A friend of mine once confidently declared that she only watched movies to relax. Needless to say, I was horrified. I was baffled. I couldn’t let it go. “Let me get this straight. You’re not interested in watching great art.” “No.” “You don’t want to see an amazing performance, an incredible script, or peerless filmmaking.” […]

You already know that making a good movie is hard. The alchemy is peculiar, and it requires combining the skill of a craftsman with the soul of a poet to create something uniquely itself. If you think that’s tough, try adapting a novel into a movie. Sometimes the filmmaker can be faithful, too faithful to the source […]

I’m a father to a ten-year-old boy. Part of my job is to teach him to be a decent human being, to be kind to others, help whenever possible, and try to make things suck just a little bit less. I’m also white. My wife is white, so that makes our kid white. That whiteness […]

Are we entering an action movie Rennaissance? Maybe, because God knows we need it. Whether we like it or not, things have changed. As much as I’m a shill for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s a fact that superhero movies have largely taken the place of action movies. They’re still around, but these days theaters […]

I need to make a couple of confessions to y’all. First, I am scared to death of chimpanzees. Absolutely terrified. You might respond to that admission with, “What’s the problem with chimps, Mr. Scaredy-cat-wussy-pants? They are adorable, and they have a genetic profile that’s 98% similar to humans.” Fine, I’ll give you that. I’ll also mention that […]

“So how did you guys meet?” If you’re in a relationship with someone, odds are you and your significant other have been asked that. To me, that anecdote is endlessly fascinating. The twists, turns, and seemingly random occurrences that bring two people* together can seem fated in retrospect, or like an enormous cosmic joke, depending […]

It’s hard to make a good movie. It’s even harder to make a good superhero movie, and Marvel Studios makes it look so easy. Through intelligence, wit, and sheer perseverance, not unlike their flagship character, they have become the gold standard in popular film entertainment. The Marvel movies stand above every other franchise, even the Star […]

Everybody’s got a personal soundtrack in their head. I think we all do it. Sure, the music is always different. You might walk into a party, your mood is up and your adrenaline is starting to rise, and Legend Has It by Run The Jewels is on a loop in your cerebral cortex. Maybe you see your […]

Hey, you! Yeah, YOU. I know you. You probably don’t go out to the movies much. Assuming you take out a second mortgage to pay for tickets and restrain yourself from murdering the jackass who simply must Snapchat through the film, what would you possibly want to see, anyway? The summer is a cinematic wasteland, populated with superheroes, […]

There’s a strong possibility that, up to the end of my days, I’ll be into monster movies. I thoroughly enjoy watching supernatural beasties fold, spindle, rend and mutilate a group of hapless nincompoops. Is it a sign of emotional immaturity on my part? Yeah, probably, but it still doesn’t change the fact that I’ll willingly […]