Tag: Hulu

Screening Room: ‘False Positive’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - NewLeave a comment

In John Lee’s oddball horror flick False Positive, a young woman (Ilana Glazer from Broad City) is thrilled after a fertility doctor (Pierce Brosnan) helps her get pregnant. But pretty soon it becomes clear that this will not be an easy and happy birth process.

False Positive will be available this week on Hulu. My review from the Tribeca Festival is at Slant:

Feeling at times like a new-millennium gloss on Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, False Positive threads classic horror-film tropes with a woozy, partially comic sensibility but doesn’t fully commit to this approach…

Here’s the trailer:

TV Room: ‘City So Real’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film-Documentary, streaming, TelevisionLeave a comment

The latest documentary project from the great Steve James (Hoop Dreams) is a five-part miniseries that tracks the tumult of a Chicago mayoral campaign.

City So Real is streaming now on Hulu. My review is at The Playlist:

It’s a noble, heartfelt, and eye-opening look at the American city, matching the scope of Frederick Wiseman’s recent scoping of a similarly fractious Boston in “City Hall,” but giving it more of a warmly human pulse…

Here’s the trailer:

TV Room: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 1’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Adaptations, Books, DVD - TelevisionLeave a comment

The first season of The Handmaid’s Tale is out on DVD now. My review is at PopMatters:

A friend who didn’t know much about The Handmaid’s Tale, either the terrifying series or the even darker Margaret Atwood novel it was adapted from, was surprised when I called it an alternate history. All he knew was glimpses of the ads, which highlighted the show’s visual signature: Lines of meek-looking women shrouded in blazing red robes and face-hiding white bonnets. He thought it was some show about 17th century America. That’s by design. This is science fiction set in the future that looks to the past and magnifies the present…

Nota Bene: Margaret Atwood isn’t Getting Rich from ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Series

On By chrisbarsantiIn Books, TelevisionLeave a comment

So even though Hulu is going into its second season of their adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, don’t assume that means piles of cash for Margaret Atwood.

In an essay about women, money, and power—and how rarely all three are allowed to align—Atwood points out that the hit series isn’t sending much money her way:

The Handmaid’s Tale television series was not my deal. I sold the rights to MGM in 1990 to make a movie – so when the TV rights were sold to Hulu, the money went to MGM. We did not have a negotiating position. I did get brought on as an executive consultant, but that wasn’t a lot of money. People think it’s been all Hollywood glamour since the TV show happened, but that’s not happening to me. But book sales have been brisk, so there’s that.

(h/t: Bookforum)