Your Phone

≪ Previous: Boomer Phelps Slept Through His Today Show Appearance

TGIF: It's time to get excited to sleep in, brunch with your BFFs, and try a new look on your night out. But because we know how tempting it is to fall back on your go-to beauty routine, we're recapping the best celebrity hair and makeup looks of the past month — from the red carpet to Instagram. Consider it a gentle nudge in the direction of that glittery liner collecting dust in the bottom of your makeup drawer. Come back every Friday afternoon for your weekly dose of inspiration.

Whether your weekend plans involve a low-key picnic in the park, a black-tie affair, or an '80s night, we've got your hair and makeup covered. Celebrities didn't play it safe with their beauty game this week — and our mood boards are better because of it. Click through to see the '90s-inspired lips, colorful ponytails, and smoky eyes to test tonight.

What was your favorite look of the month so far? Let us know in the comments below.

**Keri Hilson**
The singer piled on the mascara until her lashes were thick, voluminous, and even a touch clumpy (in a good way!) on top and bottom. If you're feeling bold, why not add two rows of falsies? Hey, Twiggy did it!
Photo: Getty Images.

**Bryce Dallas Howard**
Hairstylist Adir Abergel calls this an "architectural take on a ponytail," and it's so simple to do. Just gather your hair into a ponytail at the nape, but don't pull it all the way through on the last loop. Then, grab a bobby pin (or gold barrette if you're feeling fancy) and pin the inside of the resulting loop flat against your head.
Photo: Getty Images.

**January Jones**
"The '90s called me and I picked up," is how Jones captioned this Instagram post of her matte, brick-red lips and smudgy, slept-in smoky eyes. Brush up your brows, flip your hair, and hit the town.
Photo: via @januaryjones.

**Rita Ora**
Gold accents would be the obvious way to celebrate the Olympics this weekend, but we're taking the torch from Ora. Her dip-dyed ponytail is *on fire*, and you can get the look for one night only with temporary paint or clip-in streaks.
Photo: Getty Images.

**Ariana Grande**
Grande revealed a major hair change on social media last month, but it wasn't until this week that we got the full reveal. Her new bangs are giving us fringe envy, and were perfectly paired with soft makeup and her favorite high pony. [Ed. note: Should I get bangs?]
Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

**Margot Robbie**
We've been keeping close tabs on the Australian actress' most noteworthy beauty looks, and her appearance at this week's world premiere of *Suicide Squad* was no deviation from her *killer* track record. Moreover, the seemingly effortless low bun is giving us the best sort of hair inspiration — the achievable kind!
Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images.

**Cara Delevingne**
At the same premiere, Delevingne also made waves — and we're not just talking about her glam, Old Hollywood 'do. She paired matte, red lips with super-sparkly shadow, and we applaud the actress' beauty gusto yet again.
Photo: Noam Galai/Getty Images.

**Salma Hayek**
Gracing the stage of *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* this past Tuesday, Hayek opted for a peony-pink tint on her lips, cheeks, *and* lids, proving that mono makeup is still very much alive and well.
Photo: Via @ missjobaker.

**Selena Gomez**
Selena has us convinced that big, long hair will always be en vogue. Who else has blowout envy right now?
Photo: Via @ hungvanngo.

**Nina Dobrev**
Copy this sleek side-braid and pair it with bold, red lips for your next night out — the combo will have you oozing elegance and takes no time at all. Win-win!
Photo: Via @ laurapolko.

**Cara Delevingne**
If there's ever an excuse to break out your makeup superpowers, it's Comic-Con. Makeup artist Molly Stern swept cobalt-blue, winged liner on Delevingne, which — when paired with her knit top — made for a cool *Star Trek* vibe. (Two shots of Delevingne in one slideshow? We told you she's been killing it lately!)
Photo: Charley Gallay/Getty Images.

**Mila Kunis**
Hit the refresh button on your standard half-up style by wrapping a thin section of hair from the ponytail around the elastic and down an inch, as hairstylist Renato Campora did on Kunis for the premiere of *Bad Moms*. Secure it in place with a bobby pin, then finish with a shine mist.
Photo: Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images. Photo: JB Lacroix/WireImage.

**Margot Robbie**
Another shot of Robbie from her press tour for *Suicide Squad* — and perfect weekend beauty inspo. To wit: If a mermaid crown is too much for you, the next best way to channel a magical sea babe is with beach waves, fishtail braids, and iridescent orange eyeshadow.
Photo: Alexander Tamargo/WireImage.

**Kendall Jenner**
Hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons took the words right out of our mouths in his Instagram caption of this look: "Chic AF." Tell us, when does a red-lip-and-topknot combo *not* work?
Photo: Via @andrewfitzsimons.

**Justine Skye**
Since you can't avoid the heat this weekend, you might as well make it your BFF and embrace dewy shine. Add a slick, clear lip gloss over your signature red, then highlight your chest and shoulders with shimmery body oil.
Photo: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic.

**Teresa Palmer**
Hairstylist John D was behind the actress' gorgeous braided ponytail — and the style is actually easier to copy than it looks. Mist damp hair with salt spray, then roughly blowdry it with a diffuser. Start creating a regular French braid down the back of the head (don't worry about making it perfect; this style looks cooler when messier), stopping at the nape. Tie it off with an elastic, and you're ready for brunch.
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

**Chanel Iman**
This is the perfect style for getting your hair off your face on a hot summer night. Grab a small chunk of hair from each side of your center-part and weave a diagonal cornrow (pulling pieces under instead of over) toward the back of the head. Once you reach behind the ears, finish the braids and secure each with a small, clear elastic.
Photo: Mark Sagliocco/FilmMagic.

**Gigi Hadid**
Has anyone ever made the case for matching your manicure to your makeup as convincingly as Hadid does here? We think not.
Photo: Via @gigihadid.

**Zendaya**
When you're all dressed up in your finest party attire, but also *kind of* want people to think you don't give a damn, take a page out of Zendaya's playbook. Spray your hair with texturizer, pile it high into a knot, and encourage flyaways and short pieces to fall as they may.
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic.

**Halston Sage**
Pairing black, white, and red is a little predictable. Which you're not, obviously. This time, try deeper lips in the purplish-red family and keep your skin bare and highlighted.
Photo: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images.

**Shay Mitchell**
Big hair is bigger than ever — and Mitchell's version couldn't be more envy-inducing. Bonus points if you wear big hoops, too.
Photo: Via @shaym.

**Kendall Jenner**
When she wasn't sweeping her hair back, Jenner was wearing cool rocker waves with tons of shine. But we especially love her lash look — which requires nothing more than a killer lengthening mascara and some tightlining skills.
Photo: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.

**Mila Kunis**
The actress let all her hair down — and took us back to the days of *That '70s Show* — with her flowy, floral top and big, brushed-out waves.
Photo: Laura Cavanaugh/FilmMagic.

Like this post? There's more. Get tons of beauty tips, tutorials, and news on the Refinery29 Beauty Facebook page. Like us on Facebook — we'll see you there!

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What You Need To Know Before You (Inevitably) Lose Your Phone

August 12, 2016, 12:40 pm

≫ Next: Here's What Happens When You Take Drugs & Build Ikea Furniture

≪ Previous: The Top Beauty Looks To Copy This Weekend

When your phone carries your health information, credit cards, and private emails, not to mention all your social accounts and text conversations, losing it is...bad. As anyone who's ever left their phone in a cab knows, the apocalyptic feelings of panic are not pleasant.

Whether you've momentarily misplaced your phone at home or had it stolen while traveling, there are some easy steps you can take to mitigate the effects. These include precautionary actions you should take now, as well as things you should do before you actually invest in a new phone.

Losing your phone is never fun, but doing these 10 things will make it much less painful.

**Before You Misplace Your Phone**
Take some basic security precautions ahead of time. The easiest — and the best? Setting up a passcode. Go to your iPhone's Settings and **click Touch ID & Passcode to set both up** if you haven't already. Having both authentications enabled will secure your phone so that others can't unlock it. This is your best defense against a rando stealing it and making it their own.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

The same goes for **enabling Auto-Lock.** Go to your Settings, press General, and scroll down to make sure Auto-Lock isn't set on "Never". This way, your phone will lock after a short period of time so that no one can access your information after you've unlocked it with a passcode or Touch ID.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

If you do lose your phone, you still want to have access to all of your contacts, photos, and apps. Go to your iCloud account within your Settings and **turn on iCloud Backup** to have your account automatically back up data.
This way, you'll be able to sign into your iCloud account from another phone or desktop to download all of your information. (This is also incredibly useful when it's time to upgrade to a new handset.)
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

**Write down your phone's serial number** and store it in a secure place, whether that's your laptop or a notebook at home. Your serial number is useful if your phone crops up on Craigslist or eBay. You can find it by going to Settings, clicking General, and About.
For Android devices, your 15-character serial number is in the Status tab, which you can find by going to Settings and About Phone.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

Within your iCloud Account (Settings, iCloud), you also have the option to **turn on Find My iPhone.** Doing so will let you track your iPhone wherever it is. You will also be able to erase the content on your phone remotely, lock your screen (if you don't have Auto-Lock enabled), and send a message to the phone that says, “This phone is lost. Please call ###-###-####."
On Android, you can go to Google Settings, click Security, and turn on **Remotely Locate This Device** and Allow Remote Lock and Erase. You can double-check that the feature is working correctly by looking at the location online.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

**When You've Misplaced Your Phone**
If you own a Tile, a small Bluetooth tracker that you can connect to your phone, you can track your phone's location and call your phone by logging into your account on its website from another device.
Photo: App Store.

If you have Find My iPhone enabled, log into your iCloud account from a desktop computer or another device. On the main dashboard, tap Find My iPhone. You'll see the phone's GPS location and can **track its location.** Hopefully, your misplaced phone is just hiding at the bottom of your bag — but if you left it in a restaurant or a cab, this will let you know for sure.
For Android users, just go to the Android Device Manager online or use the app on a friend's phone.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

You can use that same map to ping your iPhone, erase the material on it, or **put your phone in Lost Mode**(note: This will work for any Apple device, not just your iPhone). Along the map's upper toolbar, tap the arrow next to All Devices, select your iPhone, and choose Lost Mode from the three options.
Lost Mode will let you send a message to the phone and enter a phone number where anyone who has found it can reach you. Lost Mode also locks your phone and ensures that no one can use credit cards you have on file with Apple Pay. To disable Lost Mode, you'll just need to enter your passcode on the phone. (But if your phone is just somewhere nearby and you can't find it, you can try playing a sound instead to locate it, Marco Polo-style.)
All of these same features are available for Android users through your Google account on the Android Device Manager site.
Photo: Madeline Buxton.

To **report your lost phone to law enforcement,** have the serial number on hand. If you didn't write that number down beforehand, you can look it up in iTunes, if you've ever backed up to iTunes on your desktop. You can find the number by going to the Preferences tab in the toolbar and pressing devices.
Photo: iTunes.

If your phone really is gone for good and you need to buy a new one, **call the credit card company that you used to buy the phone.** If you have renter's insurance, you can also call the company that you bought that plan through. They may give you money toward investing in a new phone.
If you have mobile-protection insurance through your mobile carrier, that's even better, since it will cover a lost or stolen phone. That can cost as little as $11 per month.
You'll likely also want to erase the phone remotely (through Find My iPhone) to eliminate all the personal info you had on the phone. RIP.
Photo: App Store.

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Here's What Happens When You Take Drugs & Build Ikea Furniture

August 12, 2016, 12:50 pm

≫ Next: Kylie Jenner's Makeup-Free Selfie Is Giving Us Life

≪ Previous: What You Need To Know Before You (Inevitably) Lose Your Phone

We love Ikea's pieces and prices, but we can't deny that building the furniture can sometimes be confusing. (The only time I’ve ever heard my sweet-natured, Southern mother utter the F-word was when she attempted to help me construct my Ikea bed in college.) You are likely aware of this, as Ikea angst is a well-documented phenomenon.

And now, a web series is making light of our collective frustration in a surprisingly clever way: by filming people as they try to construct Ikea furniture while under the influence of narcotics. Cleverly titled Hikea, the series, though it may not be entirely legal, is guaranteed to make you laugh.

