Saint Nicholas. Kris Kringle. Père Noël. Weihnachtsmann. Babbo Natale. Дед Мороз. Noel Baba. Święty Mikołaj. Sinnterklaas. These are just a few of the names Santa Claus goes by in communities and cultures around the world. He’s a figure known for… Read More ›
Though there have been plenty of films that used time travel as a narrative mechanism for the entirety of storytelling, in recent memory, few do it as well as the Harold Ramis-directed, Danny Rubin-co-written, Bill Murray comedy Groundhog Day (1993)…. Read More ›
Animation studio Light Chaser Animation has released seven films with ones most likely known in North America being White Snake (2019), New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021), and Green Snake (2021), the latter two likely because of their accessibility on Netflix…. Read More ›
Kicking off the holiday season in style back in early December 2022 was director Tommy Wirkola’s Violent Night, an action-filled romp starring David Harbour as Santa Claus who finds himself in an unexpectedly brutal situation. Seems this Santa is not… Read More ›
I remember seeing Transformers with my father during summer 2007, and while my memories of the film itself have faded away, I will never forget the silence of the theater as a shaky, bombastic, horrifying teaser played before it, showing… Read More ›
You can often tell a bit about a person based upon where they know an artist or creative from. Specifically, what period of their work. For instance, if someone were to mention the musician Sting, they could just as easily… Read More ›
This year Walt Disney Studios asked audiences to go on an internal journey with Meilin Lee (Turning Red) as she came into her own while addressing a generational blessing, and then look to the stars with the adventurous and introspective-resistant… Read More ›
There can be only one. In 1986, these words were uttered and it changed the course of fantasy nerdom forever. It’s a battle cry and a declaration of supremacy on its own, but now also works to identify others whose… Read More ›
James Cameron offers another visual spectacular for the big screen with the long-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water. Today on Open Dialogue, Noel T. Manning II speaks with Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Trinity Bliss and Jamie Flatters about their journey… Read More ›
In February of 2021, it was announced that LAIKA Studios and boutique home media distributor Shout! Factory made a deal to bring LAIKA’s incredible stop-motion films to U.S. audiences’ homes. Toward the end of 2021, Shout! Factory released Blu-ray/DVD combo… Read More ›
If there’s one complaint that American audiences are prone to have, it’s that there’s never anything original hitting theaters. It’s all superhero stories, remakes, reboots, or some kind of sequel. It’s incredibly risky for studios to make original stories, so… Read More ›
For every smart little one-liner I wanted to inject into this intro about Santa Claus to describe this film, I realized it was already covered by Violent Night’s catchphrase-heavy screenplay, rendering my job nearly useless, as one can imagine the… Read More ›
There have been few first-part-of-a-series films released in 2022 that have made me want to dive straight into the follow-up as much as writer/director Choi Dong-hoon’s genre-hybrid Alienoid. This complex comedic fantasy actioner does a lot of wild things in Part… Read More ›
Adaptations, in live action or animation, are the lifeblood of storytelling. We, as audiences, like to think that the magic comes from original stories, but, more often than not, that thing you love is an adaptation of a story originating… Read More ›
If the story of your life was told by another, would it be a great tale involving the taming of wild beasts and passionate love affairs, would it rattle off the far-flung places you’ve explored, or would it be a… Read More ›
Few storytellers can jump back-and-forth between genres with such ease, yet George Miller is the mind equally responsible for the Mad Max films and Babe. This year, Miller went to a particularly fascinating place by examining the significance of stories in… Read More ›
The Marvel Cinematic Universe experienced more than a typical reset after the conclusion of the Infinity Saga which made up the first three phases of films, ending with Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Navigating a shifting schedule due to COVID-19… Read More ›
Ever since the April 2020 home release of Park Hoon-jung’s The Witch: Subversion, the anticipation for a continuing chapter has built-up month after month. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to check out The Witch 2: The Other One when it… Read More ›
If you’re an individual of a certain age and someone offers you Reese’s Pieces, you may possess a Pavlovian response to reply “el-e-ot” and stiffen your pointer finger in that person’s direction. If this describes you, then you likely grew… Read More ›
Since its first film release, The Secret of Kells, in 2009, animation studio Cartoon Saloon has made a name for itself by developing remarkable stories of adventure, catharsis, and healing through the lens of adolescence. Each of the four films… Read More ›