Her Screen Thoughts - Movie & TV Reviews

Terror at the world's oldest marathon: Patriots Day (10:56) - writer/director Peter Berg's take on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings - starring (and produced by) Boston native Mark Wahlberg. With Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Brosnahan, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, and Khandi Alexander. At 3:00: this week's #ListOfSix: Our 6 Saddest Movies. And the box office has spoken, astronomically: co...

Meet the truly inspiring women you don't know behind the mission you do: Hidden Figures (11:42). Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe - as real-life aeronautical superheroes Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson. Based on the 2016 New York Times bestselling book by Margot Lee Shetterly (whose mantra is Research. Write. Repeat): Hidden Figures: The American...

Natalie Portman takes on an icon in Pablo Larraín's Jackie (9:45); Hollister shares some personal recollections. Podcast extras include an excerpt from the real Jackie's Emmy-winning White House Tour. This week's #ListOfSix: 6 Strong Female TV Characters (2:06). O'Toole pays homage to Fred & Ginger (1:10); Hollister discusses The Jinx (7:26). ​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

Remembering Carrie Fisher. At 3:14: #ListOfSix: 6 Movies We're Looking Forward to in 2017. At 9:12: Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling star in Damien Chazelle's La La Land. Guess which one of us was impressed by the making-of stories, and which one of us was not exactly in Camp Rah-Rah Land. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At 12:26: An Isabelle Huppert double-header: Elle, directed by Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct) and L'avenir (Things to Come), written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve - the film is an homage to her mother, a philosophy teacher. At 25:51: Denzel Washington and Viola Davis reprise their 2010 Tony-winning roles in August Wilson's Pulitzer-Prize-winning Fences. Also: 7:35: What half of all Brits dream...

At 8:20: The buzz around Manchester by the Sea. Discover which of us thought it was pure genius; and which of us thought it was a cinematic slow-swinging sledgehammer. Written & directed by Ken Lonergan; starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, and Gretchen Mol. At 29:31: Miss Sloane, reteaming director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and Jessica Chastain (The...

WW2 and contemplating a world without villains. At 3:01: #ListOfSix: 6 Movies That Surprised Us. 10:10: Allied, starring Brad Pitt & Marion Cotillard. O'Toole thinks it's Mr. & Mrs. Smith as a period piece. Written by Steven Knight (Burnt; The Hundred-Foot Journey); directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump; Back to the Future). 20:26: Hollister welcomes Season 14 of Top Chef. 20:48: NBC's...

Buskers & Burning Questions. Trivia & Tributes. 9 years after the original Gilmore Girls series (2000-2007) wrapped, Netflix sponsors a trip back to Stars Hollow. Hollister & O'Toole review this 4-part series - to quote Carole King: Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Amy Adams week - we take a look at two features headlining the 5x-Oscar nominee: At 10:12: Arrival - or, a hover-side chat with heptapods. Co-starring Jeremy Renner and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker. Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Sicario). At 23:21: Nocturnal Animals - written & directed by fashion icon Tom Ford. Co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Shannon (Elvis & Nixon). Also fea...

Anna Kendrick on her first book tour: #ScrappyLittleNobody. At 2:58: #ListofSix 6 Favorite Songs from Movies. 9:50: O'Toole finally experiences Hannibal the Cannibal in Hollister's favorite film: The Silence of the Lambs. 17:24: Hollister revisits her custody arrangement with the HBO/Sarah Jessica Parker vehicle Divorce. 18:36: Anna will never find her: Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery goes down,...

This week's #ListofSix: Our 6 Favorite Courtroom Movies (with 2 Honorable Mentions). At 10:02: A Royal Affair indeed: the lavish new $130MM Netflix series The Crown. Starring Claire Foy as QE2; Matt Smith as Prince Philip, and John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. Written and created by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen). At this rate, the sun will never set on the Netflix empire - God save the TV...

From Hollister's favorite serial killers to what O'Toole thinks Hugh Grant has in common with Bob Newhart - we start off with this week's #ListOfSix: Our 6 Favorite Shrinks. At 7:30: The final season of The Fall (starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan) - does it still have its Fear Factor? At 9:40: Still recovering from the pilot episode (a British PM and a pig, anyone?), Screen Thoughts dares...

