WEEK IN WOMEN: NBC Special Celebrates Carol Burnett’s Birthday – Brandy McDonnell reports

Paying tribute to a beloved national icon for her birthday, NBC will celebrate Carol Burnett’s illustrious career with Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love. The two-hour special will air at 8 p.m. ET/PT April 26 and will stream next day on Peacock. Filmed at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, the star-studded special will feature an A-list lineup of musical performances and special guests, who will come together to share their love for one of the most cherished comediennes in television history.

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BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR – Review by Leslie Combemale

Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is a frothy flick that lands just in time for Galantine’s Day. Penned by and staring longtime friends Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, the story target 40-something besties that harbor no longterm grudges or deep-seated animosity towards each other. There are Technicolor musical numbers, psychedelic vignettes, and over-the-top bananas plot devices. It’s a strange, tacky trip that works mostly through how Mumolo, Wiig, and the rest of the cast sell it, and it’s sweet and funny enough to put a one hour and forty-six minute pin in your pandemic fatigue.

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WONDER WOMAN 1984 – Review by Susan Granger

When Wonder Woman (2017) debuted, the origin story of the Amazonian Princess was sensational! It detailed her background, childhood and how she fell in love with a dashing-but-doomed W.W.I pilot. Director Patty Jenkins proved female super-heroes were just as mighty as men. Its sequel, beginning on the island of Themyscira, recalls how fearless, young demi-goddess Diana learned tough lessons about truth and honesty That’s the best part of the entire movie.

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WONDER WOMAN 1984 – Review by Carol Cling

Anyone who thinks 2020 has been a fiasco should be grateful to escape to Wonder Woman 1984’s Orwellian year. Despite its “Me Decade” setting, the long-delayed sequel to the character’s 2017 introduction proves strikingly timely. WW84 may take place in the greed-is-good Reagan era, but its central villain — a con-artist TV personality turned megalomaniac — may remind you of a certain contemporary figure. (Any similarities are, we’re sure, hardly coincidental.)

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AWFJ Movie of the Week, July 10 – July 16: GHOSTBUSTERS

Opening July 16, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is Ghostbusters, the hotly-awaited new all-female reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise from director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy) which stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as the quartet of spook swatters.
Read on…

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Movie of the Week, Aug 3 – Aug. 9: THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL

Opening August 7, the AWFJ Movie of the Week is The Diary of a Teenage Girl, the directorial debut of actress/writer Marielle Heller. British actress Bel Powley (A Royal Night Out) plays headstrong 17-year-old artist Minnie, living with her mother Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) in 1970s San Francisco and indulging in a sexual relationship with Charlotte’s boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) Read on…

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SPOTLIGHT May, 2015: Shira Piven, Director, WELCOME TO ME

shirapiven1Shira Piven, whose second feature, Welcome to Me, opens on May 1. The femme-centric dramedy, starring Kristen Wiig, is about a mentally unstable woman who uses her millions in lottery winnings to buy her own TV talk show. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Variety calling it “startlingly inspired” and “breezily bonkers.”

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AWFJ Movie of the Week, Sept. 8-14: THE SKELETON TWINS

Opening Sept. 12, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is The Skeleton Twins, starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as estranged twins who help each other figure out why their lives turned out so poorly. Director Craig Johnson knows how to use Wiig and Hader’s comedic talents to great effect, without taking away from the movie’s melancholy themes. Hader and Wiig both widen their dramatic ranges in this film and show new sides of themselves as performers. Read on…

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