If a genie offered you three wishes, what would you wish for? You’ve probably had that conversation. Whether you were baked out of your mind, sitting around a campfire, or chatting with a close friend or lover, that question has passed through your mind. You could make that one person fall in love with you. You could become as rich as Croesus. Hell, you could eat as many tacos as you want and never gain weight. The conversation about wishes is one that matters, one that’s always mattered. That’s because it’s ultimately about stories. As humans, we make sense of the world through narratives.... Read More

We’re 14 movies into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In and of itself, that is a massive triumph. Most franchises really start to suck hard by the third installment, if you’re lucky. But I’m hard-pressed to think of another film series that has the energy and longevity of Marvel Studios. Luckily, they had a blueprint to draw from. The Marvel Universe really* began in 1961 with the first issue of Fantastic Four. When Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others began churning out iconic characters at an amazing rate, they broke ground in two unexpected ways. First, they took the time to give... Read More

For anybody who likes movies, especially those of us who are approaching or have already reached a certain age, there’s a temptation to drag out the hoary old chestnut of, “They don’t make ’em like they used to.” That statement is the rhetorical equivalent of Schrodinger’s Cat, where it is both true and false at the same time. Please allow me to explain. On the one hand, as long as there have been movies, the majority of them have been garbage. Jump onto your favorite search engine and plug in any year you care to name. You’ll see that no matter the... Read More