Chris Stuckmann is a YouTuber, author, film critic, and filmmaker, who started his career posting short-form movie reviews on YouTube called “Quick Movie Reviews” in 2009. He eventually began making longer movie reviews as well as reviews of television shows,… Read More ›
Director Derek Cianfrance is a filmmaker who is near and dear to my heart. His 2013 film The Place Beyond the Pines hit me on a deep emotional level with its themes of fatherhood and legacy. Even with its heavier… Read More ›
Whom among us hasn’t thought that it’s the effort that matters in a relationship — that if you work hard enough, want it bad enough, everything will be ok? This line of thinking often discounts the hard reality that “wanting”… Read More ›
Adaptations are the bread and butter of entertainment, whether it’s “ripped from the headlines” episodes of some Law & Order spin-off to capture the zeitgeist or the story of an established celebrity. Going further are the adaptations of books which… Read More ›
Killer Whale is reminiscent of the killer shark movies audiences were spoiled with throughout the 1990s, yet it feels noticeably more grounded and contemporary in its approach. Rather than leaning entirely into camp or excess, the film finds a satisfying… Read More ›
What makes a killer and what defines them as good or evil? One could argue that anyone can be a killer and that the taking of a life immediately diminishes one’s purity, but there is goodness is absorbing the malignant… Read More ›
Congratulations. For a certain set of people, this singular word carries weight. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t for the general populous as receiving accolades or cheers often makes one feel elated, but, for a specific set, “Congratulations” correlates… Read More ›
In the last nine years, actor Emma Stone and filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos have collaborated on five different projects — a short and four features — that have explored the ridiculousness of cruel friendship (The Favourite), of the human experience (Poor… Read More ›
In 1982, audiences were invited to go on a sci-fi fantasy adventure in which a programmer, Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), determined to find proof he’d been cheated by a former co-worker, found himself digitally deconstructed and reconstituted within the very… Read More ›
In the year 2005, when I was just a young lad (12, I know I am dating myself here), I was at the theater and experienced the closest thing to a proshot I would have encountered up to that point…. Read More ›
“I think all of us tend to act a lot, David. That we perform more than we think we do.” – Female Cashier (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey In all three of filmmaker Kogonada’s feature films, a… Read More ›
The idea of American Individualism is a fascinating way in which an entire populace has recontextualized selfish and detrimental behavior into something to be sought after. Impressively, the arrogance of the U.S. is a key component in western thriller Frontier… Read More ›
At the end of Wes Craven’s legendary 1996 horror film Scream, after Stu Macher and Billy Loomis are revealed to be the killers, Stu tells Sidney Prescott, “Everybody dies, but us, we get to carry on and plan the sequel!… Read More ›
Children’s entertainment is nothing new; in fact, it’s well-established and business is booming. Past generations grew up with Mister Rogers in his neighborhood (1968 – 2001) while newer ones grew and grow up with Mister Rogers’ own Daniel Tiger in… Read More ›
Those who follow sports, who watch *their* teams battle *your* teams, participate in a form of tribalism that extends beyond one’s immediate borders, beyond country, beyond cultural, and, sometimes, beyond time, as said fandom gets passed down through the generations… Read More ›
Photosensitivity Warning: There is a brief sequence of strobing that may trigger migraine or other neuro reactions from sensitive viewers. Be advised that it’s well into the film and occurs only once in the back half of the adventure. Less… Read More ›
“Go on and close the curtains ‘Cause all we need is candlelight You and me, and a bottle of wine To hold you tonight (oh, yeah) Well, we know I’m going away And how I wish, I wish it weren’t… Read More ›
‘Tis the season where, no matter the denomination, one is either characterized as “full of spirit” or a “grinch.” The description of such a person who rains of holiday cheer (or cheer of any kind) is directly tied both in… Read More ›
In 1963, Alfred Hitchcock terrified audiences with The Birds, a horror film about birds attacking humans. A little over a decade later, Steven Spielberg made people afraid to go in the water with the movie Jaws (1975), which stars Roy… Read More ›
From Lord Alfred Tennyson’s 1850 poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.,” the lovelorn often quote (or have quoted to them) “I hold it true, whate’er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never… Read More ›