If there's a positive way to spin the events of this year to date, it would be to consider 2025 to be about facing new challenges and persevering. After 13 months without work, I have today completed my training period for my new job, and the powers that be have decided to keep me on. … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – October 2025
When I was a kid, I did my best to learn as much as possible about everything I could. My grandmother even had a full set of Encyclopedia Americana that I pored over from time to time. I took the old slogan of "knowledge is power" to heart. But I also remained blissfully unaware of … Continue reading Hail St. Nick! – One Battle After Another
The annual quest to complete the Animated Feature category before it starts is a goal I've come painfully close to achieving for years now. Every time that I've attempted the feat, I've fallen just one or two films shy of totality, usually because a foreign entry only got a one-week Academy qualifying release, and I … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Ani-Maybe?
It's been a rough one, you guys. With the financial woes and lack of work I've suffered over the last year-plus, I've had to be very judicious and tight with my funds, so my love of going to the movies has had to take a back seat. I only watched a handful of films during … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – September 2025
Tomorrow is my birthday, so this weekend I decided I would celebrate a little bit by returning to the multiplex. Despite my financial woes, it is still my goal to stay as far ahead of the potential slate for next year's Animated Feature contest as possible. Also, in a bit of good news, I finally … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Wheel of Four Toons
I admit to having felt a fair degree of trepidation when The Naked Gun was announced. Legacy sequels are, by and large, unnecessary, unwarranted, unwanted, and underwhelming. I understand the nature of the beast that is the entertainment industry's current business model, where basically nothing can get greenlit if it isn't associated with a well-known … Continue reading Living Up to Leslie – The Naked Gun
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
Two items of business to address right up front. First, my financial/employment situation has not improved, so as you've no doubt already noticed, coverage of new movies is down severely at this point, and will likely continue for the foreseeable future. I've only reviewed one film for July, and I have one more in the … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – August 2025
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
You ever get that feeling that no matter how hard you try, everything not only turns out wrong, but seems designed to make life that much worse by its very existence? That's what the last several months have been for me. Between being unemployed for nearly a year, approaching a phase of literal worthlessness, insulting … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – July 2025
I Actually Paid To See This 