According to Hikea ’s creators, Hunter Fine and Alex Taylor, the concept that inspired them to produce the series was fairly simple: "Building Ikea furniture is hard. Building Ikea furniture under the influence is nearly impossible. So we thought it would be funny to make a web series filming people high on drugs while attempting to build their affordably priced furniture. And it's funny to say ' Hikea.'" Indeed.

In the inaugural episode, you’ll see Giancarlo and Nicole drop acid before they begin building an Ikea dresser. The absolute funniest part of the clip is watching them hammer more slowly and more daintily than anyone has ever hammered before. Watch below for some big laughs — and a reminder that drugs are seriously bad for productivity.

Follow Hikea on YouTube and catch other episodes here. (Dazed Digital)

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Kylie Jenner's Makeup-Free Selfie Is Giving Us Life

August 12, 2016, 12:50 pm

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Sometimes it's hard to imagine that Kylie Jenner is just 19 years old. The world's fascination with her and her family seems to know no bounds, and she owns a thriving cosmetics company — while barely being at the age when most of us move out on our own. (And she has a mansion, to boot.)

Just take a look at how the internet explodes every single time she dons a new hair color or releases a new product for Kylie Cosmetics. Not to say that the attention isn't requested (we're not fools), but still, there's no denying that the pressure to always look perfect must be extreme.

No matter what your feelings are about the young woman — and we know it's a mixed bag among our readers — today, she posted something we can all appreciate: a makeup-free selfie.

Because at the end of the day, no matter who you are or what your relationship is with the internet, beauty, or celebrity, there's one thing we at R29 believe in fully: If, when, and how much makeup you wear is up to you, not anyone else. We write about the impact of makeup a lot, from test-driving skipping it altogether, to the pressures some people feel to wear it at work, to how important it is to understand that it's a personal decision for athletes to wear, or not wear, makeup during competitions.

Moral of the story: Let's keep the makeup-free moments coming to prove that cosmetics aren't required to show your face to the world, but are a form of self-expression. Shortly after the post went up, the comments on Jenner's picture are already mixed, but let's not indulge the haters. Trolls are gonna troll — and we don't need 'em today.

Wear it, don't wear it — it's all good. Bonus: If you go makeup-free, we get to see the adorable things you may be covering, like freckles.

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Florence Foster Jenkins Was A Bad Singer But Pitch Perfect About Life

August 12, 2016, 1:00 pm

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It is hard to imagine Meryl Streep being mind-bogglingly bad at anything. And yet, in her latest film out August 12, Florence Foster Jenkins, there she is as the titular lead, singing like a nightingale mid-strangulation.

In real life, Streep is a more than respectable chanteuse. But she pulls a tin ear off with aplomb in this charming biopic about a midcentury New York City socialite who wanted nothing more than to become an opera star — despite the fact that she had no natural talent for singing.

A bit of historical background: Nascina Florence Foster was born into a wealthy family in late-1860s Pennsylvania. As a child, she took easily to the piano, and was later dubbed a musical prodigy. But when a teenage Florence was told by her father that he would not continue supporting her music education, she rebelled and married a doctor named Frank Thornton Jenkins. Shortly thereafter, Florence contracted syphilis from her husband — an illness which, at the time, had no treatment or cure. They separated, Florence kept his name, and then her parents died, leaving her a sizable inheritance, so she relocated to New York City. It was there that she met St. Clair Bayfield in 1909, a British stage actor who became her common-law husband and ultimately, her manager.

Florence Foster Jenkins — the movie and the woman herself — present a pleasant counter-narrative to the idea that we always have to be successful at the thing we aspire to.

Florence enjoyed the social privileges that came with her considerable wealth: She lived a posh life in a sprawling uptown apartment, from which St. Clair came and went every morning and evening. According to this movie, the two were never intimate, which is how he kept from contracting syphilis. The Florence filmmakers also gave him a girlfriend, who lives in his separate apartment and tests his allegiance to his aging partner.

The film kicks off when Florence, now in her 70s, decides to rededicate herself to singing lessons, seeking out a pianist to accompany her during both practice and performance. With the help of St. Clair (played with charm and surprising nuance by Hugh Grant), she invites a number of musicians to her apartment for an audition, ultimately choosing a young man named Cosmé McMoon. Dreamy and nervous, McMoon is unprepared for what a poor singer Florence is until the first time he sits down to accompany her. He tries to hide his tittering behind the piano, fielding dirty looks from St. Clair, but ultimately nabs the gig anyway.

While the movie definitely pokes fun at Florence's eccentricity, it also takes care not to be cruel, both paying homage to her legacy and exploring the human side of a woman who has been called the worst singer in history.

At its heart, Florence Foster Jenkins is a deeply empathetic portrait of a woman who seemingly had everything, but yearned for the things that money can't buy: intimacy, family, health, and true talent. It's also a film that champions pursuing a passion in a way that has nothing to do with reward or critical acclaim: So rarely are we told to keep doing something we love even if we're bad at it. More often — as with young ballerinas who never properly pirouette, or budding pianists who can't seem to get the tempo right — women are told to give up and move on to something to which they are better suited.

Florence Foster Jenkins — the movie and the woman herself — present a pleasant counter-narrative to the idea that we always have to be successful at the thing we aspire to. The lesson: Doing something you love is the part that matters. As Streep's character puts it, "People may say I can't sing. But no one can ever say I didn't sing." Florence may have often been out of tune. But she nailed that line with perfect pitch.

This summer, we're celebrating the biggest movie season of the year with a new series calledBlockbust-HER . We'll be looking at everything film-related from the female perspective, interviewing major players in the industry and discussing where Hollywood is doing right by women and where (all too often) it is failing them. And now...let's go to the movies!

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These Gender-Neutral Kids' Clothing Lines Are Changing The Game

August 12, 2016, 1:00 pm

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≪ Previous: Florence Foster Jenkins Was A Bad Singer But Pitch Perfect About Life

Clothing tends to be designed, marketed, and shopped for in very gender-binary terms, with separate collections, sizing, and store sections for men and women. But that's slowly shifting: In the past year, major retailers like Zara and Selfridges have introduced unisex ranges, with varying degrees of success. While progressive and forward-thinking, these collections tend to have a disconnect between intent and execution. However, there are some noteworthy, genuinely gender-neutral apparel options for one particular market demographic: kids.

A few labels prove that kids should just be (and dress like) kids, free of any gender-confining messaging. "Until around age 11 boys and girls have the same body shape and clothing needs," Karina Lundell, head designer of gender-neutral Swedish clothing brand Polarn O. Pyret, told Refinery29. "Kids need comfy clothes with good fit and function that they can play in." (Granted, it's a lot easier to design with a "one style for all" approach for kids' body shapes and proportions than adults' physiques.)

The same heteronormative pink-or-blue tropes dominate clothing as well as toy offerings for kids, but it hasn’t always been this way. Until around World War I, pastels were standard for children's clothing in the U.S., but today's gender-hue correlations weren't in place, per the Smithsonian. At first, pink was actually seen as a more masculine color, and blue was considered softer and more appropriate for girls — conventions that didn't switch until the 1940s, when gendered kids' clothing really became a thing. The effects go beyond merely dressing a tot in pink or blue: "Children may then extend this perspective from toys and clothes into future roles, occupations, and characteristics,” Megan Fulcher, associate professor of psychology at Washington and Lee University, told The New York Times.

Gender-neutral children's clothing brands have actually been around for decades, and they've been particularly popular in Scandinavia and in the U.K. (Polarn O. Pyret launched in the '70s.) More recently, major retailers in the U.S. are catching on. Target, for example, axed gender-specific labels for its toy and children's clothing departments last year, which was praised as a step in the right direction. And then there are the small-scale brands doing it differently. The labels ahead aren't using "unisex" as a marketing ploy. They talk the talk, and walk the walk: Taking gender stereotypes out of kids' clothing is ingrained in their mission statements and integral to their businesses.

Click through for four gender-neutral kids' brands changing the game.

**Gardner And The Gang**
This is probably the most mainstream stateside gender-neutral kids' label, thanks to its alignment with Jaime King (and constant sightings on her Instagram). However, it's relatively new; founder Kristin Nystrom started the brand in 2012.
The brand began as an extension of Nystrom's own artwork. "[I wanted] to convey a message of a deeper meaning with my illustrations," she said. She didn't set out specifically to design unisex kids' clothes, but the idea congealed shortly after the birth of her child.
Nystrom's approach is simple: "Children should be allowed to be free, and that should be transferred to clothes, as well." So, if a boy wants to wear pink, that's great. Nystrom's design process focuses on story and season, as opposed to gender-specific concepts.
And while she's gotten plenty of positive feedback about the brand, some people are a little confused by the genderless concept at first. "Sometimes [customers] are frustrated," she noted. "It will take some time to get used to the idea, I think, but in my mind, it's something that is only natural."
Photo: Courtesy of Gardner and the Gang.

**Tootsa**
Kate Pietrasik founded Tootsa in 2011 as an alternative to British high-street brands' gendered offerings. "Girlswear departments were bland with aisles of pinks and purples, fairies, princesses, sparkles and fluffy baby animals, which dangerously stereotyped girls," she recalled of her experiences shopping for her newborn daughter. "[Brands were] pigeon-holing my daughter before she could even talk!" She also tried, unsuccessfully, to shop the boys' department. When Tootsa launched, Pietrasik says there weren't many unisex children's companies outside of Scandinavia.
"Customers were bored of what was on offer and [felt] the same despair as me when shopping for children," Pietrasik explained. For each collection, she chooses a specific geographic destination and revolves her designs around its flora, fauna, food, and color palette. Another big consideration for her is sustainability, so the label does everything possible to ensure its pieces are manufactured ethically, Pietrasik said. That includes working with family-run factories in Portugal, Turkey, and Hong Kong, and only partnering with suppliers that are registered with the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange.
"Defining a young child by gender is dangerous," Pietrasik said. "As a parent to a daughter, I'm ushered down aisles of pink, often sexualized clothing [and] toys that encourage an interest in beauty, passive play, and domesticity."
Customers often tell Pietrasik that their kids ask to wear their Tootsa togs over other clothing options, so she created a hashtag to document all the kids' #OOTDs, should other parents be on the hunt for pint-sized outfit inspo.
Photo: Courtesy of Tootsa.

**Polarn O. Pyret**
Katarina af Klintberg cofounded Swedish brand Polarn O. Pyret with Gunila Axén in 1976, offering striped unisex tops and leggings that could be worn by different members of the family. According to Jo Nilsson, who started the brand's U.K. arm, the two were "so influenced by the feminist movement in the 1970s that they decided to create their own brand that permitted children to grow up as people, not boys or girls." The brand's M.O. is to make “[what] is good for people and good for the planet," per Nilsson.
The brand describes its customer base as parents who want their kids to have traditional childhoods, instead of being raised as "mini adults." The designs are playful and colorful, but they aren't scaled-down versions of trendy pieces: Polarn O. Pyret also encourages the idea of hand-me-downs, hoping that families pass down their PO.P duds from one generation to the next (or donate the items to charity).
Still based in Stockholm, Polarn O. Pyret's 20-person design team always approaches new collections with gender neutrality in mind, Nilsson said. While the company added flowery prints and ruffles to its inventory due to customer demand (elements that may be considered traditionally "girly"), it still doesn't categorize its clothing according to gender. "Fit, function, and quality come first," she noted.
Polarn O. Pyret is currently in growth mode, with plans to expand its brick-and-mortar presence (particularly in the U.K.) this year. The company may be four decades old, but its message certainly resonates today.
Photo: Courtesy of Polarn O. Pyret.

**Muttonhead**
Muttonhead launched as a unisex clothing line for grown-ups, as designer Meg Sinclair's college collection in 2009. Shortly after, there was so much demand for a children's range that she expanded the label to include designs for little ones. The brand has a casual, outdoors-y aesthetic, with lots of cotton tees and sweats in neutral colors like gray, maroon, navy, and black.
While Sinclair has evolved the company from school project to a full-fledged brand sold in 50 retailers worldwide, Muttonhead maintains a strong commitment to sustainability, similar to PO.P's hand-me-down-friendly approach. "Slow fashion is important, because garments should be made to last and worn for as long as possible," Sinclair explained to Refinery29.
Photo: Courtesy of Muttonhead.

