Over the last seven years, Chinese studios have tapped the 16th century Chinese novel Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods) to craft stories in live-action (Creation of the Gods trilogy) and animated (Legend of the White Snake; New Gods: Yang Jian; Ne Zha)…. Read More ›
No matter how well off we think we are, each of us are one bad day away from mountains of debt. This is especially true in areas where medical bills can mount, forcing people to make choiceless choices regarding what… Read More ›
Review Warning: The following review will do its best to refrain from specific details as it relates to the filmmaker’s intention, but the source material is so woven into modern storytelling in a variety of ways that not discussing the… Read More ›
Harrison Atkins’s Sour Minnows is an experimental film in an unconventional sense of the definition, with a very loose and whimsical plot. It doesn’t feel anything like a Stan Brakhage (Dog Star Man) movie (depending on how that makes you… Read More ›
The Mortal Kombat series created by Ed Boon and John Tobias managed to survive parental outrage over the violence, the destruction of arcades during the rise of at-home gaming, and even, remarkably, Annihilation (1997). Yet, even with its expansion of… Read More ›
“No one wins a fight.” – Dalton in Road House. When Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino premiered their Nickelodeon program Avatar: The Last Airbender in 2005, there was likely little sense of what the response would be. On paper,… Read More ›
All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts – From the “All the World’s a Stage” speech within William… Read More ›
Photosensitivity Warning: More than the previous film, Galaxy is filled with light designs that may prove triggering for photosensitive individuals; consider taking precautions before starting the film. In 2023, Illumination, with Nintendo as a partner, released The Super Mario Bros…. Read More ›
2010’s Despicable Me introduced audiences to master villain Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), his darling three adopted girls, and, most importantly, to the Minions. The all-yellow-bodied, seemingly indestructible, unserious, devoted assistants to Gru’s villainy took the world by storm and,… Read More ›
The year is 2006, and audiences have noticed Adam Sandler is trying to do more than just his usual brand of comedy, branching into projects like Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Spanglish (2004), and, to an extent, Big Daddy (1999). So when… Read More ›
Back in the early 2000s, a treasure trove of Japanese animation titles took over North American video stores. Featuring stories involving various fantastical adventures, one subgenre (thanks to the international popularity of Sailor Moon) began to slowly make a bigger… Read More ›
Photosensitivity Warning: There are three instances of powerful strobing/flashing lights that may trigger a painful response in audiences: two shortly after the title card appears and one in the climatic sequence of the film. A sadistic sorcerer. An existential hitman…. Read More ›
There are those among us who proudly describe themselves as “Amblin kids.” Sure, it’s a descriptor I’ve just made up, but if you grew up in the era of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985), Back to… Read More ›
James Cameron has been living and operating within the fictional world of Pandora for decades now. Avatar (2009) began pre-production in the mid-aughts — although, it had been in development since 1994. The release of the second film, Avatar: The… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: The Bride! incorporates several instances of violence against women that may be triggering for individuals who’ve experienced sexual assault. Additionally, there’s a scene in a club that utilizes flashing lights which may induce a reaction for those with… Read More ›
For the last 34 years, the arcade sensation Mortal Kombat has lit up gamers in their quest to defeat the evil Shao Khan, emperor of Outworld, in his quest to claim Earthrealm for his own. Of course, one could side… Read More ›
Continuing a story is tricky enough without throwing in additional hurdles like cultural significance or an established long-running series. Anything established must be honored and, in so doing, can create limitations on what comes next. But that’s what co-writers/co-directors Gu… Read More ›
What matters more: that something *is* real or that it *feels* real? If we’re talking about art or a prosthetic, then the recreation may provide the satisfaction desired. Possessing mere artifice may be all that’s needed in order to achieve… Read More ›
The horrors that keep us up at night are, for better or worse, the ones we make ourselves. The regrets, the failures, the hopes, the dreams, all the good, all the bad, swirl together in the dark to coagulate into… Read More ›
As a male, I’ve never had the misfortune of going through menstrual cramps, and for that I am incredibly grateful because it seems like absolute bloody (no pun intended) hell and I am going without experiencing that pain every month… Read More ›