first impressions

The First Reactions to Disney’s The Lion King Remake Are Here

It sounds like The Lion King just can’t wait to be king of the box office. The first reactions to the CGI remake of Disney’s The Lion King are here, with critics praising the film’s visual effects and dynamic cast…although having photorealistic animals sing does seem to come with some caveats. Directed by Jon Favreau,…

Movies Beth Elderkin Jul 10

I Loved Thrawn So Much I Am Looking For Some Blue Face Paint and a White Uniform

Hello, and welcome to a completely biased review of Thrawn, the latest Star Wars book to fit into the space between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Rebels. There are no spoilers here, so feel free to relax. Only don’t, because I am so happy to have author Timothy Zahn’s voice back in Star…

io9 Katharine Trendacosta Apr 11

Which Fall TV Show Will Rock Your World? Our Spoiler-Free Impressions!

Last night at Comic-Con, we saw four of this fall’s most hotly awaited new TV shows. Which one will be your new obsession, and which will be the next epic disaster? Out of four new shows, one was pretty much as good as we expected, two were blah… and one was a nice surprise. Here’s…

Television Katharine Trendacosta Jul 9

We’ve Seen Part Of Inside Out And It Could Be Pixar’s Smartest Film Yet

Last week, along with other members of the press, we were invited to Pixar to watch the studio’s latest short, Lava, and the first hour of the new feature Inside Out. We were delighted with what we saw: an incredibly ambitious film that maintain’s Pixar’s emotional core while introducing us to some fascinating ideas. Here…

io9 Lauren Davis Apr 6

Syfy’s 12 Monkeys Immediately Distinguishes Itself from the 1995 Film

Last night, we caught an early screening of the pilot of Syfy’s new series 12 Monkeys. And while it’s clearly based on Terry Gilliam’s original film of the same name, it takes great pains to set itself apart. Here are our spoiler-free first impressions. In a way, it’s almost a shame that the show’s going…

Television Katharine Trendacosta Oct 11

Star Wars: Rebels Is The Return To The Empire We’ve Been Waiting For

During Comic-Con last week, Disney offered a sneak peek at the pilot for the new TV series Star Wars: Rebels. And while we can’t tell you much about the episode, we will say this in our spoiler-free first impressions: we’re looking forward to spending more time in the animated Galactic Empire. We attended a screening…

Television Lauren Davis Jul 31

We Are So Ready for The Kilt to Drop on Ron D. Moore’s Outlander Series

We’ve seen the sexy, sexy premiere of Ron D. Moore’s time traveling romance series Outlander. And it was fantastic. We loved it so much. Here are our spoiler-free first impressions. Given that this is the first series that Moore has created since Battlestar Galactica, we were already intrigued. And it’s based on the bestselling book…

Television Meredith Woerner Jul 27

First Impressions: Harvey Bullock Steals Gotham From Jim Gordon

We saw the Gotham pilot last night at Comic-Con, along with a couple thousand other people. It was not as bad as we feared nor as good as we hoped. But Donal Logue flat-out killed the role of Harvey Bullock. He’s so good, you’ll wish Jim Gordon wasn’t the main character. https://gizmodo.com/what-we-learned-from-the-script-for-gothams-first-epi-1530515272 The Good Donal…

Television Katharine Trendacosta Jul 27

First Impressions: Intruders Is So, So Weird

On Friday night, BBC America screened the first episode of its upcoming series Intruders, starring John Simm, Mira Sorvino, and James Frain. It was bananas. Creepy bananas. Here are our spoiler-free first impressions. My first impulse was to write a review that was just the word “what” over and over. Because Intruders is actually that…

Television Katharine Trendacosta Jul 26

First Impressions: Is The Flash or Constantine 2014’s Break-Out Show?

It’s preview night at Comic-Con, and DC showed the pilots for two of its upcoming new shows: Constantine and The Flash. And they were both good! Here are our spoiler-free first impressions. The Flash It’s a Lighter Arrow The best thing about The Flash’s pilot is that it takes advantage of the fact that it’s…

Television Katharine Trendacosta Jul 24

Amazon Fire Phone Hands-On: Great For Amazon, Less For You

Amazon revealed its first ever phone today. Dubbed the Fire Phone, it has all kinds of wild features like the head-tracking Dynamic Perspective, Firefly (for buying all the things), and all kinds of other bells and whistles. Novel stuff, but is it actually, y’know, good? We just went hands-on, and we’re not too sure. https://gizmodo.com/amazons-fire-phone-is-here-at-last-developing-1592702508…