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↧

Nate Parker Addresses His College Rape Acquittal

August 12, 2016, 1:10 pm

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It's only August, but Nate Parker's historical drama about the Nat Turner uprising, The Birth of a Nation, is already an Oscar front-runner. The film, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in, earned the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and Parker is a Sundance Institute darling, having received the Vanguard Award this week.

Just before he received the award, according to a new report from Deadline, Parker sat down with a reporter from the site to address an incident from his past. Back when they were roommates at Penn State, Parker and his Birth of a Nation co-creator Jean McGianni Celestin were accused of having nonconsensual sex with a 19-year-old freshman after she passed out in their room in 1999. As Deadline reports, both men said the act was consensual and Parker was formally acquitted in 2001. Celestin was acquitted of the rape charge, but convicted of sexual assault. After an appeal, he was never re-tried.

"I never felt the need to introduce all the obstacles in my past when I say, 'Hello, my name is Nate.’ But at the same time, I’ve never hidden from it," Parker told Deadline. "It’s public record and in fact, this isn’t the first time I’ve talked about it on the record. Anytime anyone has asked me about this, I’ve been open. It’s tough reliving it, 17 years after the fact, but I never hid it from Fox."

Deadline isn't the first to report these charges, which have taken on a second life as The Birth of a Nation maintains buzz heading into awards season. Parker, Celestin, and the woman all say they had sex, but the woman says she was too intoxicated and not conscious enough to give consent. The female student also brought a civil suit against Penn State, alleging that Parker and Celestin continued to harass her after the criminal trial. Neither Parker nor Celestin commented specifically on this allegation to Deadline.

In an email to Deadline, Celestin echoed Parker's statements about the incident, writing, "this was something that I experienced as a college student 17 years ago and was fully exonerated of. I have since moved on and been focusing on my family and writing career."

Fox Searchlight — which paid $17.5 million for rights to Parker's film — said in a statement to Deadline that the studio stands behind Parker. "Searchlight is aware of the incident that occurred while Nate Parker was at Penn State. We also know that he was found innocent and cleared of all charges. We stand behind Nate and are proud to help bring this important and powerful story to the screen."

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How To Choose The Best Pasta Shape For Different Sauces

August 12, 2016, 1:20 pm

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Welcome to Advice for Impatient Foodies , R29's new cooking column. Each week, our executive food editor and Impatient Foodie founder, Elettra Wiedemann, will tackle any and all questions you might have about food. Seriously, no query is too big or too small. Don't be embarrassed! We've all had moments in the kitchen when we had no idea WTF was going on and wished we could ask someone other than Google for some pointers. So, whether you need help frying an egg, knowing when your chicken is done, or deciding what to make for dinner, we've got your back.

There are so many different types of pasta on grocery store shelves these days — I never know which is best for the specific sauce that I'm making. What's the best way to differentiate between all the types of pasta?

I think the best woman to answer this question is my dear friend Colu Henry, who just finished writing an entire book on easy pasta recipes, Back Pocket Pasta. Here's Colu's advice on navigating the spaghetti shelves:

Long and lean p astas, like linguine, spaghetti, and linguine fini are best with non-tomato-based sauces that cling to the noodle without drowning it. Thicker options, like tagliatelle, fusilli lunghi, and fettuccine have the real estate to handle richer tomato sauces, ragùs, and cream sauces.

Short and curvy pastas, like fusilli, gemelli, and campanelle are the most versatile — perfect for catching bits of vegetables, meat, and seafood in their nooks and crannies. They also work well with a simple marinara or just plain butter and cheese.

Tubular p astas, such as rigatoni, paccheri, and penne can stand up to heavier, chunkier sauces: think beans and sauces that are meat-driven. The middle of the pasta will capture bits of sauce, allowing you to construct that perfect bite.

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Movie Review Roundup: What You Should See This Weekend

August 12, 2016, 1:30 pm

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Few things bring cinephiles joy quite like spending the weekend holed up in a movie theater, devouring the latest big-screen debuts. But how does one choose what to see? Well, that's where we come in.

Obviously, there will be certain movies throughout the year that feel like must-sees just because everyone is talking about them ( Swiss Army Man is about an actual farting corpse; The BFG is Steven Spielberg's return to making delightfully magical kids movies). But if you want to be a more discerning moviegoer, you can visit this cheat sheet. Here we'll give you the lowdown on new releases — and the critics' verdicts on them. Then you'll be able to determine which one is right for you.

This post will be continually updated, so don't forget to check back!

Florence Foster Jenkins

Starring: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg, Rebecca Ferguson

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:87%

Synopsis: An opera-loving heiress seeks a career in the art, despite her terrible singing voice.

What’s The Word: Come for Meryl, stay for Meryl. Little White Lies’ David Jenkins praised Hugh Grant for giving an enjoyable performance in a movie that’s mostly cheese: “Underwhelming though it may be, the film isn’t a complete write-off. And that is largely down to the superb performance by Grant, an expertly stirred and shaken cocktail of self-interest, self-loathing, and grudging empathy,” Jenkins wrote. Meryl Streep is not bad, but the movie falls into a common pattern she's no stranger to: Streep is the bright spot in what is otherwise a dud. “It is, as so many Streep movies seem to be these days, a wonderful performance in a movie that isn’t quite as good as she is,” wrote Moira Macdonald for The Seattle Times. At the A.V. Club, Katie Rife had a suggestion to turn Florence Foster Jenkins into something more impressive: “If Frears and screenwriter Nicholas Martin had retreated further inward still, to explore how and why Florence got to the point where her whole life became an elaborate white lie, this could have been a great film. Instead, it’s just a feel-good one.”

Released August 12

Pete’s Dragon

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley, Karl Urban

Rated: PG

Tomatometer:85%

Synopsis: A boy and his dragon best friend go on the adventure of a lifetime.

What’s The Word: The childhood classic gets the modern-day revisitation it deserves. “As with its equally charming The Jungle Book back in April, the Mouse House has skillfully rummaged through its mothballed back catalog and given a 21st-century makeover to one of its lesser, goofier titles, with magical results,” wrote EW ’s Chris Nashawaty. At Brooklyn Magazine, Jesse Hassenger likened it to a “kiddie [Terrence] Malick” film. Pete’s Dragon ’s labor for love was too visible, wrote Will Leitch at The New Republic: “It works and works to move us because there’s an empty story at its core.”

Released August 12

Sausage Party

Starring: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera

Rated: R

Tomatometer:85%

Synopsis: Anthropomorphic foodstuffs try to escape to freedom after being purchased at a grocery store.

What’s The Word: It’s grossly goofy, but has an underlying philosophical premise. The love-love relationship between toys and tots in Toy Story is upended here, suggests A.O. Scott at The New York Times. “[ Sausage Party has the] intellectual rigor of a project that probably didn’t require it. I went in expecting an earnest critique of the industrial food system, or an impassioned plea for ethical vegetarianism. Okay, not really. But I certainly didn’t anticipate a movie so full of…thought,” Scott wrote. At Las Vegas Weekly, Josh Bell echoed Scott's sentiments about the movie’s offbeat intellect, calling it “the atheist equivalent of a VeggieTales movie.”

Released August 12th

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Little Men

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, Alfred Molina, Theo Taplitz

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 95%

Synopsis: A young boy’s new friendship is in jeopardy when his parents raise the rent of his new pal’s mother’s store.

What’s the Word: It’ll sneak up on you with its sincerity. “[Director Ira] Sachs, a clear-eyed humanist, honors all his characters' pained perspectives,” wrote Alan Scherstuhl for Village Voice.

At Christianity Today, Alissa Wilkinson praised the film's depiction of the quiet awkwardness of growing up: “ Little Men captures that Brooklyn perfectly while quietly meditating on some universal experiences: the anxiety of discovering who you are as you grow up; the trouble of preserving friendships when the things that kept you together fall apart; the fraught parent-child relationship where nobody is really to blame.”

The Film Stage’s Dan Schindel suggested that L i ttle Men 's power comes from the contrast of adult and child friendships: “The contrast between the straightforwardness of these kids and the roiling, mixed emotions of the adults is simple, even archetypal, and it works.”

Released August 5

Suicide Squad

Starring: Will Smith, Joel Kinnaman, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne, Viola Davis

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:28%

Synopsis: A group of DC Comics supervillains form a team and embark on a life-or-death mission.

What’s the Word: The only thing worse than the movie is Twitter's mansplain-y, zealous pushback against many female film critics unafraid to call out the movie’s flaws.

" Suicide Squad shows DC Comics’ greatest flaw," wrote Britton Peele for the Dallas Morning News: “While [Marvel] has given most of their biggest characters room to breathe on their own before throwing them together in crossover films, DC films keep trying to go too far too fast. Suicide Squad doesn't give audiences enough time to fall in love with one character before shoving the next one in front of them.”

Suicide Squad ’s stellar cast makes its script’s cliches all the more obvious. “Smith and Robbie try to inject Suicide Squad with the attitude it needs to work, but their best efforts can’t save such a murky and, frankly, lame script,” wrote Lauren Chval for RedEye.

At RogerEbert.com, Christy Lemire called it simply “massive, messy and noisy.” The movie has one highlight, though: Viola Davis. “Watching her cut and chew a steak with villainous relish, you realize she’s all you wanted the movie to be — all it could have been: a venomous, sensuous, dark, comedic delight,” wrote K. Austin Collins for The Ringer. “She’s proof DC can make it work.”

Released August 5th

Nerve

Starring: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 60%

Synopsis: Teens Vee and Ian get sucked into a dangerous and high-stakes internet game.

What’s the Word: It’s a fine — if preachy — and fun reminder that Emma Roberts needs to break out of the YA world and that Dave Franco is more charming than his big brother.

“Though Roberts is miscast as a wallflower... Nerve taps into the rush of realizing strangers think you’re cool,” wrote Amy Nicholson for MTV News. Though the freewheeling action never lets up, there's a larger message that doesn't quite stick.

“A moral gray area turns into a sermon and the movie doesn’t give you enough to think about to keep you from pulling out your phone afterward,” wrote Lauren Chval for RedEye Chicago.

At the Boston Globe, Ty Burr was less forgiving of the movie’s multiple plot holes: “You don’t even mind that Roberts (who’s 25) and Franco (who’s 31) are much too old for their roles. Plus, it’s nice to see Samira Wiley — Poussey of Orange Is the New Black — show up like a visitor from Planet Grown-Up as a hacker queen.”

Released July 29

Bad Moms

Starring: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Jada, Pinkett-Smith

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 60%

Synopsis: A group of stressed-out moms decide to let loose and forgo responsibilities in favor of self-indulgence.

What’s the Word: Oof. “The dad minds behind Bad Moms don’t seem to understand, or be terribly curious about, the minds of mothers,” suggested Slate’s Dana Stevens. “They’re happy to affirm the apparently bedrock truth that all moms are deep down indefatigable tigresses, neurotically over invested in maximizing both their children’s self-actualization and their Ivy League prospects.” It shouldn’t go undiscussed that this is a movie about moms directed by dudes. “It chills the bone to imagine all the women who can’t get their movies made, while Jon Lucas and Scott Moore… get a healthy budget, a four-star cast, and the chance to not only write but direct a film that aims to give voice to overworked moms the world over. Yes, really,” wrote Flavorwire’s Jason Bailey. At the New York Times, Manohla Dargis had a different take: the movie tries too hard to bank on the middle aged-women-saying-dick genre, but it’s still got female friendship at its core. “It’s the women’s shared, near-orgiastic pleasure in their freedom and friendship... There’s nothing genuinely transgressive about their behavior; they’re just drunk, happy and together.”

Released July 29

The Land

Starring: Moises Arias, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Erykah Badu, Rafi Gavron, Machine Gun Kelly

Rated: NR

Tomatometer:64%

Synopsis: A group of teens accidentally become involved with a drug queenpin, risking their lives and friendships.

What’s the Word: It’s a big summer for Cleveland, and The Land taps into the city’s unique vibe. Steven Caple Jr. is the latest contemporary of Creed director Ryan Coogler to deserve a big studio’s support. “Caple emphasizes the desperation that breeds street crime, and he never tries to puff his kids up into heroes. They're just kids who feel insulted by the few prospects that seem available to them,” wrote Alan Scherstuhl for Village Voice. At Guff.com, Fred Toppel compared the movie to Goodfellas, and I hope he’s not still sore from that reach. He got something right: “ The Land is a crime film that is also a love letter to Cleveland culture.” One standout to watch: star and rapper Ezzy, whose voice shines on the track “Goodbye ” — a good end of summer song reminiscent of "old Kanye West."