Our first #ListofSix: 6 Books That Should Be Made Into Movies. At 6:22: in honor of Tatiana Maslany's well-deserved Emmy win, Screen Thoughts finally takes a look at Orphan Black. Hollister & O'Toole then split their realities, taking independent looks at 2 movies based on true stories: at 10:05, Christine (starring Rebecca Hall as troubled 1970s TV reporter Christine Chubbuck) and at 15:38, D...

Why Idris Elba spent the night in prison; which series was voted #1 of all time in Australia; and what the Boston Book Festival had to teach us about sympathetic characters. At 4:51, Screen Thoughts audits the latest Ben Affleck vehicle: The Accountant. Did the assets outweigh the liabilities? Directed by Gavin O'Connor (Jane Got a Gun); also starring J.K. Simmons and Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect...

2 movies based on bestselling novels; 2 women who get off trains, suspected of murder. At 5:00: Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train - directed by Tate Taylor (The Help) and starring Emily Blunt. At 24:05: Rosalie Ham's The Dressmaker - written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (who calls the film "Unforgiven" but with a sewing machine and haute couture), starring Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, and Lia...

More Fall T.V. pilots (ABC's Designated Survivor; and OWN's Queen Sugar), and Hollister's sushi kick continues - this time with East Side Sushi (5:39). Hollister & O'Toole also take a look at Woody Allen's first foray into television: Amazon's Crisis in Six Scenes (15:03). Starring 2x-Oscar nominee and comic legend Elaine May, as well as Miley Cyrus, Joy Behar, and John Magaro. Learn more abou...

Favorite Fall T.V. Pilots; Disney's Queen of Katwe (starring Lupita Nyong'o, David Oyelowo, and introducing Madina Nalwanga as Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi) (9:30); Mad Women? a look back at the 1960s with Amazon's Good Girls Revolt (with Grace Gummer as Nora Ephron) (12:50); and Netflix' Easy - 8 vignettes about art & sex written & directed by Joe Swanberg (26:08). Learn more about...

Dear Diary, ​ ​15 years since the first installment (terrifying slide into immortality), 3 books (Yesssssss!), 3 movies (v.g.), 4 Oscar-winning actors (v.v.g). Irresistible Sex Goddess facing geriatric pregnancy (what is the point?), but with convincing British accent. Hurrah!   Our favorite Singleton is back In Bridget Jones's Baby. Starring Oscar winners Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Emma Thomps...

A look at Amazon's The Kettering Incident, a Gothic supernatural series filmed on location in Tasmania. Also: the new fall TV line-up. Meryl Streep to film The Nix. A new doco on Norman Lear. Is Aaron Sorkin sexist? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's hard to believe M.L. Stedman started out as a lawyer. The years-long New York Times bestseller The Light Between Oceans (2012) was her debut novel - which has since been translated into 30+ languages. Director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine; The Place Beyond the Pines) adapted the book for the big screen. A LitLovers selection, Hollister & O'Toole discuss both the book and the movie - s...

An insider's glimpse into the world of improv comedy. Don't Think Twice is the second feature film written and directed by Mike Birbiglia - who stars in the film, along with comedic talents Keegan Michael-Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Tami Sagher, and Chris Gethard. Did Hollister & O'Toole like the film? Yes, and... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister & O'Toole discuss Equity, which bills itself as "the first female driven Wall Street movie". Directed by Meera Menon; screenplay by Amy Fox; starring Anna Gunn ("Breaking Bad"), as well as Alysia Reiner ("Orange is the New Black") and Sarah Megan Thomas (who also produced the film). Most of the film's financial backing came from real-life women of Wall Street - who assure us that Equ...

Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant & Florence Foster Jenkins - did it hit all the right, wrong notes? Who knew that The Big Bang Theory's Simon Helberg could really play the piano? And from the internationally acclaimed crime author Jo Nesbø... Occupied (Okkupert), a gripping 10-part Norwegian series available on Netflix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister and O’Toole discuss Woody Allen's 46th film, Café Society, which opened this year's Cannes Film Festival (but was not in competition - as Woody Allen puts it, competition is fine when it comes to sports, but he doesn't believe in it when it comes to the arts). Starring Jesse Eisenberg (The End of the Tour), Kristen Stewart (Still Alice), Blake Lively (The Shallows), Steve Carell, Corey S...

Hollister & O'Toole review Bad Moms - brought to us by the writers of The Hangover; starring Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn - as well as Ira Sachs' latest offering: Little Men - starring Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, and introducing an actor-to-watch: Michael Barbieri. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices