Clik here to view.
The Royal Tenenbaums: When Living the Lie Goes Right
There are many works of fiction about people telling lies for so long that they start to believe them. These stories range from folks like Walter White putting on the costume of a villain only to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Only Two Deaths in Jurassic World That Mattered
Death is a currency in blockbuster films. Faceless henchman are wiped out indiscriminately. Nameless bystanders are consumed in explosions and buried in rubble. This is the loss of life that makes up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Boogie Nights: Depiction, Endorsement, and the Wounded Humanity of P.T....
Depiction does not equal endorsement. An artist may explore the depths of something controversial or lurid or profane without giving it their stamp of approval. This is how we defend films, television...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is A Nightmare on Elm Street as Scary in 2015 as It Was in 1984?
What makes a work of art a classic in one era and laughable in another? I’ve written before about the Citizen Kane Effect, or the idea that some works that were groundbreaking for their time had such...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Halloween’s Michael Myers and the Terror of What We Can’t Understand
To understand something is to take away its power. A look behind the curtain renders the tricks in front of it less formidable. The mechanical dinosaur isn’t as scary after the director opens it up to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Star Wars: The Balance of the Grand and the Intimate in A New Hope
Of all the memorable visual flourishes in the original Star Wars, there are two images that stand out. The first is arguably the most iconic — Luke Skywalker, gazing off at the horizon, as the twin...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Star Wars: a Hero Falters when The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back has a reputation for being the darkest of the Star Wars films. In contrast to the triumphant mood at the end of A New Hope, Empire closes with our heroes having been thoroughly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Is a Cold, Empty Film in a Series Known for its...
The internet is the land of hyperbole. Everything is either the greatest event in the history of the world or the worst thing to ever happen. So when it came time to watch The Phantom Menace–arguably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Is Like a Great Cover Song
CAUTION: This review contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I had a phase as a teenager where my musical tastes veered toward covers: punk rock versions of old standards, acoustic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hateful Eight Is Quentin Tarantino’s Meditation on Justice, Tribalism,...
Caution: This review contains major spoilers for The Hateful Eight. The Hateful Eight is filled with characters who are constantly performing for one another. Some of them are pretending to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Martian Is a Feel-Good Movie that Earns Every Bit of the Feeling
Despite a number of well-crafted elements, the success or failure of The Martian absolutely depended on Matt Damon’s performance in the lead role. It’s true that, in contrast to spiritual predecessors...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deadpool: The Anti-Superhero Movie
Caution: This review contains major spoilers for Deadpool. Deadpool is at its best when it’s making fun of superhero movies. The film feels like a deliberate counter-reaction to the seriousness and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brooklyn and the Merits of Charm and Simplicity in Storytelling
Caution: This review contains major spoilers for Brooklyn. Dan Harmon, the creator of Community, is known for several things — his trademark bottle of vodka, his tendency to spill his guts to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Solid-but-Spiritless Success of Spotlight
It’s hard to say how much knowing what happens in a story affects our enjoyment of it. We live in the age of the spoilerphobe, where nerds like me abandon social media in the days leading up to a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Batman v. Superman Is a Well-Intentioned, But Deeply-Flawed Mess of a Film
CAUTION: This review contains major spoilers for Batman v. Superman. There are some good ideas and good intentions behind Batman v. Superman. If you want to make a superhero film, there are worse...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fiddler on the Roof and the Movie Behind the Myth
I’ve written about The Citizen Kane Effect — the idea that sometimes a work hailed as a classic can do something so innovative and so essential within the medium, that its techniques become woven into...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Captain America: Civil War Brings the Superheroic Back Down to Earth
CAUTION: This review contains major spoilers for Captain America: Civil War. Before Anthony and Joe Russo were directing superhero movies, they worked on a little show called Community about a group...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Suicide Squad Is a 90s Blockbuster in 2016 Clothing
Caution: This review contains major spoilers for Suicide Squad. Suicide Squad director David Ayer and the brain trust behind D.C. Comics’ nascent cinematic universe achieved something I didn’t think...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doctor Strange Both Subverts and Affirms the Usual Marvel Movie Complaints
CAUTION: This article contains major spoilers for Doctor Strange. There’s a recurring set of complaints about the “samey-ness” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The argument comes in several forms....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hidden Figures Is a Typical Oscar Movie with an Atypical Focus
You’ve seen Hidden Figures before. Maybe you haven’t seen this exact movie — about how three unduly unheralded African American women helped NASA in the early 1960s — but if, like me, you dutifully...
View Article
