Overview It is not an exaggeration to say that this 2014 U.S. summer box office was catastrophic in terms of both profit and attendance. May, ($1.23B, -15.7% compared to May 2013), June (~$994$, -19.2% compared to June 2013), and especially July (~$803M, -39.2% compared to July 2013) were all big disappointments for American studios. We did see a turnaround […]
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Time is unstoppable. That much is clear in Marc Webb’s second outing with everyone’s favorite wall-crawler. The director opens this film with a close up on the gears of a watch, focusing on time slipping second by second. His use of foreshadowing is blatant, especially if you know a thing or two about a certain […]
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 […]
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, […]
The Amazing Spider-Man
It has been a long, long decade since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man debuted in 2002. The comic book film universe has been on a roller coaster of highs and lows, producing everything from drivel like Ang Lee’s Hulk and Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand to blockbuster hits like Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and Christopher Nolan’s […]
