Lauren Vanderveen

Lauren Vanderveen covers news for CinemaBlend, with a heavy emphasis on pop culture trends and streaming titles. She has also written reviews for AllMovie.com.
Featured Image

Minx

The streaming series about the intersection between feminism and smut could endear even the most skeptical. And what it might lack in delicacy, it certainly makes up for in swagger.

Featured Image

Love & Gelato

Love & Gelato is pretty corny but it’s the exact kind of sweetly innocent confection that will melt in your mouth. What’s more, the film offers a slightly more authentic ending than the average rom-com fare.

Featured Image

Becoming Elizabeth

Becoming Elizabeth goes beyond mere court intrigue and makes a testimony to the influence of the powerful over the powerless. It’s assisted majorly by an eager and incredibly telling arrangement of sounds that stitches the lofty narrative together. In short, it’s a bold entry in the arena of historical dramas.

Featured Image

Watercooler Guide: What You Need to Know about The Staircase

Our Watercooler guide to The Staircase will help you jump right into the conversation about HBO Max’s new true-crime series.

Featured Image

Outlander: What We Talk About When We Talk About Assault

It’s no coincidence every major character in Outlander has experienced some form of assault. I’d argue that’s what the whole show is about.

Featured Image

The Adam Project

The Adam Project is one of those movies you go into imagining big explosions and kids hilariously making life-or-death decisions (like Zathura, for example). And, to be sure it throws everything it has at the wall and then some: time-travel jiu jitsu soldiers, a stacked all-star cast, and lots of heart. 

Featured Image

The Alpinist

Joie de vivre never looked so effortless as it does in The Alpinist. While the spectacular cinematography wows the senses, the beautiful character portrait at its core of an eccentric, backwoods mountain climber stirs the humanity in us all.

Featured Image

The Best New Movies and TV Shows in February 2022

Love, history, and choices well off the beaten path are arriving on streaming platforms this month. See our picks in categories you won’t find anywhere else.

Featured Image

The Best New Movies and Shows to Stream in December 2021

This month’s picks include big stars, highly anticipated returns, sci-fi epics, and an international Oscar contender—all for your streaming pleasure!

Lauren Vanderveen

Lauren Vanderveen covers news for CinemaBlend, with a heavy emphasis on pop culture trends and streaming titles. She has also written reviews for AllMovie.com.
Featured Image

The Icon Party: The Cast & Producers on Mid Century Modern

A nostalgic tribute to classic sitcoms that adds an envelope-pushing edge, Mid Century Modern is Hulu’s next hit. It follows three gay best friends – played by  Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham – who decide to live out their golden years together in Palm Springs after the unexpected death of a close

Read More »
Featured Image

Lonely Planet

If you’re starting over after a breakup, facing some midlife questions, or looking for a date night movie that might inspire a romantic vacation, add this Moroccan adventure to your watchlist.

Featured Image

A Watercooler Guide to Hollywood Satire “The Studio”

A perfectly-timed send-up that is already driving more water cooler talk than the blockbuster movie machines it satirizes, Apple’s star-studded new comedy The Studio just dropped its first two episodes, and the series is sure to be watched and discussed all the way to September’s Emmy awards. Created by one of the most prolific producing

Read More »
Featured Image

What to Stream This Weekend: March 21st

From a shocking tabloid story told from different perspectives to the trending murder-in-the-White-House comedy … to a probe into the psyche of an authoritarian leader, our writers picked five of this week’s new releases across streaming to help break your decision paralysis. A Riveting Historical Drama:  Quisling: The Final Days A provocative historical drama that

Read More »
Featured Image

What to Watch This Weekend: 5 Watercooler Picks for March 14th

As storms swirl across the hemisphere and winter fatigue sets in, the Watercooler’s writers have picked five of the best new releases for every frame of mind to hunker down with — or to head out for — this weekend. A High Fantasy Escape Watch:  Wheel of Time c. Prime Video More fun and female-centered

Read More »
Featured Image

Black Bag

A taut, stylish and steamy take on the high-stakes espionage thriller, Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag keeps you second-guessing every character’s motives until the very end. The tension, the suspicion, the sense that the walls are closing in? It’s all here.

Featured Image

Raging Midlife

An over-the-top broad comedy for Gen Xers or older Millennials, Raging Midlife works for fans nostalgic for 80s movies who just want to laugh and de-stress. Wrestling fans will find a special level of joy in the moves.

Featured Image

How to Die Alone

A good show for anyone who wants to get “unstuck,” How to Die Alone reminds us to embrace vulnerability and take more risks. Mel shows us how to live.

Featured Image

Grand Theft Hamlet

Grand Theft Hamlet is a testament to the relentless and pure desire to make art– it might not be convenient, it might not make sense, it might not even be well-received, but that’s not going to stop those who want to make it. The result is a touching and funny doc that justifies its experiments

Read More »
2 watercooler-guide-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-staircase
Featured Image

What to Discover on Discovery+

If you don’t know where to start when it comes to streaming services, The Watercooler is here to help. To kick off the new year, we’re running down our must-watch shows and films by platform so you can dive into the world of streaming and head straight for the good stuff. Be sure to read

Read More »
Featured Image

Maiden

A lesson in surviving childhood trauma, channeling energy into a worthy cause, and fighting to win — even when the majority says victory is impossible.

Featured Image

Jane Goodall: The Hope

An upbeat, awe-inspiring look at the life of the legendary scientist and the young people she’s galvanized to make a positive impact on the world.

Featured Image

What to Watch on Disney+

Not everyone can be an early adopter, especially when it comes to streaming platforms. Maybe you were waiting for a particular movie or show to premiere. Maybe you just got a subscription for Christmas. If you don’t know where to start, The Watercooler is here to help. We’re running down our must-watch shows and films

Read More »
Featured Image

Giving Voice

A timely documentary full of hope, joy, happy endings…and a gut-wrenching John Legend song. It will inspire kids who could use some encouragement to realize they, too, could share their voice.

Featured Image

Wonder Woman 1984

At its best when it explores the motivations behind the humanity of its characters, Wonder Woman 1984 is also funny, nostalgic and heartwarming — with terrific special effects.

Featured Image

Take a Vicarious Vacation: Binge Watches That Will Transport You

Any other year, we’d be wheels up by now, escaping the pressures and routines of daily life with that long-awaited holiday break trip.  This year?  Our best bet is a transporting TV series or movie that can take us away…and drop us into an exotic, far away world.  We tapped the Watercooler’s recommendation engine and

Read More »
Featured Image

Best of 2020: The Algo-Driven Holiday Movies

Does it feel like 2020’s holiday movies were created by an algorithm? That’s because they were. We got our hands on the holiday movie generator and here’s the slate it spit out.

Featured Image

The Favorite Shows of 2020…and Gift Ideas for Fans

We’ve rounded up some of our favorite Watercooler recommendations of the year and paired them with gift ideas that ought to please any fan.

Scroll to Top