After 10 years of blockbusters which all led to the box office-shattering Avengers: Endgame (2019), Marvel Studios had two major choices: go bigger or rebuild. In that rebuilding is an opportunity to start fresh and, for the most part, they… Read More ›
With its opening shots of war-torn landscapes, skulls absent flesh and sinew, and other indicators of lifelessness, Yasuzô Masumura’s 赤い天使 (Red Angel) is quickly determined to be anti-war, the bleakness on display never softening from the beginning to the ending…. Read More ›
Director/co-writer Ryoo Seung-wan’s 16th film and South Korea’s submission for the 94th Academy Awards, Escape from Mogadishu, is a reconstruction of events during the Somali Civil War (currently still on-going). It’s a film which didn’t make the shortlist of nominees… Read More ›
Evil dies tonight! Evil dies tonight! This is the chant started by Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) as he rallies together the scared townspeople of Haddonfield to take the fight to serial killer Michael Myers (Airon Armstrong/Nick Castle/James Jude Courtney)…. Read More ›
There are some works of science fiction that never seem to let go once they get their grasp on society. William Gibson’s Neuromancer was published in 1984, but it still felt just as vital and prescient when I read it… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: The film The Last Duel is centered on a rape. As such, the content of the film may be difficult to discuss without bringing up specifics that may be triggering to some individuals. More and more it seems… Read More ›
Scott Cooper’s Antlers was one of my most anticipated films of 2020, back when it was still going to be released under the Fox Searchlight Pictures banner. Its trailer spoke to me in a haunting, beautiful voice that let me… Read More ›
Walt Disney Studio’s 60th animated film released in November with the same promise of any of its predecessors: 90-ish minutes of adventure, magic, and wonder. Directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard (Zootopia) and co-director Charise Castro Smith (who shares co-writing… Read More ›
There are some films that one sees in their youth and then remembers nothing about them (save for a few pieces here and there) in their adulthood. It could be a film they saw on home video or cable. It… Read More ›
At the end of every year, it seems, the theaters become flooded with awards-centric films, one after the other. It’s at this time that audiences are encouraged to set aside their popcorn fare and engage in something elevated and intellectual…. Read More ›
Wes Anderson’s 10th film is about as Wes Andersony as it gets. To this point in his career, I’d argue that it’s also the *most* Wes Andersony, for good or for bad. This has delighted his fans (many of whom… Read More ›
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” No matter how much we rely on technology to do things for us, we often lose a little piece of ourselves in the process. Sure, we may remember things more… Read More ›
Allow me, first, to share a memory: November 2006. EoM editor Crystal Davidson and I journeyed to the Magic Johnson Capital Center 12 to see the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale. I was fan of the films (had even… Read More ›
In March 2020, Sony Animation released a trailer for Connected, a film centered on a family attempting to survive a robot apocalypse. It mostly focused on the relationship between the luddite dad and techno daughter before shifting gears to revealing… Read More ›
In 2020, the first feature-length film from the manga-adapted anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Mugen Train, released in Japanese theaters and absolutely dominated to the point where it was the highest-grossing film of the year. After some time, Mugen… Read More ›
Across four films, Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon has earned four Academy Award nominations, each time for Best Animated Feature. If you’ve seen even one of their films — The Secret of Kells (2009), Song of the Sea (2017), The… Read More ›
In September 2021, Warner Bros. dropped Malignant rather unceremoniously into theaters and on its streaming service HBO Max. I say “unceremoniously” because its story is co-developed by director James Wan who’s the co-writer of Saw (2004), who crafted the story… Read More ›
Welcome to Fistful of Features, a celebration of film preservation through physical media and the discussion of cinematic treasures to maintain their relevance in the cultural lexicon. Today we’ll be discussing a film that was buried by the studio upon… Read More ›
Cultural legends and myths have been fodder for storytelling (books, music, video games, movies) since the birth of each of them. Why not take something that audiences are already familiar with and either retell or reform it in a way… Read More ›
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is a film built on dichotomy. The lead character, Izumi (Hiroko Yakushimaru), is a high school teen, suggesting innocence or, at the least, a touch of naiveté. She’s not old enough to have been touched… Read More ›