Congratulations to Kevin Feige for making the very best Fantastic Four movie ever... by default. Yeah, it's not hard to improve upon the unreleased 1994 Roger Corman abomination, the cringeworthy 2005 film that only existed to make Jessica Alba's underwear levitate (28% on Rotten Tomatoes), its wholly unnecessary and unwarranted sequel (37%), and the 2015 … Continue reading A Retro Fit – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Superman is the original comic book hero. Sure, what we consider comics existed in various forms for years before his debut in 1938, but once he came into the cultural zeitgeist with Action Comics #1, the "Man of Steel" has been the standard by which all heroes are judged. An orphan from a distant and … Continue reading More Human Than Humans – Superman
At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to go full completist on potential contenders for next year's Animated Feature Oscar race. I've tried several times to finish the whole list, but I've invariably missed some titles that had limited runs or which weren't even screened in Los Angeles at all, … Continue reading DownStream – June Toons
There have been a couple of occasions in my life where I have looked up at the stars and openly wept. It wasn't necessarily because I was sad in the moment, or even hurt by something else going on around me. It was just the realization as I stared up into the vastness of space … Continue reading You Are Not Alone – Elio
There are basically three types of story when it comes to movies adapted from the works of Stephen King. The first is intricate, metaphor-laden horror that can fascinate as well as terrify. This is where you get the likes of It, Carrie, and The Shining. The second is batshit insane horror and science fiction that … Continue reading Doing the Math – The Life of Chuck
The act of splitting a movie's narrative into multiple parts can be pretty tricky. I'm not talking about series like Lord of the Rings that adapted source material with natural breaking points, I'm more referring to The Hobbit, which was a singular story that was planned to be two movies before getting bloated to three. … Continue reading Acceptable – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
A major reason why I'm no fan of remakes in general is that they're often marketed as if they're meant to be the newly definitive version of the original film, a full-on replacement for what existed before, and one you're intended to pay for. This is a particularly glaring issue for Disney's slew of remakes … Continue reading NO-hana – Lilo & Stitch
The Marvel Cinematic Universe post-Endgame has been, at best, a mixed bag. Between Phases Four and Five, there have been 13 films released, with the range of quality so extreme that graphing it out would basically resemble a heartbeat monitor, every peak followed by a devastating valley, to the point where you legitimately wonder when … Continue reading What About Bob? – Thunderbolts*
I've always been kind of fascinated with the concept of grief. That might sound a bit morbid, or like a leftover from an emo kid's journal, but it's true. How people deal with loss, setbacks, or whatever form of sadness, and find a way to carry on, is something that innately intrigues me, probably because … Continue reading The Cover-up – The Shrouds
Oh the things I do for love... at least, the love of animation. As previously mentioned, I'm taking a super aggressive stance this year in seeing as many animated films as possible, so that come November/December, when the Academy releases its list of Animated Feature candidates, I can clear the entire thing for the first … Continue reading Bobos – Sneaks
I Actually Paid To See This 