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The irony is not lost on me that Marvel Studios, a company that rose to prominence by making movies almost exclusively about superheroes, forgot what superheroes are. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve f…
The irony is not los…
The irony is not lost on me that Marvel Studios, a company that rose to prominence by making movies almost exclusively about superheroes, forgot what superheroes are. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve featured characters in flamboyant outfits with astounding powers punching each other in the head. By doing that, they’re halfway there. But really, at their best, superheroes are bright and colorful metaphors. Superman, the creation of a pair of Jewish men, is a response to rising antisemitism in the 1930s.* Captain America is a symbol of the best of a country, one that goes beyond mere partis…
Tim Brennan
May 12, 2025
I think there are two ways to approach movies that feature a mystery. The first is the puzzle box approach, where viewers sort the evidence alongside the characters, and try to “solve” the movie. …
I think there are tw…
I think there are two ways to approach movies that feature a mystery. The first is the puzzle box approach, where viewers sort the evidence alongside the characters, and try to “solve” the movie. Which…y’know, you can do that if you want to! It’s just that a) movies are generally meant to tell a story/elicit a series of emotions and b) you could always go to an escape room/become a cop/journey to a remote country manor. The second way, which is my preferred direction, is by locking into the characters themselves. It’s a more emotional choice, and for me, I care about what the ch…
Tim Brennan
May 5, 2025
When is a vampire movie not a vampire movie? When it’s Sinners. I’m totally cool with that, since we’ve had vampire movies all the way back to 1922 with the OG Nosferatu. For a century and chang…
When is a vampire mo…
When is a vampire movie not a vampire movie? When it’s Sinners. I’m totally cool with that, since we’ve had vampire movies all the way back to 1922 with the OG Nosferatu. For a century and change, the undead have slaughtered their way across movie screens, with virtually every possible variant having already been portrayed. I’m good with that! I’m not one of those cooler-than-thou critics that will endlessly bitch about the arrival of a new vampire/superhero/insert-genre-here movie. All that matters, and all that’s ever mattered, is that the film be made with some degree of skil…
Tim Brennan
April 28, 2025
As of 2024, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.2 billion human beings on this planet. That’s a lot of us. A lot of possibilities for conflict, a lot of chances for misunderstanding, and a …
As of 2024, there ar…
As of 2024, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 8.2 billion human beings on this planet. That’s a lot of us. A lot of possibilities for conflict, a lot of chances for misunderstanding, and a lot of opportunities to connect. But it’s been my experience that the majority of the meaningful connections we make in life are random. Family connections aren’t random. The same goes for school, and some people carry cherished memories they share with people from childhood. Not so much for me. I had almost nothing in common with the people I knew in my childhood and teen years. Perhaps th…
Tim Brennan
April 21, 2025
Christopher Landon excels at making gimmicky movies, and I mean that in the best way possible. To be clear, I’m not saying he’s gimmicky in the William Castle sense, where he’s electrifying movi…
Christopher Landon e…
Christopher Landon excels at making gimmicky movies, and I mean that in the best way possible. To be clear, I’m not saying he’s gimmicky in the William Castle sense, where he’s electrifying movie theater seats.* Landon directs and/or writes movies which have a gimmicky premise, and he excels at making the most of those premises. A few of them are: Happy Death Day, in which a college party girl is trapped in a time loop with a masked killer. Freaky, in which a hulking slasher and his teenage victim swap bodies. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, in which the film lives up t…
Tim Brennan
April 14, 2025
I’ve written about addiction before, specifically about the alcoholism my brother, Mark, dealt with throughout his too short life. The point shouldn’t have to be repeated, but addiction is not a m…
I’ve written about…
I’ve written about addiction before, specifically about the alcoholism my brother, Mark, dealt with throughout his too short life. The point shouldn’t have to be repeated, but addiction is not a moral failing. It’s not caused by insufficient churchgoing. Addiction is a disease. A physical affliction that sinks its claws into some of us and will not let go. The sad reality of addiction is that it doesn’t just grind down the addict. The people in the addict’s life are collateral damage, and they can get caught in a slow moving blast radius. As a result, those people often get push…
