Murder, mayhem, sorrow, grief, pain, redemption: these are universal aspects of storytelling that transcend time and place. For stories that combine these to the point where pulpy isn’t just a way to describe the story but the viscera that remains… Read More ›
Of the many things that occurred as a result of COVID-19 in 2020, as it related to the film industry, was that movies were either pushed over and over, rescheduled to a later date entirely, or sold to streamers. Films… Read More ›
You always remember your first. Some are scary, some are bloody, most are just plain bad, but everyone remembers their first…horror movie. For my pivotal moment of exposure, I dropped in on my sister’s slumber party with her middle school… Read More ›
There’s no right or wrong way to make a feel-good movie. But there are certain elements that will make one feel-good film much more successful and enjoyable than another. Feel-good films require precise storytelling techniques and a little extra wow-factor… Read More ›
There are some films that define the era of the ‘80s in cinema. You’ve got dramedies like The Breakfast Club (1985), aviation action in the form of Top Gun (1986), revealing the lack of safety in dream via A Nightmare… Read More ›
If there was ever a life that was deserving of the Baz Luhrmann treatment, it’s the famed singer Elvis Presley’s. Despite only living until 42, Presley’s music remains considered among the greats, his home a place viewed as sacred from… Read More ›
As a child of the 1980s, I was witness to all kinds of bullying toward nerds, dorks, and geeks. If it wasn’t happening in front of me (or to me), then it was happening on-screen. You’d think a film like… Read More ›
There are movies that grab you because they take big swings, there are movies that grip you because they resonate with some aspect of your being, and there are some movies that simply tickle you for their absolute audacity. Director… Read More ›
There’s a romantic notion that “there’s someone for everyone,” and it isn’t just for the lovesick or lovelorn. This very much applies to the arts where something you create may not be for a wide audience, but that doesn’t mean… Read More ›
Earlier this summer, the release of Top Gun Maverick proved that it is possible to make a good sequel to a classic movie. Maverick’s secret sauce included strong writing and a steady, believable story, two things that sequels often lack…. Read More ›
September 7th, 2021, Paramount Pictures released a Star Trek four-film collection, debuting the first four films in the cinematic series on 4K UHD for the first time. Nearly a year later, home-viewing audiences can complete their 4K UHD set by… Read More ›
Anthologies either in television or in film deserve a special place in Hell, in my personal opinion. Now that is an incredibly bold statement, but if a story is being told and two thirds of it are fantastic, but then… Read More ›
There was a time when the transition away from physical media to digital seemed like a gift as largely hard-to-find media became accessible. Without getting into the larger economic issues within their respective areas, the shift toward digital acquisition with… Read More ›
The recent go-to writer for making a family film, especially one with music, is Lin-Manuel Miranda. He’s not just the mind behind global phenomenon Hamilton, he’s the lyricist behind Moana (2016) and Encanto (2021). It makes sense, then, that if… Read More ›
While popular culture tends to focus on releases like Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997) when director Joel Schumacher’s name arises in conversation, his work extended to strong thrillers like Falling Down (1993), A Time to Kill (1996),… Read More ›
Working in a trade is a lot like parenting. Not the tantrums or conflict portions, necessarily, but the guidance and cultivation that comes from helping to develop something into its best self. In director/co-writer Pierre Pinaud’s (On Air) new film… Read More ›
It didn’t matter that the Davidson household flew a Nintendo flag, when June 1991 came around, the allure of a certain high-speed blue mammal released by Sega for their Genesis machine was a little hard to ignore. The appeal of… Read More ›
A deleted scene from the Aaron and Adam Nee-directed film The Lost City features romance novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) and book cover model Dash (Channing Tatum) talking before going to sleep in a shared hammock. In this brief moment,… Read More ›
We should all be so lucky to have as wild and varied a career in whatever we do as actor Nicolas Cage does in his. He’s been in comedies (Valley Girl; Raising Arizona), romances (Moonstruck; Honeymoon in Vegas), action films… Read More ›
The opening of every film sets the tone for what’s to come. Director Sam Raimi kicked off Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) with a chase sequence, signaling that most of the film will be a race to… Read More ›