The multiverse has been having a moment lately, particularly in film. In popular culture, the MCU has dug into the concept big time with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Fantastic Four, and most likely the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. Everything Everywhere All At Once won seven Academy Awards. It’s an honest to goodness thing. […]

After Germany’s surrender in World War II, the Allied powers began a program of denazification. The plan was to fully remove elements of the Nazi party from Austrian and German society, and allow those countries to move forward in a positive, profitable, and presumably pro-American direction.* The process was expensive, time-consuming, and not entirely successful. […]

In my professional life, such as it is, I’ve caught one huge break. I’m not someone who’s made a titanic amount of money, and can spend like a drunken Trump donor. I’m not someone who’s made an indelible impact on culture, and will go down in the annals of human history. I’m not someone who’s […]

It’s been said that all art is political, even art that’s a bit stupid. Your slobs versus snobs comedy Ghostbusters? That’s about how a group of small business owners can more effectively deal with a crisis rather than the wicked EPA. Your dumb as toast disaster epic Armageddon? That’s about how in the face of…um…armageddon, […]

This article spoils the end of 28 Years Later* We’ve all seen films featuring human beings that are a) adults and b) presumably not brain damaged yet they behave in extremely brain damaged adult kind of ways. It sucks. It’s maddening. It’s what happens when filmmakers hyperfocus on the plot, so much so that they […]

On November 11, 1947, Winston Churchill said during a speech, “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those […]

To say I’m a movie guy is an understatement. Since I was roughly as tall as E.T., I’ve been into them. That passion brought me into a career as a film critic, as well as a career as a screenwriter.* I want to watch the damn things and make the damn things as much as […]

In a general sense, 2025 sucked. The United States seems to have been transformed into a foul combination of kakistocracy and plutocracy, while sliding pell mell into fascism. Innocent people are being arrested and disappeared to God knows where. Real Christianity feels further away than ever, while gleeful cruelty feels like the law of the […]

You likely know that, alongside his wife Michele Singer Reiner,* Rob Reiner died violently on December 14 of this year. He left behind a shattered family, a battalion of whys, and a legacy that ended in tragedy. As time goes on, we won’t want the details of the murders, but we’ll get them anyway.  Right […]

When I first started as a film critic, I had close to zero problems writing a bad review. My calculus was simple; if you make a film and release it for public consumption, you should be prepared for positive and negative reactions. You worked really hard on a project and people don’t like it? Hey, […]