Tim Brennan
April 7, 2025
Is your first breakup the worst? Maybe, maybe not, but I think it’s the most intense. It’s the one where you take the first steps away from childhood, and where you enter into a relationship that …
Is your first breaku…
Is your first breakup the worst? Maybe, maybe not, but I think it’s the most intense. It’s the one where you take the first steps away from childhood, and where you enter into a relationship that exists on a different plane than your family or friends. It’s one where you’re either vulnerable with another person, or another person is vulnerable toward you. My first breakup was with Roxy (clearly not her real name). Looking back on it, I’m shocked we were together as long as we were, since we had almost nothing whatsoever in common. Possibly because I’m a little dumb, the breakup …
Tim Brennan
March 31, 2025
The right movie premise can ignite the imagination. When you hear it, you can see the movie in your mind’s eye, and the only thing that needs to happen is the reality of the film must live up to wha…
The right movie prem…
The right movie premise can ignite the imagination. When you hear it, you can see the movie in your mind’s eye, and the only thing that needs to happen is the reality of the film must live up to what’s in your head. Consider these: A love story that takes place during the doomed voyage of the Titanic. A bomb is placed on a city bus, and when the bus slows below 50 MPH, the bus will explode. An alien hunter goes after the most dangerous quarry of all - man. It’s great if you have a premise that strong, and it’s far better if you can execute the premise with skill. But what…
Tim Brennan
March 24, 2025
Recently, I had a good chat with my friend, Keith. He revealed something to me, a secret so shameful that it rocked me to my very core. The only possible way I could deal with it is to reveal that sec…
Recently, I had a go…
Recently, I had a good chat with my friend, Keith. He revealed something to me, a secret so shameful that it rocked me to my very core. The only possible way I could deal with it is to reveal that secret to you, the public. So what is it? Essentially, Keith has found he no longer has the attention span to watch movies. Three hour long episodes binged of a TV series is not a problem, but a single movie is a bridge too far. The thing is, he’s not wrong to feel that way. The average length of a movie has been trending longer. Way back in the dark ages of 1980, the average run time of a motio…
Tim Brennan
March 17, 2025
You know what safe means? For me, the perfect example of safe was an utterly ordinary errand. A few days back, I needed to pick up a few things from our grocery store.* As I usually did, I slid into t…
You know what safe m…
You know what safe means? For me, the perfect example of safe was an utterly ordinary errand. A few days back, I needed to pick up a few things from our grocery store.* As I usually did, I slid into the driver’s seat of my fantastically stylish Prius, put my music app on shuffle, and drove. I successfully made it to the store, got what I needed, and returned home. All without incident. At no point was I concerned about my physical safety. Why would I be? I’m a straight, White male living in the United States. Road rage, mass shootings, carjackings and other crimes, these are all outlier…
Tim Brennan
March 10, 2025
A few weeks ago, I was in South Dakota. In unpleasantly cold temperatures and under a clearish blue sky, I stood on a balcony and beheld the Crazy Horse Memorial. It’s one thing to Google a picture …
A few weeks ago, I w…
A few weeks ago, I was in South Dakota. In unpleasantly cold temperatures and under a clearish blue sky, I stood on a balcony and beheld the Crazy Horse Memorial. It’s one thing to Google a picture of the sculpture, the one slowly carved from the side of a mountain that’s been a work in progress since 1948. To see it in the rocky flesh, so to speak, is another experience entirely. As I stood there, freezing my ass off, two things occurred to me. The first is that I’ll likely be dead before the sculpture of Crazy Horse is completed. By the year 2037, part of the head of his horse, alon…
Tim Brennan
March 3, 2025
My friend Bob (not a pseudonym) loves schlock horror movies. They’re like cinematic meth for him, and he simply cannot get enough of them. If the film in question has a low budget, gore effects that…
My friend Bob (not a…
My friend Bob (not a pseudonym) loves schlock horror movies. They’re like cinematic meth for him, and he simply cannot get enough of them. If the film in question has a low budget, gore effects that are questionable/plentiful, and some kind of a fun gimmick, he’ll settle in with a beatific smile on his mug. Good for him, I say. While I have as much interest in schlock horror as I do with Christmas rom-coms, which is to say close to zero, I do think it’s a genre that’s unfairly overlooked. Not so much because of hidden social messages, but more that it can be an effective training gr…
Tim Brennan
