Op-Ed: Is Story Still King? An Examination of Pixar’s Future
Among the fabled Pixar legends, which include the “Black Friday” Toy Story reel, the cancelled Newt project, and the reason why Cars 2 exists, there is the story of one quietly life-changing lunch. In 1994, a year before Toy Story came out and birthed the digital animation craze, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and … Read more
Op-Ed: Iconic Directors and Characters Step Into the Limelight for 2013
2012 was a landmark year in many ways. With the release of The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spider-Man, the industry saw the true power of the superhero genre as it established itself as the new Hollywood mainstay. Indie comedies like Safety Not Guaranteed and Your Sister’s Sister ruled the underground, while … Read more
Op-Ed: Roger Ebert Changed My Life With Butter and Salt
I was in the midst of learning to run an Enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) when I heard the news about Roger Ebert’s passing. And if I am being completely honest, it shattered me. The nation had lost one of its best writers, the industry had lost a giant, and I had lost my North Star. I … Read more
Op-Ed: Stanley Kubrick: Iconographic King
An elevator door opens to reveal a river of blood. A bone tossed into the sky by a monkey becomes a space station. A young droog kicks and beats an old man to the tune of Singin’ in the Rain. A crazed aircraft commander rides a nuclear bomb like a rodeo cowboy. An over-the-top drill … Read more
Op-Ed: Søren and Josh’s Oscarcast
If you were following us on Twitter (and you should be), you’ve already seen bits and pieces of thoughts from the Movie Fail staff on this year’s Oscars ceremony this past Sunday. In this podcast, Josh and I cover everything from the Rhythm and Hues protests to Seth MacFarlane as we discuss the event. Take … Read more
Five Movies With Bad Sequels (Guest Post)
We’ve all seen them: movie sequels that never should have been made. The original movie was great, so when the sequel comes out, you think, “Hey, why not? The first one was good, so I’ll give it a shot.” And then you watch it, falling into a trap that has been catching moviegoers since the … Read more
Op-Ed: Five Films to Cuddle Up With
As you may or may not have heard, I am now officially a film correspondent for The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I was asked to create a multimedia presentation for the paper. Below you will find the fruits of my labor: five excellent films you and your significant other can … Read more
Op-Ed: On Abrams, Star Wars, and Episode VII
After rumors started really picking up about the next director of the Star Wars franchise, Disney released a statement officially confirming that JJ Abrams, director of the 2009 reboot of Star Trek and the more recent Super 8, will head up Episode VII. So the guy who successfully resurrected an old science fiction show has been assigned to another … Read more
Top Ten: Steve’s Most Anticipated Movies of 2013 (Guest Post)
Making a list of films I anticipate for the coming year almost never works. I always wind up finding more films that I’m dying to see, and sometimes forget about the ones that I originally planned to watch. I saw over one hundred films that were released last year and I only estimated I’d see … Read more
Op-Ed: Ari’s Top Ten Movies of 2012
This was my first year as a fully-enrolled film student. Sometimes I worry becoming a filmmaker will make it harder to enjoy movies as a filmgoer. Thankfully, I haven’t become a bitter old quite hack yet; there were some movies I got really excited about this past year. So without further ado, here are ten … Read more
