Her Screen Thoughts - Movie & TV Reviews

"It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a zombie in possession of brains, must be in want of more brains." For this month's LitLovers selection, Hollister & O'Toole discuss Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - both the international best-seller* by Seth-Grahame Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) and the film adaptation starring Lily James and Sam Riley as zombie-fighters Lizzie Bennet...

#TGIT! Hollister & O'Toole return to Shondaland with a look at Scandal - a show that still has America talking, averaging about 300,000 Tweets per episode. Also: Hollister discusses American Crime Story's upcoming The People v. O.J. Simpson and the Gilmore Girls re-boot, while O'Toole reports from the St. Augustine Film Festival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hollister and O'Toole cover a lot of territory this week - as does Chelsea Handler in her new 4-part docuseries on Netflix (Marriage; Racism; Silcon Valley; Drugs). Hollister, who thinks we're becoming a nation of serial murderer series binge-watchers (seriously), swears she's going to take a murder hiatus - but not before discussing the BBC's new series London Spy (starring Ben Whishaw and Jim Br...

In honor of Brooklyn's 3 Oscar noms (Best Picture, Best Actress - Saoirse Ronan, Best Adapted Screenplay - Nick Hornby), Hollister & O'Toole dedicate this week's podcast to the movie-based-on-the-novel - a dream team of cast and script. Also discussed: #OscarsSoWhite, SHOwtime's new series Billions, and which actor's voice is most like the cello. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

For this month's LitLovers selection, Hollister & O'Toole discuss Brooklyn - based on Colm Tóibín's acclaimed novel - and currently nominated for 3 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Nick Hornby). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breaking news from this morning: the 2016 Oscar noms, as well as the sad news of the passing of the great Alan Rickman - who we love Truly Madly Deeply. Hollister & O'Toole also discuss Sunday night's Golden Globe winners, as well as the much-discussed Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer - with a shoutout to the perspective-bending The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby series (Him/Her/and Them)...

This week Hollister & O'Toole discuss Amazon Prime's Mozart in the Jungle, recently nominated for 2 Golden Globes: Best Comedy/Musical and Best Actor, Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mamá También; The Motorcycle Diaries). The cast alone is music to our ears: Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, Lola Kirke, Saffron Burrows, Malcolm McDowell, Debra Monk... Also, hear what Hollister has to say about Will...

In this week's podcast, Hollister & O'Toole take a look at the latest David O. Russell-Jennifer Lawrence-Bradley Cooper-Robert De Niro offering: Joy. Learn who loved Silver Linings Playbook, who didn't like Silver Linings Playbook, and who was willing to take the Joy out of Christmas. (Clue: O'Toole says she's always tonally suspect when a movie's gone through 4 editors.) Hollister does her be...

For this month’s LitLovers’ selection, Screen Thoughts sends its crew to review The Martian – based on the bestselling book by Andy Weir and the acclaimed movie by Ridley Scott. Starring Golden Globe nominee Matt Damon as astronaut Mark Watney (which is more impressive – his scientific wherewithal or his gallows humor?); co-starring Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, and Jeff Daniels. Hear what Holliste...

Screen Thoughts spends this week in Space, reviewing both The Martian as well as the 7th installment in the storied 38-year Star Wars Franchise: The Force Awakens. We’ll also take a look at Jessica Jones, superhero turned P.I. on Netflix. Podcast extras include a snippet from Carrie Fisher’s Emmy-nominated one-woman show Wishful Drinking (on what it’s like when you’ve sold your likeness to George...

This week Hollister and O’Toole cover a lot of territory: Robert Loggia. Carol. The documentary shortlist for the Academy Awards. The Golden Globe nominations. Comments from our listeners – including some great news shared by director Joseph Castelo (The Preppie Connection). The Peanuts Movie (O.K., O.K., O’Toole snuck that one in there). And, in honor of this week’s annual awarding of the Nobel P...

O'Toole got to live out a fantasy: a trip to Tasmania to have coffee and Tim Tams with creative powerhouse Posie Graeme-Evans - producer of countless award-winning T.V. shows, author of 6 bestselling novels, and, of course, the mastermind behind the beloved, long-running Australian T.V. series McLeod's Daughters. Tune in to discover what Posie has to say about cows, composers, Claire and the cliff...