Released July 29

Equity

Starring: Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Alysia Reiner, Craig Bierko

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 79%

Synopsis: An Investment banker’s career is threatened by a Silicon Valley company’s IPO.

What’s the Word: Some scenes are stunted, but overall it’s nice to see a movie about finance that isn’t about a collapse or playboys. “ Equity is bracing, witty and suspenseful, a feminist thriller sharply attuned to the nuances of its chosen milieu,” wrote A.O. Scott for the New York Times. There’s a sense that some scenes aren’t quite working, but that performances are exciting enough. “As a thriller spinning around a high-profile Silicon Valley IPO, the screenplay by Amy Fox is mechanical, the plot more contrived than charged under Meera Menon’s lackluster direction,” wrote Sheri Linden for the Los Angeles Times. “But as a study of endurance and self-preservation in the face of persistent double standards, the movie clicks.” Maybe it shouldn’t be seen as only a movie about finance or billion dollar deals, because it’s real depth comes from its treatment of sexism: “The idea (and intentions) of Equity are spot on—we’ve never really been shown in this type of movie how the everyday sexism in business is brought to bear among women in this particular world. While the film isn’t subtle about what it’s doing, it never quite screams the subtext either,” wrote Splice Today’s Stephen Silver.

Released July 29

Indignation

Starring: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 79%

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Philip Roth. In 1951, a young Jewish man disillusioned with his identity becomes obsessed with a girl in his class.

What’s the Word: Don’t expect this to be the truest adaptation of Roth’s book, as director James Schamus adds a heavy layer of romantic thriller, according to Kenji Fujishima. This might finally be the turn to flex Lerman’s significant acting skills, according to A.V. Club’s Esther Zuckerman: “The film’s centerpiece scene is a lengthy face-to-face between Marcus and the school’s Dean Caudwell (Tracy Letts). Letts is solid, doing a variation on a familiar strict administrator, but the moment belongs to Lerman. It’s exhilarating to watch Marcus’ politeness slip away as he grapples with authoritarianism.” The acting is great, wrote Nigel M. Smith for The Guardian, but “unfortunately, on the whole, Schamus’ debut feels too self-aware to fully engage.”

Released July 29

Miss Sharon Jones!

Starring: Sharon Jones, The Dap-Kings

Rated: NR

Tomatometer:92%

Synopsis: The singer works on releasing a new album while treating her pancreatic cancer.

What’s the Word: Sharon Jones is a marvel to behold, but the camera lags behind in keeping up with her energy. “When she bounds onstage with a holler and a howl — and diction that nails every last word to the melody — it’s clear she deserves that exclamation point in the title,” wrote Jeannette Catsoulis for the New York Times. “Is the film about her recovery from cancer, her history as a performer, her relationship with her band, her managers, her southern roots?” asked Scout Tafoya at Brooklyn Magazine. “Kopple believes the meager rations of each will amount to a banquet. That it still provides a window into Jones’s soul is a testament to the soul legend’s ability to tell her own story in her singing, dancing and talking honestly and with feeling.” Still, suggested Consequence of Sound’s Dan Caffrey, “Kopple and Jones prove, the struggle itself can be just as inspiring as survival.”

Released July 29

Jason Bourne

Starring: Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 54%

Synopsis: With his memory restored, Jason Bourne evades capture by the CIA and seeks to learn the truth about his past.

What’s the Word: We the people need more Julia Stiles, and maybe we need more Matt Damon. But do we really need more Jason Bourne? “Five films in, it could just be that the Bourne model—all the globetrotting silliness of 007, but with a gritty, geopolitical veneer—has started to look dispiritingly like a rigid formula,” suggested the A.V. Club’s A.A. Dowd. It also wastes Matt Damon, according to Seattle Times ’ Moira Macdonald: “The movie gets lost in its focus on flash and speed, and forgets about the man — and the fine, quiet actor — at its center.” The loss of the kneecap-kicking charm of the earlier films might be due to a change in writers. “ Jason Bourne 's screenplay is credited to Greengrass and Christopher Rouse, a film editor with no other writing credits. That's how clunkers like ‘We both want to take down the corrupt institutions that control society!’ make it into a major motion picture,” wrote NPR’s Chris Klimek.

Released July 29

Star Trek Beyond

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Anton Yelchin

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:86%

Synopsis: After their ship crashes on a strange planet, the crew of the Enterprise find themselves up against a new alien race.

What’s The Word: It’s exciting and interesting, able to please both hard-core Trekkies and franchise newbies. “In the barren desert of summer 2016 blockbusters, this is a lovely oasis,” wrote Film Stage’s Dan Schindel. At Slate, Dana Stevens suggested that the movie's charm derives from its liberal mining of the franchise’s history. “ Star Trek Beyond may not go where no Trek has gone before,” Stevens wrote, “but [it's] fidelity to the show's original values that will keep fans trekking to the box office.” A slight problem, suggested Flavorwire’s Jason Bailey, is that the movie doesn’t tap into Idris Elba’s full potential in his turn as a bad guy. “[We ought to wonder] what on earth the makers of Star Trek Beyond were thinking when they hired the great Idris Elba — one of the coolest, handsomest, and most inherently watchable actors on the planet — and rendered him utterly unrecognizable behind pounds of prosthetics.”

Released July 22

Don’t Think Twice

Starring: Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Mike Birbiglia

Rated: R

Tomatometer:100%

Synopsis: A member of an improv group gets a big break on an SNL -like show, and others in the troupe begin to worry that they’ll be left behind.

What’s The Word: You don't have to be an alum of a college comedy troupe to feel the movie’s deeper messages about success and jealousy in close friendships. “ Don’t Think Twice is a candid film about the division between enthusiasm and talent, the unbridled passion for an art form versus one’s actual ability,” wrote Sam Fragoso for The Wrap. The writing is smart on friendships, but Mike Birbiglia’s directing shouldn’t go unnoticed. “During the improv scenes, his camera freely roams among the performers while they conjure bits from nowhere,” wrote Andrew Lapin for NPR. “It's alternately hysterical and heartbreaking, comedy by way of John Cassavetes, who gets an appropriate shout-out.” This is a movie about the comedy industry that’s removed enough to not feel like it’s licking its own wounds, according to BuzzFeed’s Alison Willmore. “It’s tender and believable while maintaining enough distance on its material to give it form, telling a story rather than a series of anecdotes,” Willmore wrote.

Released July 22

Lights Out

Starring: Teresa Palmer, Maria Bello, Billy Burke

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 77%

Synopsis: A woman fights to save her little brother from a spooky creature that feeds off the darkness and is haunting their family.

What’s The Word: It’s full of jumpy scares, but also a concerning mental-illness subplot. “It’s satisfying (the audience I saw it with cheered, several times) and reasonably involving on an emotional level, even if it can’t quite find a smart or surprising way out of its depression metaphor,” wrote Brooklyn Magazine ’s Jesse Hassenger. It’s “creepiest when it stops explaining itself,” wrote The Village Voice ’s April Wolfe. At The A.V. Club, A.A. Dowd did a deep dive into the movie’s underlying narrative about mental health. “This is a movie about depression that treats the afflicted like little more than gigantic burdens on their families, right through to an ending that carries the toxic implication of that attitude to its logical conclusion,” Dowd wrote.

Released July 22

Ice Age: Collision Course

Starring: Ray Romano, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 12%

Synopsis: The Ice Age crew sets off and travels to distant lands in an effort to avoid cosmic destruction.

What’s The Word: There may be more Ice Age movies than there are old white men in Congress. "This is one installment that didn't need to be made, and in a summer of fine animated fare, Ice Age: Collision Course is only for the die-hard fans and franchise completists," wrote Katie Walsh for the Los Angeles Times. At least we’re not alone in feeling the franchise fatigue: “The 37th installment in the popular computer animation franchise. Okay, actually it's only the fifth feature, but what with the shorts and TV specials and video games, it feels as if there have been so, so many more,” wrote The New York Times ’ Glenn Kenny.

Released July 22

Ghostbusters

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:73%

Synopsis: A gender-swapped reboot that follows four paranormal investigators saving New York from ghosts and ghouls.

What’s The Word: It’s 2016 and we shouldn’t be so beholden to a “classic” franchise so as not to acknowledge that women are funny. The catch with this reboot, though, is that it relies too much on the gags of the original. “The problem with all the clever, witty references to the original is that the film does not really have an identity of its own. The standout jokes are the rip-offs: a taxi-driver who “ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” a hilarious cameo from a familiar face here and there,” The Economist offered. At the Boston Globe, Ty Burr described this Ghostbusters as more of a corporate rehash than a subversive reboot: “The gender switch was a solid idea, then, and these characters might even be more fun to watch in a movie that wasn’t as beholden to its source. I’m saying I want a sequel, and maybe you should too. This one’s pretty good. But it had a chance to be great.” RogerEbert.com’s Susan Wloszczyna had the same feeling of dissatisfaction. The movie makes some inside jokes, poking fun at the anti-feminists who criticized the lady-fied version, but Wloszczyna said she “would have preferred that they simply had shut their naysayers down by producing a better movie.”

Released July 15

Café Society

Starring: Blake Lively, Steve Carell, Parker Posey, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 79%

Synopsis: A young man in the 1930s goes from the Bronx to Hollywood and back, while meeting movie stars and pursuing love.

What’s The Word: Another uneven, bougie offering from Woody Allen's oeuvre, in which he gives smart, interesting actresses speaking roles and gets praised for it. Allen is known for writing some very good female characters, but he’s also written some very bad ones — witless, mysterious, empty women. Kristen Stewart makes a simple character more layered, wrote New York ’s David Edelstein. “Does Allen fill Vonnie in or is she one more of his mysterious female others? No, he doesn’t; but no, she isn’t. Stewart is alive onscreen. Her Vonnie feels all there, even if we don’t have a full picture of what’s inside.” The Young Folks’ Josh Cabrita says Allen is as his most “sleepy and sensual,” but ultimately the movie is forgettable. “ Café Society is entertaining and contains all the ingredients we love in Woody Allen films,” wrote Collider’s Talia Soghomonian. “So do we really care if it’s always stirred the same way and never shaken?” The Boston Globe 's Ty Burr offered a more meta analysis of how Café Society is really indicative of Allen's mostly lackluster career: "I think Allen’s movies appeal to our own incuriosity," Burr wrote. "For a lot of diehard fans, even audiences who may not forgive him his perceived off-screen transgressions, he remains a 'genius' on little evidence other than nostalgia and a veneer of sophistication — the jazz, the literary and cultural references, the mensch -iness — that makes us feel smart and arty without ever the risk of real challenge."

Released July 15

Equals

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Nicholas Hoult, Guy Pearce

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:38%

Synopsis: In an emotionless future, a strange disease returns emotion to a young couple.

What’s The Word: Director Drake Doremus has done great work in the past (like 2011’s Like Crazy), but Equals rings a little hollow. “[Doremus’] vision is gorgeously styled and impeccably shot, but the movie rarely transcends symbolism; it feels less like a fully formed story than a genetically engineered hybrid of Gattaca and a feature-length fragrance ad (Detachment, by Calvin Klein),” wrote Entertainment Weekly ’s Leah Greenblatt. It’s not so different from Doremus’ previous work, suggests Flavorwire’s Jason Bailey: “The pacing in the early scenes ranges from deliberate to snoozy. But the patient world-building of those scenes is rewarded in due course, and the film ultimately finds its stride when it gets its leads together and zooms in on the intensity and desperation of their attraction.” After IndieWire’s Jessica Kiang saw it at the Venice Film Festival, she praised Stewart and Hoult’s work in a decidedly rote plot: “Kristen Stewart and Nicholas Hoult are as good as they could possibly be in a film this wan, this involved in its own insistent winsomeness.”

Released July 15

The Infiltrator

Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger, Benjamin Bratt, John Leguizamo

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 65%

Synopsis: A U.S. customs officer goes undercover as a shady businessman in order to infiltrate Pablo Escobar’s drug empire.

