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
A large part of what made Denis Villeneuve's 2021 Dune remake so special was its sense of scale. Through its amazing use of cinematography, editing, and inspired visual effects (done for about half the budget of your average Marvel movie), the film truly gave viewers a sense of what the world of Arrakis could be … Continue reading Welcome to the World – Dune: Part Two
It's been eight months since my mom died, and to be perfectly honest, I haven't been able to move past it yet. I thought it would be easier, as we had time to prepare for it. She was diagnosed with dementia three years ago, and we had to place her in a nursing home. The … Continue reading A Mother’s Love – The Boy and the Heron
Christopher Nolan has made his name as a filmmaker through two basic avenues. One is his Dark Knight trilogy of movies featuring Batman. The other is in complex narratives that play on the elasticity of cinema itself to tell high-concept stories out of sequence or in ways that mess with basic timeline structure (Memento, Inception, … Continue reading Theory and Praxis – Oppenheimer
It's almost March, the time of year when things really start to turn around. The Oscars are handed out, the NCAA Tournament begins, snow starts melting, work tends to pick up in my little sector of the entertainment industry, and Hollywood studios start putting out some really good movies. Okay, everything but that last part. … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – March 2023
I fully admit that I have soured on the Shrek franchise ever since Shrek the Third. The first film was innovative, silly, and was a great update for big kids like me to the old "Fractured Fairy Tales" segments from reruns of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show that ran constantly on Nickelodeon in the 80s … Continue reading Avoiding Cat-astrophe – Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
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
Earlier this year, Alex Garland's Men gave audiences a thoughtful, layered, and visionary approach to the concept of toxic masculinity, creating a story that blurred the lines of horror, fantasy, and reality, led by absolutely deft performances from Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear. It wasn't perfect, but it was a raw, visceral depiction of how … Continue reading Significantly Less Pleasantville – Don’t Worry Darling
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
I Actually Paid To See This 