February 24, 2025
Ordinarily, I’d be writing this review of Captain America: Brave New World. I didn’t count on getting kicked in the teeth by COVID-19, and I’m lucky I remember how to spell my own name. I’m al…
Ordinarily, I’d be…
Ordinarily, I’d be writing this review of Captain America: Brave New World. I didn’t count on getting kicked in the teeth by COVID-19, and I’m lucky I remember how to spell my own name. I’m also lucky that my son, Liam Brennan, was willing to take over this week’s review. I think he hits the nail pretty well on the head with this one. Art is inherently political. It’s a fact of art, that every single piece of creativity is motivated by something in the world. Political socialization is ever present. It’s the lens through which we see our world. Captain America: Brave New World…
Tim Brennan
February 17, 2025
If you’ve read my stuff for any length of time, you know I’ve been (maybe too long?) a one trick pony. A movie is released, I review that movie, and the world spins on. That’s what a film critic…
If you’ve read my …
If you’ve read my stuff for any length of time, you know I’ve been (maybe too long?) a one trick pony. A movie is released, I review that movie, and the world spins on. That’s what a film critic does, right? Right, but it occurs to me that I could offer y’all a little more variety. At some point down the road, perhaps I’ll hit the film festival circuit and not only write about the films I see, but what it feels like to spend time in that environment. From time to time, I also want to focus on interesting filmmakers who are either up and coming or don’t already command a spotligh…
Tim Brennan
February 10, 2025
By and large, I’m not a fan of seances. I understand the appeal, though. There’s something intensely alluring about the idea of talking to the dead, of reaching beyond this veil of tears and commu…
By and large, I’m …
By and large, I’m not a fan of seances. I understand the appeal, though. There’s something intensely alluring about the idea of talking to the dead, of reaching beyond this veil of tears and communicating with loved ones.* I understand the why, as well. A need to say goodbye. A need to ask a question. A need to deal with lingering guilt. That’s why spiritualism was so popular for a while.** A little research on good old Wikipedia tells me that spiritualism reached the apex of its popularity from the 1840s to the 1920s. Arthur Conan Doyle was a big fan, as was Mary Todd Lincoln. For so…
Tim Brennan
February 3, 2025
Despite the moves our current President is making to demolish diversity programs, inclusion will always matter. I think that’s more true in the arts than anywhere else, since art is all about perspe…
Despite the moves ou…
Despite the moves our current President is making to demolish diversity programs, inclusion will always matter. I think that’s more true in the arts than anywhere else, since art is all about perspective and empathy. However, is there such a thing as the “wrong” perspective? Maybe, when dusty old tropes are embraced rather than discarded. What kinds of tropes do I mean? In particular, I’m talking about tropes surrounding characters with disabilities in film. A few of them are: The person with disabilities is profoundly bitter. The person with disabilities is actually magical…
Tim Brennan
January 27, 2025
Joni Mitchell famously wrote, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” I suspect that sentiment will become even more commonplace over the next few years. Don’t get me wrong, I u…
Joni Mitchell famous…
Joni Mitchell famously wrote, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” I suspect that sentiment will become even more commonplace over the next few years. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that the only constant in the universe is change, and to wish for the present to be frozen in amber is, at best, wishful thinking. One of those things that’s disappearing - or perhaps changing - is trust in the media. I learned from Gallup* that in 1972, sixty-eight percent of Americans had between a great deal to a fair amount of trust in mass media. As of 2024, that number has plu…
Tim Brennan
January 20, 2025
These days, a lot of people proclaim with absolute certainty that they know where God is and what God is doing. They’re positive that, on July 13 of last year, God altered the trajectory of an assas…
These days, a lot of…
These days, a lot of people proclaim with absolute certainty that they know where God is and what God is doing. They’re positive that, on July 13 of last year, God altered the trajectory of an assassin’s bullet and saved Donald Trump at a rally. The fact that God didn’t see fit to save rally goer Corey Comperatore isn’t commented on much. We’re absolutely sure God is on our side, though there’s significantly less talk about if we’re on His side. I wonder if God is in Gaza. I’m not sure, but I know with absolute metaphysical certainty that miracles have occurred there. A stra…
Tim Brennan
January 13, 2025
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