What’s The Word: High on tension, low on plot value. “Though the film feels disjointed at times, you can’t help but have fun watching Cranston’s slick turn as a hero struggling to stay good as he’s forced to break bad,” wrote Film School Rejects’ Paola Mardo. It’s not Breaking Bad, though, which is a bit of a bummer for Cranston, according to the Associated Press’ Lindsey Bahr: “ The Infiltrator, starring Cranston as an undercover agent who loses track of himself in the glamour of the lie, is not Breaking Bad, nor is it trying to be. Yet the shadow of that defining, once-in-a-lifetime role continues to follow the actor as he reaches beyond Walter White.” Still, even with the looming presence of Cranston's defining role, Infiltrator breaks even, according to Tampa Bay Times ’ Steve Persall: “[It’s] an evocative crime drama, anchored by Cranston's gift for playing internal conflict with wordless expression and that deep, clinched voice.”

Released July 13

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates

Starring: Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 45%

Synopsis: A pair of brothers find two outgoing girlfriends and enlist them as wedding dates.

What’s The Word: It’s a goofy R-rated bro comedy, but its female characters manage some subversive winks. “There’s a craftiness in the script that isn’t always present in these performance-based, R-rated comedies,” wrote The Guardian ’s Jordan Hoffman. The Wrap’s Robert Abele wasn’t a fan: “Only Parks & Recreation alum Plaza offers the occasionally pleasurable deadpan impishness, but the primary takeaway is that she’s been to this well one too many times.” At The Ringer, though, staff writer Allison P. Davis was into it. The movie may be the first rom-com to suggest that women can drink and smoke and make immature jokes and also be deserving of love without having to evolve into it. “The central premise of Mike and Dave is that the vehement avoidance of growing up is a right equally for all genders,” Davis wrote. “It’s immaturity as equality, which means that neither of our party-girl heroines have to let go of their deeply flawed, MDMA-loving personalities.” The New Yorker 's Richard Brody raised an interesting point about these boyish comedies made in Judd Apatow's image: "Many comedies seem to be made by taking pictures of funny (or funny enough) people acting funny. But comedy is a matter of direction — not just comic timing but also comic spacing."

Released July 8

Zero Days

Starring: N/A

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer:88%

Synopsis: The doc tells the story of Stuxnet, a 2010 computer virus used in cyber warfare.

What’s The Word: Alex Gibney (director of Going Clear, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, the Eliot Spitzer doc Client 9) has created another vehicle for information and smart suspense. “What Zero Days does is plausibly make the case that cyber-aggression of nation states is a new form of dangerous geopolitical dysfunction,” writes The Guardian ’s Peter Bradshaw. But the doc lacks focus, probably due to the high levels of secrecy surrounding the weaponized computer virus. “Though their sound bites are well chosen and edited,” The Hollywood Reporter ’s Boyd van Hoeij wrote, “a sense remains that they are really talking around the film’s core subject.” An unexpected highlight? Joanna Tucker, according to A.V. Club’s Mike D’Angelo: “[Gibney] gets a genuine star turn from Tucker, who may one day be as famous as her husband, Adam Driver. She’s the main reason to see Zero Days — which is pretty ironic, since she’s the one quasi-fictional element in a movie that’s otherwise strenuously ‘just the facts, ma’am.’”

Released July 8

The Secret Life of Pets

Starring: Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Lake Bell, Ellie Kemper, Hannibal Buress

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 75%

Synopsis: Your favorite comedians play a gaggle of lost cartoon canines for some kid-friendly fun.

What’s The Word: " The Secret Life of Pets is a hilarious account of the relationship we have with our animals, and a gentle reminder to treat them with love and respect,” wrote Raakhee Mirchandani at the New York Daily News. It might be charming, but it’s definitely a rehash of old kid-movie tropes, wrote Christianity Today ’s Alissa Wilkinson: “ The Secret Life of Pets might as well be called Generic Animated Animal Movie, a puzzle constructed of pieces lifted from other sources.” As a maker of kids movies, Universal might finally be hitting its stride, writes Village Voice ’s Bilge Ebiri, who said it “feels like they’ve finally cracked the code on making a silly-animals movie that’s just deranged enough to keep you watching, yet harmless enough not to truly offend anyone. It may not be a work of art, but it’s crazed, zigzagging energy is something to behold.”

Released July 8

Captain Fantastic

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 75%

Synopsis: A couple raises their children in an intellectually stimulating wilderness home, a setup that’s threatened when the family has to engage with the real world after the mother’s suicide.

What’s The Word: The movie has a “wonderful wryness,” according to R29’s own Elizabeth Kiefer. Some of it is charming, wrote The Hollywood Reporter ’s Leslie Felperin, but most of it is overdone movie magic: “This is really a movie for upper-middle class hipsters who once fancied themselves firebrands and status quo-challengers in college, but now consider only buying organic food at Whole Foods and not vaccinating their kids to be radical acts.” Viggo Mortensen is the flick’s undisputed star. “He’s totally believable as a man who’s set his own moral code and lived by it for years,” wrote Ed Frankl at Little White Lies. “As he realizes that he stands to lose his children to the outside world, Mortensen’s performance shifts up a gear, becoming more sensitive and moving.”

Released July 8

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

Starring: Norman Lear, George Clooney, Jay Leno, Rob Reiner, Amy Poehler, Jon Stewart

Rated: NR

Tomatometer: 76%

Synopsis: A look at the prolific television producer who changed the sitcom landscape and brought social issues into living rooms across America (albeit somewhat imperfectly).

What’s The Word: It’s a moving portrait of a television titan that borders on the syrupy sweet. “It finds pathos in an amiable, fluid charting of the career (and political) ambitions of the TV producer,” wrote Slant’s Clayton Dillard. The doc follows not only Lear’s professional life, but his personal as well: “Ewing and Grady’s high esteem for Lear doesn’t cause them to shy away from Lear’s personal failings,” wrote Laura Anne Harris at Seventh Row. But maybe it’s just a little too glowing, suggests Variety ’s Guy Lodge: “While a tongue-in-cheek poster captured on screen refers to Lear as a 'Great Black Leader,' there’s little sense here of how the Black community, of his generation or the next, viewed and continues to view his work. 'You raised me,' Jon Stewart tells Lear at one point in the doc; it’d be interesting to know if, say, Shonda Rhimes — a showrunner as ubiquitous in this era as Lear was in his, and comparably influential in the depiction of Black lives on screen — might say the same.”

Released July 8

Fathers and Daughters

Starring: Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Paul, Diane Kruger, Janet McTeer, Octavia Spencer, Jane Fonda, Quvenzhane Wallis

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 27%

Synopsis: Two timelines intersect as a famous novelist struggles with illness and raising his daughter in the past, and his daughter reckons with infidelity and trust issues in the present.

What’s The Word: How did so many great talents converge to work on something so obviously contrived and overstuffed? It’s all messy and damsel-in-distressy, according to The Telegraph ’s Tim Robey: “The level of psychological nuance in Desch’s script, not to mention feminist enlightenment, makes EL James look like Virginia Woolf.” For Empire, Ian Freer pointed out a high note: “It’s tastefully shot and Crowe commits to the horrors of Jake’s illness (his seizures are upsetting) but the writing lacks depth, the character psychology is dime-store Freud, and the performances are variable.” At the Observer, Rex Reed points out the dizzying device of time jumps: “The movie jumps around like a yo-yo with a juxtaposition of time sequences that careen out of control until the audience is thoroughly dazed and confused. One minute Katie is an 8-year-old begging her daddy to love her. Sixty seconds later, she’s a grown woman (Amanda Seyfried) destroyed by sex addiction — dry, barren, unable to relate emotionally and a promiscuous child psychologist whose boss (Octavia Spencer, wasted in a cameo) assigns her the case of a tormented orphan who does not speak.”

Released July 8

Cell

Starring: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 0%

Synopsis: A cell phone virus turns New Englanders into murderous zombies (or something).

What’s The Word: A Stephen King adaptation that was better left as a book. “ Cell treats its subject matter with alarming seriousness, as if Williams were worried he might be making a Nicolas Cage movie, but the material cries out for the gonzo, pulp energy of a B-movie,” wrote Consequence of Sound’s Nico Lang. The movie has its bright spots — namely the reteaming of Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack — but “so much of the film lacks style or life of its own,” wrote Rob Hunter for Film School Rejects. “Let’s just be honest about this: Cell the movie looks cheap. Not Syfy channel cheap, but too cheap to be attempting some of the stuff it appears to be attempting,” wrote Slash Film’s Jacob Hall when the trailer dropped. “This doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie (there are plenty of terrific horror films that look like they were made for pennies and prayers), but it should put any and all expectations in the right place.”

Released July 8

The BFG

Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 72%

Synopsis: A young orphan girl is whisked away by a Big Friendly Giant on the adventure of her life, based on the Roald Dahl novel of the same name.

What’s the Word: “For such a big, extravagant movie, with such an outsized central character, The BFG is surprisingly intimate, and that’s largely thanks to Rylance,” Stephanie Zacharek wrote for Time. “His BFG is a fragile, gentle soul with clumsy feet clad in hippie-sandals, a bit frightening at first, but he wins us over in a heartbeat.” At Gizmodo, Germain Lussier highlights the fantastical visuals: “The textures, the colors, the physical representations of dreams, it’s a world that’s quite pleasant to spend some time in.” For The Telegraph, Robbie Collin called the plot lean and a little slow, but “Sophie and the BFG’s partnership almost plays like a platonic romance, deepening and becoming more moving with every passing minute.”

Released July 1

The Innocents

Starring: Lou de Laage, Agata Buzek

Rated: NR

Tomatometer: 85%

Synopsis: At the end of the Holocaust, a young doctor arrives at a convent to find several nuns pregnant and in the throes of a religious crisis.

What’s the Word: It’s a movie that treats rape and religiosity with graceful nuance. “Those women are painted as full, complex characters in a few deft strokes — women who are struggling after rape to know whether they believe in something anymore, to understand their vows of chastity, to live in the problem of theodicy every day,” wrote Christianity Today ’s Alissa Wilkinson. These serious topics are treated with an insightful degree of delicacy: “Laced with intensely emotional situations, it refuses to force the issue by pushing too hard,” wrote the Los Angeles Times ’ Kenneth Turan. “And it proves, yet again, that though moral and spiritual questions may not sound spellbinding, they often provide the most absorbing movie experiences.” At Variety, Justin Chang was struck by the give and take of each sister's piousness: “In the process, the sisters — despite wearing identical habits and seeming to radiate the same stiff severity — emerge as individuals with their own unique feelings, convictions, personal histories, and varying degrees of faith.”

Released July 1

Life, Animated

Starring: Gilbert Gottfried

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 86%

Synopsis: A documentary chronicling how a family used Disney movies to communicate with their autistic son.

What’s the Word: It’s a moving coming-of-age documentary about how Disney movies gave a family a way to communicate with a shared language and love. “It tells two stories,” wrote Jason Bailey at Flavorwire. “How his parents used those cartoons, which he’d obsessively viewed and memorized, to bring him out of his shell; and where they’ve left him at his moment of transition into adulthood and independence.” The Associated Press found it devastatingly tender and well-honed: “But once we wipe away the tears from that devastating moment when doctors diagnose little Owen Suskind with 'regressive autism' — and raise the real possibility that he'll never speak again — we're in for a fascinating, sometimes excruciating, uplifting, and yes, even funny ride, thanks to director Roger Ross Williams and of course Owen's devoted and determined family.”

Released July 1

The Legend Of Tarzan

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 34%

Synopsis: A reformed, gentlemanly Tarzan leaves England and returns to the jungle to work as a trade emissary.

What’s the Word: Tarzan has always been a superhero movie about a white savior, but Skarsgård’s talent tries to find a depth in the one-dimensional hero. At its core, it might actually be a movie about the perils of white colonialism, suggested IGN’s Jim Vejvod: “You can't help but leave the film suspecting the screenwriters really wanted to just tell a straightforward story about the Belgian atrocities in the Congo, and the only way they could get that film made was by sticking Tarzan in it.” At Indiewire, David Ehrlich praised Samuel L. Jackson as the dud’s only interesting element. “Only Jackson, whose George Washington Williams is loosely based on a historical figure of the same name, manages to stir any interest,” wrote Ehrlich. “There’s real weight to the notion of a late 19th-century black man traversing the world in order to weed out slavery wherever it rears its head, but [director David] Yates reduces him to a limp sliver of comic relief.” Manohla Dargis was a bit more forgiving in her review for the New York Times: “Tarzan is still the white avatar flying through the African jungle with eerie skills, a mighty yodel and existential issues, yet the terrain he swings over is messier, closer, and less of a lie than it once was.”

