Well, that didn’t suck! I’m a big believer that, one way or another, every year is a good year for movies. The studios might crank out a bunch of crap, the indies might produce the kind of thing that only the most annoying cineastes appreciate, yet there are always diamonds in the rough. Every year […]

There are an awful lot of thankless jobs in Hollywood. The vast majority of movie watchers understand (and hopefully appreciate!) that the movie they love is made by more than the very pretty actors who appear on-screen. There are far more people involved than simply the very overworked director, and the utterly ignored screenwriter.  To […]

When I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about reviewing the apocalyptic thriller and committed bummer Leave the World Behind, she was not entirely on board. “Really? You want people to read a review of that? On Christmas?” My son concurred. The idea of my tens of readers enjoying the bounty of December […]

An interesting article* informs me of something that’s both surprising and unsurprising. If you’re a parent of a school-aged athlete, the odds of them being good enough to compete in the college level, much less the professional level, are vanishingly small. Impossible? No. Highly, highly unlikely? Absolutely. Those odds don’t stop parents from pushing, though. […]

I’m a Godzilla casual. An awful lot of movies take up mental real estate in my head, and it must be said, movies featuring Japan’s large reptilian son aren’t really among them. Nothing against the Big G! The first appearance of the iconic kaiju in 1954 is absolutely a classic. 2016’s Shin Godzilla is beloved […]

We’re doing something a little different around these parts this week.  One of my mutuals on the social media site formerly/still known as Twitter mentioned recently that she was sad so few people discussed older films with her. Folks would chime in with hot takes over the latest MCU installment or indie darling, but by […]

Not long ago, legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott told historians to shut the f–k up. It’s been my experience that one does not tell others to shut the f–k up in a vacuum, not usually. In this case, there was a pretty compelling reason. While promoting his new film Napoleon, Scott was asked in an interview* […]

Is sex necessary in movies? UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers surveyed young people (God, it kills me to say that) aged 10-24 regarding the kinds of stories told through screens.* Respondents aged 13-24 were asked about sexual depiction in movies and television. Over half of them wanted stories with a stronger focus on friendships, […]

Every so often, there’s a narrative around a narrative. Specifically, a movie. Whether it’s positive, negative, or simply strange, sometimes prior to a movie’s release, we start to hear things. Rumors, conjecture, a whisper campaign designed to break a project, lift up a filmmaker, or redirect attention entirely.  One of the most famous examples of […]

Movie critics are supposed to be impartial. That’s the common wisdom, anyway. They’re supposed to descend from their ivory towers, tuck themselves into their chinchilla-furred seats within a perfectly calibrated surround sound screening room, and receive each morsel of cinematic goodness with an equal degree of informed curiosity. That’s what’s supposed to happen. The reality […]