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: 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: Five Movie Fails for 2012
Sometimes movies are just plain bad, as we well know. But in this author’s humble opinion, seeing the films that we wanted so badly to like crash and burn is much, much worse. Here’s a list of five films that were nowhere near as good as they should have been, making them the biggest disappointments … Read more
Academia: Chungking Express In The Framework of Classical Hollywood Structure
Here is an academic piece I wrote on how Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express fits into film expert David Bordwell’s definition of classical Hollywood structure. For reference, here is his direct quote from p. 74 of Bordwell and Thompson’s Film Art: An Introduction: “Hollywood plots consist of clear chains of causes and effects, … Read more
Movie Review: To Rome with Love
Coming off of his fourth Academy Award for the wonderful Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen attempts once again to catch that European lightning in a bottle with To Rome with Love. Unfortunately for him, comparisons to his last film are inevitable, making the fact that To Rome doesn’t measure up to the quality of the writing, story, dialogue, or … Read more
Top Ten: Ari’s Favorite Moments from Game of Thrones Season 2
We don’t usually cover television shows here on Movie Fail Reviews, but we thought we’d do a piece on the second season of Game of Thrones and see how it does with our readership. Anyway, who doesn’t love reading Ari’s posts? Warning – spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 2 to follow. 10) Theon’s Choice I’m a sucker for … Read more