Released July 1

The Purge: Election Year

Starring: Elizabeth Mitchell, Frank Grillo

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 59%

Synopsis: A senator’s presidential campaign vows to end the crime free-for-all that is The Purge, but she finds herself in peril when the yearly event rolls around.

What’s the Word: Finally, a vision of an America that is worse than the 2016 election. Variety ’s Owen Gleiberman thought it worked, but lamented the lack of a true dramatic edge: “ A Clockwork Orange shocked people because of how it got us to identify with Alex, but there’s never a moment in Election Year when a character we know and like turns into a purger, killing for the nasty, pleasurable kick of it.” For BET.com, Clay Cane said this installment doesn’t live up to the political thoughtfulness of its predecessors. “Although horror is usually a vapid genre, The Purge was layered with social issues to make the audience think beyond the gore. The Purge: Election Year isn’t smart or layered enough to justify the gratuitous violence,” Cane wrote. “[Director James] DeMonaco's cleverly playing to two different audiences here,” wrote Laura Clifford for Reeling Reviews, “those who will be horrified by his political satire and those who will come for the gore and violence.”

Released July 1

The Shallows

Starring: Blake Lively

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 74%

Synopsis: A surfer adrift at sea tries to avoid becoming a shark’s dinner.

What’s The Word: Lively is in great form, but the plot drags and the suspense feels fake. “At times, it’s hard to tell whether The Shallows is trying to sell a tropical vacation, that Sony Xperia phone or a fantasy date with Lively herself, but in any case, the film looks virtually indistinguishable from a slick, high-end commercial,” wrote Variety ’s Peter Debruge. At The Guardian, Jordan Hoffman compared it to Gravity in its arresting simplicity: “What could have been mere summertime chum is actually one of the more cleverly constructed B-movies in quite some time.” Lively is good as a solo star, but the rest is of the movie is another story, wrote The Hollywood Reporter ’s Todd McCarthy: “Shallow is a mild word for it. Others would be silly, miscalculated, unconvincing, artless, pandering, hokey, ridiculous. Or just plain awful.”

Released June 24

Independence Day: Resurgence

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Liam Hemsworth, Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 37%

Synopsis: Earth’s nations are in cahoots to battle aliens.

What’s The Word: If you want to spend some time in an air-conditioned theater, watching big explosions with minimal character development, this is your movie. “It's technically and visually marvelous, but it's hard not to get a little fatigued before the big finish,” wrote CNET’s Luke Lancaster. “But the real problem isn't the borderline tiresome carnage. It's the cast.” At The Film Stage, Dan Schindel wrote that Will Smith’s absence is palpable: “It doesn’t help that, though the script does a remarkable job of recapturing the original’s winning sense of goofiness and the cast is game for it, it severely lacks a Will Smith.” For GQ U.K., Helen O’Hara called it a bit of fun foolery: “So while this is utter nonsense for much of its runtime, overstuffed with people you will struggle to care about, and while its finale shamelessly begs a sequel (like Steven Hiller, Emmerich apparently ain’t heard no fat lady), there’s still a (molten) core of wild entertainment beneath the hokum.”

Released June 24

Free State of Jones

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Keri Russell, Mahershala Ali

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 39%

Synopsis: An honorable farmer rebels against slavery during the Civil War.

What’s The Word: A contrived take on race and America that errs on the History 101 side. “It’s a tale of racial liberation and heroic bloodshed that is designed, at almost every turn, to lift us up to that special place where we can all feel moved by what good liberals we are,” wrote Owen Gleiberman for Variety. It’s not terrible, wrote Michael Phillips for the Chicago Tribune, but “often in Free State of Jones we feel like visitors to a historical re-enactment site.” At The Village Voice, Bilge Ebiri called it cluttered, but said it’s well intentioned: “The movie is gradually overwhelmed by onscreen title cards doling out historical context, along with the occasional informative and/or inspirational speech.”

Released June 24

Weiner-Dog

Starring: Greta Gerwig, Danny DeVito, Ellen Burstyn

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 67%

Synopsis: A pup sprinkles some joy into the lives of an offbeat group of characters, including a bitter old woman, a veterinary nurse, and a screenwriter.

What’s The Word: It charms, but with an oddball sensibility. “You’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll wince, and you’ll sigh. Such is the genius of Wiener-Dog, and of [director Todd] Solondz, and why he remains a reliable visionary,” wrote Michael Roffman at Consequence of Sound. At The Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy was less taken with Solondz’s signature misanthropy: “By embarking upon an episodic road movie, Solondz is able to create a miniature portrait of the modern American landscape, and it isn’t a pretty picture; but, then, it never would be, no matter what area nor what era he was dealing with, so corrosive is his view of human nature and how people conduct themselves.” Writing for The Playlist, Noel Murray said the movie isn’t perfect, but it’s not terrible: “Not everything Solondz comes up with works, but he’s still pulling interesting ideas out of his oddball head.”

Released June 24

The Neon Demon

Starring: Elle Fanning, Keanu Reeves, Jena Malone

Rated: R

Tomatometer:48%

Synopsis: A charming beauty turns cold after becoming the It Girl of L.A.’s modeling scene. Expect cat fights and lots (and lots) of blood.

What’s The Word: It’s weird (and it was booed at Cannes). But maybe in a high-fashion, artsy way that just happens to turn gruesome. “[Nicholas Winding] Refn’s built a career on the exploits of violent men — of underworld hustlers, vicious convicts, and Viking warriors,” wrote AV Club’s A.A. Dowd. “He pivots here to a feminine perspective but only abstractly: This is a film about objectification that mainly sees its characters as objects, to be dressed and undressed, plastered in glitter and gore, and arranged like furniture against vast expanses of negative space.” Modeling really is the kill-or-be-killed industry we all thought it was, wrote The New Yorker ’s Anthony Lane, and Refn is keen to prove it: “By the end of the movie, Refn has toyed with cannibalism, lesbian necrophilia, the egestion of an eyeball, and other minor sports, all of them filmed in lavish taste.” At Rolling Stone, Peter Travers panned the glitzy modeling drama: “I'd talk about the acting, but I never saw the cast doing any; it's all posing. Even the sex and violence have lost their allure, and every take is drawn out with such excruciating precision that you want to scream.”

Released June 24

Swiss Army Man

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Dano

Rated: R

Tomatometer:63%

Synopsis: Stranded on an island, a lonely guy befriends a farting corpse.

What’s The Word: A black comedy with bro-losophy pranks. The premise is weird and the plot drags, wrote Time ’s Stephanie Zacharek, but it makes an interesting point: “The world [the two leads] build in their dual isolation becomes a ramshackle paradise, a place to explore complex male feelings.” At Brooklyn Magazine, Benjamin Mercer found that it’s still very funny, even if its dramatic moments don’t hit home: “It’s hard not to appreciate the juvenile exuberance of many of these high jinks, and the hand-cranked effects with which many of them are rendered.” The Guardian ’s Jordan Hoffman warned audiences to expect lots of flatulence: “I could never prep you enough for the degree to which farting plays a pivotal role in Swiss Army Man.”

Released June 24

The Phenom

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Paul Giamatti, Johnny Simmons

Rated: NR

Tomatometer: 84%

Synopsis: A struggling baseball wunderkind is mentored by his physical therapist.

What’s The Word: It’s a baseball movie without a lot of baseball that explores the nature of insecurity. “ The Phenom unfolds as a series of quiet, incisive conversations that showcase subtle, insightful performances,” wrote Serena Donadoni at The Village Voice. At The New York Times, Neil Genzlinger was less forgiving: “It’s a variation of all those children’s movies and TV shows in which a Little Leaguer or pee-wee football player is browbeaten by a parent trying to relive his or her own childhood.” At Slant, Kenji Fushima countered that even though the movie isn’t excellent, it’s not really about baseball at all. “The film touches on the effects of a culture that puts too much emphasis on winning and money at the expense of simple healthy competition.”

Released June 24

Finding Dory

Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Diane Keaton, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill, Ty Burrell

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 95%

Synopsis: Everyone’s favorite forgetful fish searches for her family with the help of Marlin, Nemo’s dad.

What’s The Word: A lovely, worthy Finding Nemo follow-up. “In a way that is both emphatic and subtle,” wrote A.O. Scott of The New York Times, “ Finding Dory is a celebration of cognitive and physical differences. It argues, with lovely ingenuity and understatement, that what appear to be impairments might better be understood as strengths.” Still, writes Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, “ Finding Dory could never completely measure up to Nemo, whose dazzling visuals and mythic contours made it an instant, enduring classic.” The sequel features a gaggle of stars and master voice actors, but DeGeneres remains the star, as RogerEbert.com’s Susan Wloszczyna noted: “DeGeneres and her sometimes goofy, sometimes giddy persona continues to be a perfect fit for the role that provided the uplifting salt-water soul of Finding Nemo.”

Released June 17

The Conjuring 2

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O’Connor

Rated: R

Tomatometer: 74%

Synopsis: Paranormal investigators travel to north London to help a single mother living with a house plagued by evil spirits.

What’s the Word: The sequel is scary! And worth it, if you’re into horror movies and paranormal frights. Vera Farmiga is reliably excellent, according to USA Today ’s Brian Truitt. “While [Patrick] Wilson is solid as the good-hearted Ed, Farmiga is [director] Wan’s true standout — her Lorraine really gets put through the wringer as she deals with the constant presence of a terrifying supernatural force, and Farmiga sells every gasp,” Truitt wrote.

At Consequence of Sound, however, Michael Roffman was less invested in the “exaggerated carnival fare" that is "slick and stylish to the point of distraction.” HitFix’s Drew McWeeney says it’s a cut above others in the horror genre: “A rare horror sequel that stands toe-to-toe with the original, possibly even improving on it.”

Released June 10

Me Before You

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Charles Dance, Jenna Coleman

Rated: PG-13

Tomatometer: 53%

Synopsis: A quirky caregiver and her cynical, paralyzed patient fall in love.

What’s The Word: It isn’t the best love story with medical complications, but it’s also not the worst. Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter said that the actors — Game of Thrones ’ Clarke and Hunger Games ’ Claflin — make a formulaic plot easier to stomach. “With their charm and good looks, Clarke and Claflin give the duo’s sublimated sensuality an undeniable charge, enhanced by the honeyed light of Remi Adefarasin’s camerawork,” Linden wrote. The Wrap’s Alonso Duralde was more harsh on the film's lack of cohesiveness: “Forget art, or even craft,” he wrote. “This is the kind of movie that can’t even get its shameless audience-pandering in order.” At A.V. Club, Jesse Hassenger wrote that though the movie might bring tears, he expects they'll quickly dry: " Me Before You is a first-level tearjerker, the kind that expects people to cry when the characters are sad, not because of any unspoken meaning underneath."

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising

Starring: Zac Efron, Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne

Rated: R

Tomatometer:64%

Synopsis: Sorority sisters mess with hapless adults.

What's The Word: This comedy sequel has a surprising and welcome feminist bent. "The Bechdel test is overly simple, yes, but a usefully blunt tool to compare Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising to its modern comedy brethren, virtually none of which have bothered to imbue female characters with the agency, humor, or actual personality that the women of Neighbors 2 deliver in spades," Katey Rich wrote for Vanity Fair. Erin Whitney at ScreenCrush noted: "Not only is it one of the best and funniest comedy sequels, it’s also the most feminist, gay-inclusive, and self-aware mainstream comedy of the year, if not ever." But Amy Nicholson at MTV News was slightly more wary: " Neighbors 2 ’s Social Justice Warrior critique would feel less sour if it weren’t written by five white guys. I guess this is still their party after all."

Released May 20

The Lobster

Starring: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux

Rated: R

Tomatometer:92%

Synopsis: An exploration of love and life in a society where people have to find romantic partners in 45 days or they are turned into animals of their choosing.

