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The Fans Made Louis C.K.—Now They Might Undo Him

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For a while there, Louis C.K. was Your Dude: A profane, relatably semi-pudgy real-talker who understood the way your kids drove you nuts, who called out the joylessness of our digital era, and who was baffled by everything from modern love to modern drugs. The 50-year-old comedian-writer-director got you, and a lot of your friends […]

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Could Artificial Intelligence Predict the Next Avengers: Infinity War?

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Some movies are obvious hits. Like, for example, Avengers: Infinity War, which made a record-breaking $258 million at the domestic box office last weekend, filling seats and the pockets of Marvel Studios parent company Disney. But not every summer—or spring, or fall—blockbuster has the benefit of 10 years and 18 movies of built-up audience goodwill. […]

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Kanye West's Lost Puppet Comedy TV Pilot: an Oral History

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The year was 2007. A young upstart from Chicago was promising change we could believe in. Meanwhile, another son of the Windy City, Kanye West, had an idea for a quintessentially Yes We Can pursuit: a puppet-based sketch comedy show. Alligator Boots, which West cocreated along with collaborator and friend Rhymefest, came to life as […]

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MoviePass Wants to Save Moviegoing—If Theaters Will Let It

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The average movie ticket costs $8.95. In major metropolitan areas, you can easily spend twice that. So the economics behind subscription service MoviePass’s new plan—$10 per month, for as many movie trips as you can stomach—seem at least halfway insane. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find a scheme that doesn’t just potentially save […]

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These Days, 'Self-Care' Means More Than Just Escape

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It was late last year, around mid-September, when I finally surrendered to the fatigue. The months preceding had been besieged by nonstop work, paralyzing anxiety, and what felt like a gushing waterfall of stress. I was 30, and like a handful of friends who’d shared comparable stories, felt increasingly and exponentially overwhelmed by the dizzying […]

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How They Pulled Off Atomic Blonde’s Killer Action Sequence

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Charlize Theron was badass in Mad Max: Fury Road, but she gets even Furiosa in Atomic Blonde. Toward the end of the Cold War thriller that opens Friday, the camera follows Theron (playing an MI6 spy) up an elevator, onto a stairwell where she’s attacked by Russian thugs, into an apartment where she employs a […]

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Injustice 2: a Great Superhero Game That Beats Itself

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What do you do with a superhero after you've turned him into a bad guy? That's the question quietly haunting the story mode of Injustice 2, the sequel to a 2013 fighting game starring DC Comics characters. In the original, director Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat) and his studio, NetherRealm, turned comic books' most enduring icon […]