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 […]
Debating Avengers: Age of Ultron with The Waffle Press
Diego Crespo of The Waffle Press is a stalwart defender of Age of Ultron, a film he believes qualifies as one of the best and most thematically rich MCU films released thus far. I, on the other hand, found Joss Whedon’s Avengers follow-up utterly hollow, terribly confusing and altogether disappointing. Diego invited me onto his show to discuss […]
Nate’s Top 10 Films of 2014
So many movies released in the past twelve months felt like advertisements that it was nice when the year periodically decided to come back from commercial break. That doesn’t mean that every non-blockbuster was a masterpiece. For every gem like The Grand Budapest Hotel there were duds like Palo Alto or Transcendence. And don’t get me started on The Giver again. I […]
Hailey’s Best Films of 2014
2014 was an entertaining year for film. Marvel experienced huge successes with Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Big Hero 6. We also saw a large influx of action/comedy films, with 22 Jump Street being the prime example of how well action and comedy can mix together. Animated movies also had a good year. […]
Lucy
“The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. Imagine what she could do with 100%.” That was the tagline seen on the posters for Lucy. It’s useless harp on the fact that this ” 10%” theory is absolutely untrue. What matters is that this myth well-known and widespread, and so captured the imagination of Luc Besson’s potential audience. Unfortunately, […]
Stephen Stanton of Life Itself, The 7D and The Legend of Korra
Director Steve James still gets questions about how he got Roger Ebert to record narration for Life Itself. But as he always tells the audience, that isn’t really Mr. Ebert talking – it’s Stephen Stanton. While you may not have heard of him, you’ve almost certainly heard his voice. Mr. Stanton is a renowned voice actor who has lent […]
Under the Skin
It is a warm Friday afternoon in late April. I am sitting in a coffee shop having a conversation with an excellent teacher. He tells me to see a film called Under the Skin that’s just opened at the local Cinemark. I add it to the top of my ever-lengthening mental list, and on the following Wednesday, […]
Superhero Madness, Part 2: The MCU
Marvel has made cinematic history with their foray into the movies. Although the rights to two of their most valuable properties – X-Men and Spider-Man – respectively belong to Fox and Sony, Marvel has nevertheless created the most profitable franchise of all time. And along the way, they’ve made some of the best superhero movies […]
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Times have changed. Idealized, hokey but self-aware World War 2 imagery has been replaced with high-tech suspense, political allegories, and twists and turns that’ll alter how viewers see the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you were expecting more of Captain America: The First Avenger, then prepare to be shocked. Iron Man may have been the start […]
2013 A Strong Year in Film
Moviegoers were well-tended in 2013. The past year in film was certainly diverse, with plenty of highs and lows along the way. With a decent slew of quality popcorn flicks and some very pleasant surprises in multiple genres, this was a big year for the silver screen. While it wasn’t quite the sequel-dominated year that, […]
The Avengers is Assembled Well-Enough
My friend Josh Rosenfield over on Popcorn Culture recently wrote a critique of The Avengers. While it was a well-written analysis, it was, shall we say, somewhat less favorable than I was with my review. I felt that the points I wanted to make into rebuttal to that post were too much for a comment, so I decided to […]
The Avengers
Well here we are – it’s May, and The Avengers, my second most anticipated movie of the year (out-shined only by the behemoth that is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), has finally been released. Under the direction of perhaps one of my favorite writer/directors, Joss Whedon, my expectations for the film were tempered only by some […]