What's The Word: It's an acquired taste, but it's truly brilliant. "This movie is an unusual beast, and if you can’t invest in its wild premise and starchy manners, stay home," Amy Nicholson at MTV News explained. "See it, however, and you’ll not only see one of the best movies of the year — you’ll see one of the most brutally honest takes on the knots people twist themselves into so they don’t have to be alone." The New York Times ' A.O. Scott wrote that the movie is "often startlingly funny in the way it proposes its surreal conceits, and then upsettingly grim in the way it follows through on them." Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weeklydeemed it " the most original and beautifully strange love story since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Released May 13

Love & Friendship

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel

Rated: PG

Tomatometer: 100%

Synopsis: A Jane Austen adaptation about a scheming widow.

What's The Word: If you're a Janeite in need of a laugh — or just someone who likes great movies — go. The movie "more than delivers on the comedy of manners front, but it’s also a very funny, unapologetic portrait of a diabolically clever woman," Glenn Whipp wrote at The Los Angeles Times. Peter Travers at Rolling Stone said he "can't think of a more wickedly modern romantic comedy." A.O. Scott's New York Times review declared: "It's the Whit Stillman movie that some of us have been waiting a long time for, and also a Jane Austen movie that goes some way toward correcting the record of dull and dutiful cinematic Janeism."

Released May 13

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This Activewear Brand Is Polling The Internet On Every Big Business Decision

August 12, 2016, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Game Of Thrones Fans Will Lose It Over This Very Romantic Proposal

≪ Previous: Movie Review Roundup: What You Should See This Weekend

Talk about taking the whole "customer first" mentality to the next level: Orin, a new activewear brand that's set to launch soon, is letting random strangers select basically every major building block of its business, Tech Insider reports. Before it comes to life, however, potential customers get to weigh in on what it'll look like, how it'll be made, and how much it costs by taking a quiz online. Billed as "crowdsourced activewear," per the label's website, folks can weigh in on three categories: products, manufacturing, and models.

Cofounder Kevin Chan told Tech Insider that he came up with the idea for the quiz after noticing certain mass-market brands' transparency. He pointed to American Eagle Outfitters, which instituted its no-retouching pledge in 2014, but direct-to-consumer brands like Everlane have also toyed with this type of interactive format. "It's a hypothesis I wanted to test," Chan explained.

In the first section, users can weigh in on which items they actually want to buy (such as a certain style of top or bottom), plus favorite colors. There are four options for each, using examples from Lululemon, Equinox, and Athleta's Instagram accounts. Chan's taking it beyond Orin's product offerings, because he believes customers want to know what's happening in literally every step of the process.

Next, users select a sourcing option, which will subsequently affect Orin's price range, including the garments' country of origin (U.S.A. and Sri Lanka are on opposite ends of the pricing spectrum; Colombia and China are also options). Prospective customers also weigh in on how carefully certified the factories should be ("standard" leaves the environmental impact uncertain, while "luxury" ensures high sustainability, quality, and labor practices), as well as how much workers are paid: the status-quo minimum or a living wage, which, depending on where the products are made, means a percentage is added to the price tag. Also, the quality of materials is up for discussion: standard, premium, or luxury — the latter two are at a greater cost.

While Chan insisted that the manufacturing section isn't meant to be political, it does make users take a hard look at pricing and decide if it's more important to have cheap leggings or ethically made leggings. (For reference: Leggings manufactured in Sri Lanka would likely retail for $16, whereas the same pair made stateside would go for $60, according to the publication.) So, once you check off the boxes, you'll see the estimated cost of a top and bottom based on your choices. Users also have a say in the ethnicities and body types of the models the brand will use.

If you want to see how your answers compare to those of the internet at large, you'll have to sign up for Orin's newsletter, which will also notify you of the brand's launch. It's definitely an unorthodox approach — and one that rightfully has some scratching their heads. But it's still refreshing to see brands embrace transparency — especially when it relates to the often closed-off process of how our clothes are made. The entry window closes on August 22, after two weeks of user submissions.

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Game Of Thrones Fans Will Lose It Over This Very Romantic Proposal

August 12, 2016, 2:00 pm

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≪ Previous: This Activewear Brand Is Polling The Internet On Every Big Business Decision

Game of Thrones is full of romance, but the love stories sometimes get overshadowed by all the revenge plots and epic battle scenes. However, one man just reminded us how romantic the relationships on the show can be by bringing GoT love into his real-life marriage proposal.

At Comic-Con in San Diego last month, Christopher Setts devised a plan to propose to his girlfriend, Hayley Smith, in a way that was as epic as any Game of Thrones plot line. Both Setts and Smith are major fans, so the couple decided to go dressed as the show's star-crossed lovers Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Per a video at Nerdist, Setts popped the question to his fair lady on the same steps where the couple had met two years prior (also during Comic-Con's annual Game of Thrones photo shoot). The big moment, which took Setts six months to plan, took place in front of other fans of the fantasy series, who were also in costume. Smith said yes to her gallant gentleman to roars of applause from the costume-clad crowd.

PopSugar reports that the couple is keeping the theme going by planning a Game of Thrones -inspired wedding. Here's hoping it ends better than most GoT weddings!

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The Best Dance Movies Of All Time

August 12, 2016, 2:05 pm

≫ Next: These Are The Most Popular Songs Of The Week

≪ Previous: Game Of Thrones Fans Will Lose It Over This Very Romantic Proposal

As a former dancer, there are few things that bring me more joy than dance movies. You needn't have grown up at the barre to love and appreciate films in which dance takes — for lack of a more on-the-nose expression — center stage. The need to dance is innate in every human being, and it cannot be denied (proof: Footloose). Movement and the self-expression it unleashes can be a great uniter, as seen in movies like Dirty Dancing, where it bridges socioeconomic and cultural divides.

It's always a perfect time to jazz-hand our way through the greatest dance movies out there. In order to determine which films would be eligible, though, we turned to a professional. We enlisted Justin Peck, whose road to choreographing a new piece for the New York City Ballet is the subject of the documentary Ballet 422, to help us nail down a few criteria.

"I think that if the dance has purpose behind each step, and it’s not just a novelty of having dance on film for the sake of having dance on film. That can translate into really good dance film work. It's about developing the characters through their movement," Peck told us when Ballet 422 came out in February 2015. "There's a much more visceral quality to seeing dance on camera as a means of storytelling. I think that people can relate to kind of the instinctual bodily response to music. People have been dancing for centuries; it's something that everyone can relate to and get something out of an experience."

Keeping these qualifications in mind (dance has to be a driving force in moving the story forward, versus movies with random choreographed numbers like Slumdog Millionaire), allow us to present the 30 best dance movies of all time — and where to watch them from the comfort of your own home. We know you want to perfect the lift from Dirty Dancing in private.

And a 5, 6, 7, 8...

Funny Face (1957)

Ok, so this isn't a dance movie, per se. But no serious conversation about Funny Face can fail to mention Audrey Hepburn's epic "don't fuck with me" jazz dance.

Stream it on: iTunes.

Youtube.

Chocolate City (2015)

I’m not here to tell you the storyline makes this movie worth watching. I’m not even here to tell you the acting makes this movie worth watching. I am here to tell you that the stripper dancing makes this movie worth watching.

Stream it on: iTunes.

Dance With Me(1998)

Vanessa Williams plays Ruby, a dance instructor. Chayanne plays Rafael, who comes to the dance studio from Cuba. They dance. They fall in love. Bonus: Jane Krakowski’s in it.

Stream it on: Amazon.

Bring It On (2000)

Yes, this is technically a cheerleading movie. But what is cheerleading if not exaggerated, athletic dancing? Especially in this early ’00s hit, in which Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union face off in a national cheer competition. They’re not exactly the saccharine “Give me a T!” types. It’s basically like watching a dance-off. Also good for satisfying any desire you may feel for Throwback Thursday.

Stream it on: Amazon.

Swing Time(1939)

Lucky (Fred Astaire) is a gambler who manages to miss his own wedding to a woman named Margaret. Train delays, you know? So Margaret’s dad gets all pissy about it and tells Lucky he has to come up with $25,000 as a sort of apology gift. I dunno, guys. It’s weird. All you need to know is that he heads to New York City where he meets Penny (Ginger Rogers), a dance teacher, and they fall in love and that’s the end of Margaret. This film is a self-proclaimed comedy. Will you laugh out loud? Probably not, as few comedies can hold up after so many years. Will you judge the characters for being kind of terrible people? Probably. But you’re not watching this movie for the moral compass. You’re in it for the dance numbers — which are quite delightful.

Stream it on: Amazon.

Shall We Dance?(2004)

John Clark (Richard Gere) realizes his life is super boring. He gets up, commutes to work, works late, commutes back, goes to bed. Rinse and repeat. But one day he notices a sign for Miss Mitzi's Dance School, and he impulsively goes in and becomes a student. Miss Mitzi (J.Lo) teaches him as he stumbles his way into competitive dancing. And Clark's wife (Susan Sarandon) is there and it's all very predictable and cheesy but you're not necessarily in it for the plot, right? You're in it for the final sequence.

Stream it on: iTunes.

42nd Street(1933)

Raise your hand if you also learned the opening number in tap class growing up and still do it on occasion alone in your room. I mean, me neither. The time steps start on the eight, though, in case you're interested.

Stream it: On Google Play

Top Hat(1935)

It doesn't get better than Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing cheek to cheek to the smooth sounds of Irving Berlin.

Stream it: On Google Play

The Red Shoes(1948)

Before Natalie Portman was slowly driven mad by her pursuit of ballet perfection in Black Swan, there was Vicky Page, torn between two love interests and her need to dance in The Red Shoes.

Stream it: On Amazon

Singin' in the Rain(1952)

BRB, soft-shoeing in precipitation with my prop umbrella.

Stream it: On Amazon

West Side Story (1961)

"My favorite dance film is West Side Story. I think that's because the whole concept and idea behind it started from choreographer Jerome Robbins' vision of what the film was going to be and built outward from there. The movement in it has a real sense of purpose and storytelling. It's one of the most brilliant films that's ever been made and definitely one of the most brilliant dance films," Justin Peck says about this classic.

Stream it: On Amazon

Saturday Night Fever(1977)

Tony Manero (John Travolta) is a paint store clerk by day and disco-dancing legend by night. He's lookin' for some hot stuff, baby, this evening.

Stream it: On Netflix

The Turning Point(1977)

A decades-old rivalry between two ballerinas resurfaces when one offers to train the other's daughter, who has a shot at greatness. And yes, that is Mikhail Baryshnikov as the daughter's paramour and the company's resident Russian bad boy.

Stream it: On Netflix

Grease(1978)

Born to hand jive, baby.

Stream it: On Amazon

All That Jazz(1979)

" All That Jazz focuses on Bob Fosse. It's really interesting background on that choreographer. He was super focused on his craft and also he had a real knack for how to shoot dance on film and edit it properly. He was really involved in all of that process. It was a nice biopic- ish...I know it's not technically him, but it's based on his experience of his life," Peck says.

Available on DVD.

Fame (1980)

Sing the body electric and live forever with the talented teens at New York City's High School for the Performing Arts.

Stream it: On Amazon

Flashdance (1983)

Before Channing Tatum's Magic Mike was a sexy welder who also stripped to pay the bills, there was Jennifer Beals jamming to "What a Feeling" as she worked toward her dream of joining the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance.

Stream it: On Amazon

Footloose(1984)

A rebellious teen who's got the beat arrives in a tiny town where a preacher has outlawed dancing. Oh, HELL no.

Stream it: On Netflix

Breakin'(1984)

We're talking PEAK '80s breakdance crew rivalries and fashion statements here. Plus, the sequel spawned the always hilarious joke of putting "Electric Boogaloo" into sequel titles.

Available on DVD.

A Chorus Line(1985)

The film adaptation of Marvin Hamlisch's iconic musical about the harsh world of cattle calls and the life of a professional dancer.

Stream it: On Amazon

Girls Just Want to Have Fun(1985)

Sarah Jessica Parker just wants to have fun, and for her character that means one thing: falling in love through DANCE.

Stream it: On Netflix

Dirty Dancing(1987)

The tale of Baby learning to stand up for herself and falling in love for the first time with a sexy Catskills dance instructor from the other side of the tracks is a modern classic. Nobody puts her in a corner.

Stream it: On Netflix

Hairspray (1988, 2007)

Good morning, Baltimore! Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake in the 1988 version; Nikki Blonsky in the 2007) just wants to dance on The Corny Collins Show, where the nicest kids in town showcase the latest moves. There are various hurdles in her way, though. Tracy doesn’t have the show’s stereotypical, snoozefest look, so she becomes a crusader for the all teens whom the show discriminates against.