In the last of our podcasts from the Hamptons International Film Festival, Hollister and O'Toole - along with guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn - take a look at the delightful A Royal Night Out, a reimagining of a real-life event: V.E. Day, 1945. Winston Churchill has just declared the war in Europe over. In this "reverse Cinderella" story, a young Princess Elizabeth (wearing her wartime uniform)...

53 years and 24 films. That's, of course, Bond, James Bond. Hollister and O'Toole discuss Spectre, the latest offering in the storied franchise. Find out who says Daniel Craig is their favorite Bond ever; and who was neither shaken nor stirred. Bond films wouldn't be Bond films without the iconic music. Features clips from the title song "Writing’s on the Wall" by Sam Smith (the first Englishman t...

For this month's LitLovers' selection, Screen Thoughts shines its spotlight on the bestselling book and acclaimed movie Room - both penned by Irish writer Emma Donoghue. Movie adaptation directed by Lenny Abrahamson; starring Brie Larson (in a role that is a far cry from Trainwreck!) and the astounding child actor Jacob Tremblay as the 5-year-old Jack. Hear Hollister and O'Toole's points of view o...

Hollister and O’Toole (and, later, special guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn, who very generously hosted us at the 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival) turn the spotlight on Spotlight - the much-touted film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning coverage of two terrible evils: the child molestation scandal - and the subsequent cover-up of the same - within the local Catholic...

Hollister and O’Toole cast their ballots on Our Brand Is Crisis, inspired by Rachel Boynton’s 2005 documentary of the same name. One thinks it’s the best of Sandra Bullock to date; the other thinks the screenplay (written by Oscar nominee Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) hit an Act II speed bump. Starring Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Ann Dowd, Anthony Mackie, Joaquim de Almeida,...

Here are 10 Things We Learned from Emily Blunt at the 2015 Hamptons International Film Festival. Photo: #emilyblunt gracing the #stepandrepeat @hamptonsfilm before heading in for her fascinating #Q&A with @jenelleriley @variety. What she learned from #judidench and her reaction to #merylstreep claiming #emilyblunt saved her life on set of #intothewoods. @hamptonsfilm can really pick 'em: festi...

Hollister and O’Toole discuss Sicario (which, as we know from the trailer, means “hitman” in Mexico). Directed by Québec native Denis Villeneuve; written by Taylor Sheridan; starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro. Cinematography by Roger Deakins (a 12x Oscar nominee). The cross-border drug cartel theme leads to comparisons with Steven Soderbergh’s film Traffic and the FX series Th...

Screen Thoughts is thrilled to announce a special collaboration with LitLovers.com: each month, Hollister and O'Toole will review one movie inspired by a book. To start us off, the no. 1 book on LitLovers.com: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (by Malala Yousafzai and journalist Christina Lamb) and the newly-released documentary He Named Me Malala by Osca...

Broadcasting from the 23rd annual Hamptons International Film Festival, Hollister and O’Toole welcome special guests Bill Harts and Melissa Cohn, film aficionados and Hampton denizens – to join in their discussion of this year’s opening night film. "Truth" tells the story (or at least one version of it) of the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report on President George W. Bush’s military service – that ultimat...

Hollister & O'Toole discuss "Jane the Virgin" - the first show in the history of The CW to earn a Golden Globe nomination. As O'Toole puts it: it's as though "Gilmore Girls" and "Ugly Betty" had a love child. Based on the Venezuelan Telenovela "Juana la Virgen" (don't be deterred by the title's English translation). The Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - C...

This week Screen Thoughts takes a look at "The Intern" - starring Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway - in which writer-director Nancy Meyers offers us yet another signature twist on the rom-com genre. As Hollister puts it: "She's like that kid in class who never disappoints." O'Toole cheers her on for being so successful in a landscape where only 6% of directors are women. Ageism. Sexism. Househusba...

This week Hollister and O'Toole discuss the latest Noah Baumbach-Greta Gerwig creation: "Mistress America" (which many say is a follow-up to their previous collaboration: "Frances Ha"). Good thing Hollister brought her NYC decoder ring, because sometimes O'Toole is convinced she needs to be European to understand movies shot in her adopted (and beloved) City. Find out which famous literary work Ho...

From the Danish creators of "The Killing" comes the international hit "Borgen" - a TV drama about Denmark's first female Prime Minister. In a serious case of life imitating art (or perhaps showing just how influential this show has been), Denmark really did elect its first female Prime Minister at the conclusion of season 1. After airing in 70 countries around the globe, Borgen has finally made it...