Commerce Brent Rose Jun 18

Tell Us About A Time You Changed Your Mind

Sometimes our first impressions are completely accurate, but sometimes we surprise ourselves. Today we want to know about a time you changed your mind. Maybe it was a series of movies you were sure you would hate, or a scientific subject you thought would bore you, or a book you passed over many times before…

io9 Ria Misra Jun 2

Holy Shit, You Guys Are Really Going To Like Edge of Tomorrow

We were always slightly excited for Tom Cruise’s Groundhog Day-meets-Starship Troopers movie Edge of Tomorrow, but we had no idea it was this good! We’ve seen Edge of Tomorrow and it is spectacular fun. Here’s our (practically spoiler-free) first impressions. The Premise Based of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need Is Kill, if you’ve seen…

io9 Meredith Woerner May 22

Space Station 76 Is The Greatest Space Comedy Since Galaxy Quest

There’s no way to prepare you for the insanity of Space Station 76. It’s a comedy set in a mid-1970s version of the future that looks like Space: 1999. But it’s also a surprisingly dark character study of people who are slowly falling apart, which owes a lot to The Ice Storm. Here’s our nearly…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Mar 28

First Impressions: Helix is Syfy’s best new show in years

Syfy’s hottest new show in 2014 is the mysterious Arctic thriller Helix. And now we’ve seen the first episode, and we can honestly say this series could very well be the next Lost (before it went downhill). Here’s our spoiler-free review of the pilot. Set in a mysterious private research center in the Arctic, the…

Television Meredith Woerner Dec 10

We’ve seen Gravity and it’s even better than we’d hoped

We’ve seen Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity and it is one of the best space films we have seen in ages. One part giant showcase of the cosmos and one part a deeply harrowing action thriller, Gravity is about to show Hollywood what a real white-knuckled audience looks like. And here is our spoiler-free first impression of…

io9 Meredith Woerner Sep 7

Which New Show Will Rock Your TV Set? First Impressions on 5 Pilots!

Soon, a dozen new TV shows will court your eyeballs. They’ll present their fancy concepts, like “What if the whole population of the world was 100 horny teenagers?” And they’ll trot out their beautiful, talented stars. But which show deserves your love? We watched five brand new pilots, and here are our impressions. Top image:…

Television Io9 staff Jul 18

Monsters University is the Revenge of the Nerds remake we want

Imagine a G-rated Revenge of the Nerds with a Greek Week obstacle tournament as inventive as the tasks in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire… and you’ve got Monsters University. We were among the lucky few to catch an early screening of the latest Pixar movie, and here are our spoiler-free reactions. (And when…

Movies Meredith Woerner Apr 17

Our spoiler-free review of Syfy’s new Western, Defiance

We’ve seen the first three episodes of Syfy’s biggest gamble to date, the half-futuristic neo-Western, half-MMO game Defiance. Was it worth the risk? Can Syfy resurrect the sci-Western without stepping in a big pile of “Firefly did it better?” Here are our first impressions. Here’s the backstory: On April 14th 2013, the Votanis Collective arrives…

Television Meredith Woerner Mar 12

Shane Carruth’s new movie could leave you even more bewildered than Primer

Nine years ago, writer-director Shane Carruth left Sundance in awe with Primer, a time travel film that was simple in production but insanely complex in its plot. Primer took a basic set-up, a time machine, and managed to turn a low-budget film into one of the smartest, and also scientific jargon-filled movies in recent memory.…

Movies Nicholas Slayton Jan 22

first impressions

The First Reactions to Disney’s The Lion King Remake Are Here

I Loved Thrawn So Much I Am Looking For Some Blue Face Paint and a White Uniform

Which Fall TV Show Will Rock Your World? Our Spoiler-Free Impressions!

We’ve Seen Part Of Inside Out And It Could Be Pixar’s Smartest Film Yet

Syfy’s 12 Monkeys Immediately Distinguishes Itself from the 1995 Film

Star Wars: Rebels Is The Return To The Empire We’ve Been Waiting For

We Are So Ready for The Kilt to Drop on Ron D. Moore’s Outlander Series

First Impressions: Harvey Bullock Steals Gotham From Jim Gordon

First Impressions: Intruders Is So, So Weird

First Impressions: Is The Flash or Constantine 2014’s Break-Out Show?

Amazon Fire Phone Hands-On: Great For Amazon, Less For You

Tell Us About A Time You Changed Your Mind

Holy Shit, You Guys Are Really Going To Like Edge of Tomorrow

Space Station 76 Is The Greatest Space Comedy Since Galaxy Quest

First Impressions: Helix is Syfy’s best new show in years

We’ve seen Gravity and it’s even better than we’d hoped

Which New Show Will Rock Your TV Set? First Impressions on 5 Pilots!

Monsters University is the Revenge of the Nerds remake we want

Our spoiler-free review of Syfy’s new Western, Defiance

Shane Carruth’s new movie could leave you even more bewildered than Primer

If You Have an iPad, Apple Pencil Pro Is Now Cheaper on Amazon Than Buying Direct From Apple

Finally, a First Look at Brad Bird’s New Animated Sci-Fi Detective Movie

Two LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon Sets Land at All-Time Lows, Including the Dark Version

Shokz OpenRun Pro Bone Conduction Headphones Are Briefly Back at Their Lowest Price on Amazon

‘Man of Tomorrow’ Is On the Hunt For Maxima

HP Laptop With Microsoft 365 Hits Record Low After Multiple Price Cuts, Now Cheaper Than A16 iPad

Artemis 2 Day 9: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

How the Hands Behind Rocky Got Hired for ‘Project Hail Mary’

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

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