Nine years ago, Pixar brought its flagship franchise to an end in just about the most perfect way possible. Eventually earning a Best Picture nomination and lauds from even the likes of Quentin Tarantino as the best film of 2010, Toy Story 3 was a gut-wrenching masterpiece of animation, story, and emotional satisfaction, as Woody (Tom … Continue reading One More Adventure for Fork’s Sake – Toy Story 4
When I was a junior in high school, I took AP English Literature. It was a fun class because given the small size (only nine students), we could delve deeper into literary works and concepts than the more full classes. This also meant we could explore different ways to study, including artistic films. It was … Continue reading Zombies and Satire Compete for Biting Supremacy – The Dead Don’t Die
I fully admit that I was not the biggest fan of The Secret Life of Pets when it came out a couple years ago. What began as an interesting premise - What do your pets do when you're not home? - quickly turned into 90 minutes of one-note jokes, a completely nonsensical Toy Story ripoff, some serious … Continue reading Literally Sent to a Farm Upstate – The Secret Life of Pets 2
Growing up, there were two musicians who had the biggest initial influence in my development. Those were Billy Joel and Elton John. My early love of their piano skills and voices was the first spark that lit the fire of a lifelong love of rock music. From them I moved on to The Beatles, Aerosmith, … Continue reading I’m Still Standing and Applauding – Rocketman
When you have a disaster or monster movie, one of the hardest aspects is creating a storyline with which to frame the devastation. It's easier when you're creating the first film in a series, or rebooting a franchise, because a good chunk of the plotting can be devoted to the origin story of the giant … Continue reading Oh No! There Goes Mexico? I Think? – Godzilla: King of the Monsters
One of the cooler - and in my opinion more essential - features of recent cinema is the fact that Hollywood has put out a slew of great films dealing with music, particularly rock and R&B. They've run a particularly intriguing gambit from bombastic crowd-pleasers like Bohemian Rhapsody to insightful documentaries like Amazing Grace. And there are … Continue reading The Music That Truly Reverberates – Echo in the Canyon
In 2009, writer David Grann published a remarkable article in The New Yorker called "Trial By Fire." The rather lengthy piece (which you can still find here) describes the execution of a Texas man named Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted of the murder of his three daughters (one a toddler, the others twin infants) by way … Continue reading Where There’s Smoke… – Trial By Fire
After the well-orchestrated carnage of the latest John Wick film, I thought it might be nice to take in a less hyped action film from a still reliable source of entertainment. Frequent collaborators overseas, director Jesse V. Johnson and stunt actor Scott Adkins reunite for their latest project, the action-packed but unfortunately titled Avengment. Seriously, Sterling Archer … Continue reading No Need to Wonder How He Got the Scars – Avengement
Just over nine years ago, one of the better episodes of The Simpsons in its latter-day form aired. The 18th episode of Season 21, dubbed "Chief of Hearts," is a decently funny episode where Homer, forced into community service, bonds with Chief Clancy Wiggum, forming a friendship and giving Springfield's rotund Chief of Police a bit … Continue reading A Springfield Joke Becomes an Almost Great Horror Movie – Brightburn
As I've made abundantly clear on this blog over the past year-plus, I am not in favor of rebooting or remaking established movie franchises with gender-swapped leads in general, mostly because there's rarely any reason for it beyond, "Hey, let's do it with LADIES this time!" In most cases the entire gimmick is little more … Continue reading P-A-R-T-Why? ‘Cause I GOTTA! – Booksmart
I Actually Paid To See This 