J.J. Abrams’ torturous embrace of determinism and nostalgic imagery sinks what might have been a triumphant Star Wars finale.
The Jungle Book Succeeds Where Jurassic World Fails
Dinosaurs are by far the largest and most spectacular creatures ever to walk this earth. Consider the magnificent Brontosaurus; up to 90 feet and 35 tons worth of saurian majesty. Elongated neck on one side, whip like tail on the other, legs like pillars of an ancient temple in between. As for the color of […]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I paid attention to the little things in The Force Awakens. Some of these were visual — the small creature with eyes set apart like a hammerhead shark poking its head out of the sand, the vulturous creature picking at the remains of a ship as if it were a carcass. Others were musical, like […]
12 Years a Slave
For as long as cinema has existed, there have been movies about human atrocity. It’s one of our favorite things to tell stories about. The optimist would say that these films help us to heal wounds, to work through difficult cultural memories by recreating them in a dramatized context. The pessimist would say that these […]