Stream the 1988 version: On Amazon, Google Play, iTunes

Stream the 2007 version: On Amazon, Google Play, iTunes

Tap(1989)

The plot doesn't really matter when you're watching tap dancing legend Gregory Hines hoof it.

Stream it: On Amazon

Strictly Ballroom(1992)

Sometimes we overhear people claiming that Silver Linings Playbook is a dance movie because the two main characters spend most of the film training for an amateur ballroom dancing competition. We usually nod our heads, while thinking, "You wanna see a REAL ballroom dance movie? Watch Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom."

Stream it: On Netflix

The Full Monty(1997)

Unemployed steel workers form an all-male nude revue to pay the bills. Not every stripper has to be a ridiculously tanned and toned specimen, Magic Mike.

Stream it: On Amazon

Center Stage(2000)

The film that put Zoe Saldana on the map as a sassy ballerina put an extremely glossy coating on a world rife with competition over roles, eating disorders, sleeping with star choreographers, and miraculous mid-song costume changes. Still, everyone has canned heat in their heels tonight (baby) by the end.

Stream it: On Amazon

Billy Elliot(2000)

A boy in an English mining town discovers a talent for ballet and has to convince his set-in-his-ways widowed father to let him pursue his passion. Sometimes we put on the final scene just for a good cry. DANCE, BILLY.

Stream it: On Amazon

Save the Last Dance(2001)

One of those beautiful examples of dance bringing two people from very different worlds together. Ballet and hip-hop aren't so different after all. And hey, Kerry Washington!

Stream it: On Amazon

You Got Served(2004)

In the process of searching for the You Got Served trailer, I uncovered this amazing mashup, and I would now like to state that the 30th best dance movie of all time is actually Fiddler on the Roof Got Served.

Stream it: On Amazon

Mad Hot Ballroom(2005)

This touching documentary follows 11-year-olds from New York City public schools as they prepare for a dance competition sponsored by the American Ballroom Theater.

Stream it: On Amazon

Step Up(2006)

The movie that unleashed Channing Tatum (and his moves) into the world. To whom do we address our thank-you note? The Magic Mike XXL trailer, perhaps?

Stream it: On Amazon

Take the Lead(2006)

Mr. Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) is in charge of detention, which he sees as an opportunity for high school kids who always seem to be in trouble to channel their energy into something productive. Like ballroom dancing. This movie is basically Sister Act 2, but with dancing.

Steam it: On HBO Go

Stomp the Yard(2007)

A surprisingly heartwarming lesson in teamwork and camaraderie mixed with amazing stepping.

Stream it: On Google Play

Mao's Last Dancer(2010)

Based on the extraordinary true story of Li Cunxin, a peasant from rural China who became a world-renowned ballet dancer after defecting from his home country.

Steam it: On Google Play

Black Swan(2010)

Not since Dostoyevsky have we been so afraid of a mysterious double. This movie is not for the faint of heart, though, what with the skin pulling and all that shudder.

Stream it: On Amazon

First Position (2011)

This documentary about aspiring young ballet dancers training for the annual Youth American Grand Prix will inspire you a lot more than you might think. Get out your turning board and foot stretcher and hit play.

Stream it: On Netflix

Magic Mike(2012)

It just didn’t feel right publishing this piece without including a ride on Channing Tatum’s pony.

Stream it: On Amazon

Magic Mike XXL (2015)

I mean, if you’re gonna watch the original, you should probably go ahead and watch the sequel.

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These Are The Most Popular Songs Of The Week

August 12, 2016, 2:15 pm

≫ Next: Updated: Federal Court Orders Release Of Making A Murderer Nephew

≪ Previous: The Best Dance Movies Of All Time

Is anything better than plugging in your headphones, firing up your music app of choice, and jamming out to that brand-new song you're obsessed with?

Don't get me wrong; I love my go-to playlists. The classics are great. But something amazing happens when I hear an awesome new track for the first time. I am filled with anticipation, enthusiasm, and pure bliss as I wonder to myself, Will the chorus be as good as the hook? or Wait — did I just discover my new favorite artist?!?!

New music is one of the best mood-boosters ever to me, and I want to share it with you. So each week, I'm pulling together the most popular (as in, they have over 100K listens within the first few days of their release) and most exciting new music out there for you to turn on, tune in, drop out to.

Let's get listening. If you have any new pieces of musical gold, leave a link in the comments below. And be sure to check next Friday for a whole new slew of songs.

"Devastated" — Joey Bada$$

This trip-hop slow jam is surprisingly smooth. The song also teases a bit of Outkast's "SpottieOttieDopaliscious" and features a hint of mellow guitar strings. The 21-year-old New Yorker raps about patiently waiting for his rise to the top of the game, all in front of the city's iconic skyline. And it seems like it's working out.

Video via YouTube.

"Let Your Lover Go!" — Brian Marc

Can one fall in love with an electronic R & B track after just a few seconds? The answer is yes. This charming song from Brian Marc is the best discovery of the week, courtesy of my colleague Hunter Harris. Marc's soothing voice, that awesome static beat, the echoey chorus — give me all of it.

Video via YouTube.

"Don't Do It for You No More" — PARTYNEXTDOOR

Drake's prodigy and Kylie Jenner's music video boyfriend is back, and he's better. His voice is quintessentially characteristic of Drizzy's label OVO Sound. You'll be tempted to sway along. Embrace it.

Video via YouTube.

"Bird Song" — M.I.A.

M.I.A., I've missed your music! After the Pineapple Express trailer ruined my favorite song by you, followed by The Heat trailer ruining my other favorite song by you, I am so happy to hear that you're back with an equally intriguing and bizarre track. Let's count how many bird references are in the lyrics.

Video via YouTube.

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Updated: Federal Court Orders Release Of Making A Murderer Nephew

August 12, 2016, 2:15 pm

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Update: The team behind Making a Murderer has released a statement now that one of their subjects has had his conviction overturned. Attorneys for both Dassey and Steven Avery, his uncle, have also made statements.

"Today was a major development for the subjects in our story and this recent news shows the criminal justice system at work," Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos said in their statement. "As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead."

Dassey's attorneys emphasized that more work was needed before they fully celebrated.

"This is right, this is justice," Dassey's attorney Laura Nirider told ABC News. “We are over the moon. We were notified by email and I read this decision on my phone … 91 pages, unbelievable."

Nirider told ABC News that she cried as she read the decision and added that the Dassey family was "grateful, in shock, trying to process this."

Steven Avery's attorneys said that the overturned conviction could also mean good news for their client.

"We are thrilled for Brendan Dassey that his conviction has been overturned," they told E! News. "We fully expected this outcome from an unbiased court that carefully examined his confession. I was just visiting Steven Avery and he is so happy for Brendan. We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well."

You can read the court order here.

Original article to follow.

A Wisconsin Federal court overturned the conviction of Brendan Dassey, who was convicted of helping uncle Steven Avery murder Teresa Halbach in a case made famous by Making a Murderer, on Friday, the AP reports.

The U.S. District court judge ordered Dassey freed within 90 days unless he's retried by prosecutors. They have not decided whether or not to refile charges, according to TMZ.

Magistrate Judge William Duffin said that investigators made false promises when they told Dassey "he had nothing to worry about." The judge also called the conduct of Dassey's attorney "indefensible" in his ruling.

"These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey's age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey's confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments," Duffin wrote in his decision.

Dassey's appeal had been rejected by state courts, so he took his argument to the Federal level. Dassey was 16 at the time of the killing, and 11 years have passed since then. He confessed to helping uncle Steven Avery at the time.

Making a Murderer will return sometime soon.

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How This Blogger-Owned Label Is Rebranding Body-Con

August 12, 2016, 2:30 pm

≫ Next: Kanye's "Famous" Dissected By Master Filmmaker Werner Herzog Is Amazing

≪ Previous: Updated: Federal Court Orders Release Of Making A Murderer Nephew

One mention of the word "bodycon" and images of Herve Leger bandage dresses and their knockoffs likely fill your mind. Sure, there have been some fresh takes on these fitted dresses lately, but the OG hip-hugging silhouette is one that has a lot of rebranding to do before it becomes a piece not associated with early-2000s Kardashians.

Blogger Karla Deras of Karla's Closet, however, is looking to take the style's reputation and turn it on its head; if you're not familiar with Deras, she's amassed a major Instagram following for her effortlessly cool style, which largely involves an array of body-con-esque clothing. So it's no surprise that her label, The Line by K, features just that.

Launched in 2015, the brand offers elevated basics with a touch of Deras's signature look — think supersoft, tight, and stretchy fabrics, cool but simple tees and bra tops, and bodysuits that are versatile enough to wear anywhere. What's most refreshing about the brand, though (besides its pieces), is its laid-back styling and the diverse crop of models it features. And instead of positioning body-con as something that's meant strictly for the nightclub, The Line by K shows these pieces can easily be worn during the day or while lounging around at home.

So maybe Deras — who endorses body-con as a desirable, sexy, healthy, proud, and confident way to dress — is all it will take for the style to become a wear-anytime, fashion-girl silhouette once again. After looking at the pieces ahead, well, you might just find yourself convinced, too.

**The Line by K** Rori Dress, $89, available at The Line by K.

**The Line by K** Gaby II Dress, $105, available at The Line by K.

**The Line by K** Jolie Bodysuit, $89, available at The Line by K.

**The Line by K** Izzy Tube Top, $89, available at The Line by K.

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Kanye's "Famous" Dissected By Master Filmmaker Werner Herzog Is Amazing

August 12, 2016, 3:15 pm

≫ Next: Sick Of TV? These Shows Will Get You Addicted All Over Again

≪ Previous: How This Blogger-Owned Label Is Rebranding Body-Con

German filmmaker Werner Herzog is becoming an internet maven. The director and documentarian has just released Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World.

His latest effort dissects the ways we live online for good, bad, and strange. He's given his take on Pokémon Go ("When two persons in search of a pokémon clash at the corner of Sunset and San Vicente is there violence? Is there murder?") and rescued Joaquin Phoenix from lighting a deadly cigarette.

Now, he's dissecting Kanye West's "Famous" video.

Here's just a small sample of Herzog's commentary.

“Now is that real Donald Trump or is it fake Donald Trump?" Herzog narrates. "That's an interesting thing that the internet can create doppelgangers easily. The most interesting thing for me as a storyteller is, something that I always keep saying: In a movie, yes, you do have a story and you develop a story, but at the same time you have to be very careful and think about and organize a parallel story. A separate independent story that only occurs in the collective mind of the audience."

Herzog says Kanye's rap is key to creating that story.

"When you hear the rap, which is very well done, all of a sudden it gives him more time than anything else just to reflect on it. This video gives you space for creating your separate parallel story and you keep thinking. Are these people for real? Are they doppelgangers? What could be the story of them? What are they doing? How have they partied? What brought them together?"

If you like this, Herzog offers a six-hour online filmmaking course at Rogue Film School. Watch below.

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Sick Of TV? These Shows Will Get You Addicted All Over Again

August 12, 2016, 3:15 pm

≫ Next: Update: Colorado Sexual Assault Survivor Reads Powerful Statement In Court

≪ Previous: Kanye's "Famous" Dissected By Master Filmmaker Werner Herzog Is Amazing

Amazing news, TV lovers of the world: Since we first published this story in 2013, there have been leaps and bounds in the number of streaming platforms offering hours upon hours of programming to binge-watch whenever the mood strikes. In the interest of equal opportunity, we’ve decided to broaden the scope of this slideshow to look beyond the options available on Netflix Instant. There’s a whole wide world of streaming options out there and you deserve to know everything that’s available. Consider this the one-stop menu we'll be updating every week for your continued viewing pleasure.

We've been there. You've exhausted your Netflix queue, flipped through your entire spectrum of TV channels (twice), and seen every season of 30 Rock. It's tough, but don't despair. There's still uncharted territory out there! In fact, there's oodles of fun to be had from the comfort of your laptop this weekend. You just have to know what to look for.

These are our favorite finds on Netflix Instant Watch. Never heard of 'em? Good! Heard the word, but haven't gotten around to it yet? Now's the time.