In 1592, Japan made its first attempt to invade Korea, leading to several skirmishes on land and at sea. As in other countries, the stories of military victories and failures have made for incredible cinematic opportunities. In 2014, director Kim… 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 ›
Jordan Peele: writer, actor, producer, director. Even before his debut directorial film, Get Out (2017), audiences had a solid sense of Peele’s creativity from any of the projects he played any part in. Now, however, with his third film in… Read More ›
There are some films, some stories, which continue to find new audiences, year after year, generation after generation. They’re passed down, some as traditions, some as markers for reaching a certain age. Looking backward, there’s a notion that there’s nary… Read More ›
There are movies that tend to give away entirely too much in either art, title, or even trailers. Then there are movies that do all of this all against the director’s wishes, making it hard for the audience to avoid… Read More ›
“This, too, shall pass.” None of us ever really knows how much time we have. Depending on your outlook, that’s either an optimistic or pessimistic notion, one which will either spur you on to take chances or freeze you in… Read More ›
Sometimes it only takes one film to make an impression on an audience. With his 2019 film Vivarium, writer/director Lorcan Finnegan did exactly that via a tale that takes a dark view of the life cycle, trapping a couple in… 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 ›
Realism is overrated. We experience it every day: the fear, the frustration, the constantly moving goal posts. Sometimes, it’s really nice to experience something so off the rails, so unrealistic, that all you can do is hold on and go… Read More ›
Isolated creature features are far from rare or being particularly hard to produce, but when done well, they can be a paragon of simple, effective filmmaking delivering concentrated thrills. The past few years have provided moviegoers with quite a few… Read More ›
Sometimes you watch a movie being completely oblivious that it’s a sequel to a movie of the same name and unaware that possibly watching the first installment would have shed a little light on the sequel. There are also times… Read More ›
There’s an old adage that man’s best friend is his dog. It should be no surprise, then, that in March of 1955, writer Otto Binder and artist Curt Swan introduced Krypto in Adventure Comics #210, a story featuring Superboy. Over… Read More ›
Now, I am all for practical effects, especially when it comes to creature movies, but if practical effects are going to be the difference maker between having a creature movie with a creature and not, then I would much prefer… Read More ›
After spending time on the festival circuit, writer/director Nicola Rose’s feature-length directorial debut, Goodbye, Petrushka, hit VOD and digital in July of 2022. Utilizing mixed media and multiple genres, Rose’s film explores growing up via a romantic lens, both literal… Read More ›
In his directorial debut, writer/actor Seth McTigue decided to tackle the hefty subject of parents and children. In his crime thriller Take the Night, the relationship between a parent and child, in this case primarily fathers and sons, is explored… Read More ›
While most audiences are familiar with the exploits of Superman and Batman, many may not realize that – canonically – their pets are heroes in their own right. DC League of Super-Pets seeks to fix all of that as Dwayne Johnson… Read More ›
Trigger Warning: Spirit Halloween contains several lengthy sequences featuring flashing lights that might impact those with photosensitivity. When it comes to Spooky Season, every family has their traditions. Some abstain entirely, while others go whole hog well before the calendar… Read More ›
At the time of its release, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) was unlike any other Marvel Studios release to date. It embraced the visual style of writer/artist Jack Kirby, it dared to remove the seriousness of the prior two outings, and it… 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 ›
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 ›