As obnoxious as Hollywood can get with its youth obsession, it’s nice when our elders get some love. Ordinarily, when older folks show up in a film, they’re either a wise mentor, a villain, or a wise mentor that becomes a villain. That doesn’t give them a whole lot of colors on the palette to […]

What do we mean when we talk about whitewashing? It’s a practice that’s been around since the beginning of cinema, and it’s the practice of casting white actors in roles that were either originated by non-white actors or should have been played by non-white actors. Maybe when you hear that term, you think of older films from […]

Right, guys, time for another thought experiment! Imagine you’re a scientist. You’re part of a team on an alien planet or a space station, and you have come into contact with a non-terrestrial-based lifeform; i.e. an alien. You are within close physical proximity of the creature. You have no idea about its biology, capabilities, or motivations. […]

I hope you’re all sitting comfortably because I’m about to lay some righteous science on you. Ready? Disney loves money. They like art and respect the occasional creation of a timeless classic, but more than anything, the House of Mouse loves the Benjamins. Even back in the day, they knew the massive value of their IP’s. That’s why […]

Sometimes a giant ape is just a giant ape. Sometimes not. If you’re a filmmaker, the trick to making a memorable creature feature is to make sure your message doesn’t overwhelm your entertainment value. Yes, you can read 1933’s King Kong as a screed about the racist fear of black sexuality. Yes, you can also read 1954’s Godzilla as […]

The superhero genre is usually designed to be a perpetual motion machine. Characters keep going through movies, comics, video games, every medium you can think of. They live through decades, change with them, reflect their values and priorities. As a result, smart writers like Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, and Mark Waid have been able to see […]

Let’s take a moment to imagine something. You’re in a social gathering, and you’re immediately aware that most of the other people there are nothing like you. They think they know you, yet they frequently jump to conclusions about you based on grotesque stereotypes. They make comments that are, at best, inappropriate. At worst, their […]

Let me begin this review by stating that I kind of hate my friends sometimes. I’ll explain. Our fearless editor Scott Armstrong gives me enormous latitude to review anything I want. If I decided that I’d review Icelandic lesbian cinema exclusively, I suspect he’d be a-okay with it.* Some weeks the film to review is […]

There are many reasons why I want a time machine. I’d like to see a live t-rex – from a safe distance, of course. I’d like to see The Beatles live, or stroll through the streets of Renaissance-era Venice. You do it like that, you don’t have to worry about screwing up the space-time continuum. […]

It’s entirely unsurprising that the first casualty of the Revolutionary War was a black man. That would be Crispus Attucks. There is considerable disagreement by historians about his early life, but there’s one thing everybody agrees with. During the evening of March 5, 1770, a disagreement broke out in Boston, regarding the failure of a British […]