I fully admit that I'm a Kevin Smith fanboy. From the moment I first saw Clerks in college (one of the first DVDs I ever bought, right after Fight Club and Reservoir Dogs), I was hooked. The humor, the observations on late Gen-X/early Millennial disillusionment, the overly abundant amount of stoner jokes, they all hit … Continue reading You Truly Can Go Home Again – Clerks III
In this month's edition of "This Film is Not Yet Watchable," I noted that I was torn about Zach Cregger's new horror film, Barbarian. Since its premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, the movie has gotten some very high praise from fans as well as respected creatives (I mentioned Edgar Wright in the column as an … Continue reading Welcome Home – Barbarian
While I've done my best to keep up with mainstream and independent cinema in the first full year back from COVID restrictions, there are two areas where I have been decidedly negligent, namely documentaries and foreign films. For the former, I haven't been able to make time for any this year, mostly because none have … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Better Late Than Never
I've been sitting on this review for a few days, trying to figure out the best time to write it, and today presented the perfect opportunity. As I mentioned in this month's edition of TFINYW, August can be something of a secondary dumping ground for the studios, unloading all the bad movies they think they've … Continue reading Rock of Sages – Inu-Oh
One of the biggest problems I've had with a lot of movies lately, especially those with assertive female leads, is that the protagonist comes pre-packaged perfect out of the box, and as such has no room to grow or have anything close to a relatable journey. This is particularly egregious as a leitmotif in Disney … Continue reading The “Grand” in “Grand Theft” – Emily the Criminal
Back in May, I sat down with my friends at "No Rest for the Weekend," where we discussed our favorite films and TV shows to that point (guess what we all agreed on as the absolute best), as well as our most anticipated titles for the back half of the year. You can read the … Continue reading Luck Draggin’ – Bullet Train
I confess I didn't have high expectations for DC League of Super-Pets. In fact, I included it in this month's edition of "TFINYW" for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the Secret Life of Pets movies kind of soured me on the idea of animated movies about domesticated … Continue reading The Rock Rolls Over – DC League of Super-Pets
If you've ever read this blog for more than a day, then you know how much I love animation as an artform and as a storytelling device. What you may not know is that my favorite animated film of all time is Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. I can objectively … Continue reading The Forest for the Trees – The Deer King
Back in May, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled their rule changes for next year's Oscars. Apart from a few cosmetic changes, like renaming the Documentary categories ever so slightly, the major news is that the eligibility guidelines are close to fully reverting back to their original, pre-pandemic state. No longer will … Continue reading DownStream – Spring Cleaning
As I mentioned in this month's edition of "The Worst Trailer in the World" (currently hovering around 5,000 views; seriously, I love you all!), I really liked the original Despicable Me film. I enjoyed the idea of a villain learning to see the good in himself and apply that to other people once he became … Continue reading Despicable Pre – Minions: The Rise of Gru
I Actually Paid To See This 