Amy Nicholson

The new Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is inspired by Santeria

6 L.A. Botanicas That Will Sell You a Magic Spell

Amy Nicholson
You don't practice Santeria? You ain't got no crystal ball? Actually, you don't need one -- instead, the botanicas that sell spell-casting Santeria charms specialize in candles, soaps, incense and body splashes, small tokens that perfume your home and body with musk while imbuing you with magic. The folk religion......

Labor Day Takes Too Much Work to Believe

Amy Nicholson
Quick, somebody check Jason Reitman's house to see if the real man has been turned into dust by a body snatcher. Although his name's on the poster, it's impossible to believe that the sardonic boy wonder of Juno, Thank You for Smoking and Young Adult would direct this stilted romance......

Lone Survivor Has Too Much Violence and Jingoism for Its Own Good

Amy Nicholson
Here's a movie that'll flop in Kabul. Lone Survivor, the latest by Battleship director Peter Berg, is a jingoistic snuff film about a Navy SEAL squadron outgunned by the Taliban in the mountainous Kunar province. After four soldiers — played with muscles and machismo by Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile......

Marilyn Manson Tells Us What Shia LeBeouf Named His Penis

Amy Nicholson
When he was 13, Marilyn Manson — then just Christian schoolkid Brian Warner of Canton, Ohio — would hide out in the basement while his grandfather masturbated to bestiality porn. Then he'd go upstairs and cheer himself up reading Mad magazine. The self-dubbed God of Fuck is famous for his......

10 Best Films of 2013

Amy Nicholson
I could write a Shakespearean sonnet about each film on my Top 10 of 2013, but we know we're all here for the agreements and arguments. (Plus, have you tried writing about Joe Swanberg in iambic pentameter?) Ladies and gentlemen, let's begin. 1. The Act of Killing The year's best......