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*
We're a third of the way through 2025, and I can safely say that we're on track to have a much better year than the last two as far as cinematic quality is concerned. There are still myriad problems like the continued push for AI-generated content despite two labor strikes that halted the entire industry, … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – May 2025
It's the middle of April, so why in God's name am I already doing batch reviews of animated films? Well, there are a few reasons. First is that I'm already super stoked for next year's Oscars. The Academy will be debuting its new category for Casting, and just to keep aficionados like me super hyped, … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Mythologization
For the longest time, making a good movie based on a video game was one of the toughest nuts to crack in the entertainment industry. Part of the problem was that far too many tried to make a basic genre film within the universe of what was, at least for the time, a very limited … Continue reading Games of Thunder – Gran Turismo
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that does something rather daring, and outright tells the audience in no uncertain terms that what they're about to see makes very little sense, and should therefore be viewed more casually. Probably the most famous recent example is Tenet, which laid out pretty succinctly that its … Continue reading An Open Slay – Violent Night
At long last, a very tumultuous year is about to come to an end. Inflation was rampant, an absolute slew of beloved celebrities shuffled off the mortal coil, and once again America just barely squeaked by on maintaining the basic tenets of democracy. It was rough, no doubt about it, and there are still 31 … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – December 2022
The heist movie is a subgenre that's basically out of gas at this point, at least from a plot perspective. Pretty much every film follows a fairly standard pattern of a big idea, complications that could be easily foreseen with a bit of logical thinking, at least two betrayals, and an ultimate victor when it … Continue reading Stacking the Deck – No Sudden Move
Natasha Romanoff was always an underserved character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Introduced in Iron Man 2 purely as an object of hotness before pulling some decent martial arts, the majority of Scarlett Johansson's screen time as an Avenger has focused much more on her sex appeal than her utility as a superhero. It's still … Continue reading Too Little, Too Late – Black Widow
This week, AMC theatres began opening again at various locations nationwide, with more scheduled to open next week. Regal is also back, as is Alamo Drafthouse. To those of you who are now able to go back to the cinema, I congratulate you, and beg you to be as safe as possible when you do. … Continue reading DownStream – April Showers
Normally, the Razzie nominations come out the day before the Oscars do, and are awarded the night before the Academy hands out their hardware. However, because of the accelerated AMPAS schedule, the Razzies, which are more of a fun gag than anything else, decided not to go along with the crowd, instead holding off the … Continue reading It’s a Cat-Tastrophe – 40th Annual Golden Raspberry Nominees Announced!
I Actually Paid To See This 