Men are in the spotlight at this year’s Oscars, but not women, even though women directed the best movies of 2018 that happen to be specifically about men. Natch. Continue reading
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Filed under Editorials …
“Here’s The True Story of Paige, The WWE Star In ‘Fighting With My Family'”
Paige, WWE Diva champion, made some history about eight years back in her main roster debut on WWE RAW. Now, Stephen Merchant has a film out about her. How does her story transition from ring to screen? Short version: Pretty well! Continue reading
“The Surprising Moments of ‘Happy Death Day 2U'”
How do you make a sequel to a slasher-fied “Groundhog Day”? Watch “Happy Death Day 2U” to find out. How do you make a sequel to THAT? Well, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Continue reading
“How ‘Lego Movie 2’ Pokes Fun At The Evolution Of Chris Pratt”
You might like your Chris Pratt beefy or made of Lego bricks, but he’s at his best when he’s just playing huggy, lovable, cream puff doofuses. Continue reading
“High Flying Bird And America’s Modern-day Auction Block”
Steve Soderbergh picks up an iPhone and in accordance with the words of the great Tarell Alvin McCraney, he puts together a movie arguing that pro sports and slavery aren’t that dissimilar as institutions. The results: Great. Continue reading
“Crimson Peak Showed Us What Unapologetic, Award-Winning Horror Looks Like”
For those of you who are not yet sick to the point of barfing from hearing Andy kvetch and piss and moan about how bad “Hereditary” is…here’s another piece where Andy kvetches and pisses and moans about how bad “Hereditary” is. Continue reading
“How Netflix’s ‘Polar’ Differs From The Comics”
Brrr! Is it chilly in here, or is it just Mads Mikkelsen on a killing spree that’d put most slasher all-time body counts to shame? (It’s chilly in here. It’s January. But Mikkelsen still rocks.) Continue reading
“‘Beale Street’ and Time”
In the Baldwin novel, time is a motif, but in Jenkins’ adaptation, it’s a theme that spans his filmography all the way back to “Medicine for Melancholy.” Continue reading
“Why ‘Glass’ Twist May Feel Unsatisfying”
The big twist of M. Night Shyamalan’s capper to his homegrown superhero movie? It’s actually an obnoxiously self-satisfied deconstruction of superhero tropes. Continue reading
“Vox Lux, A Star Is Born, And Bohemian Rhapsody All Challenged The Pop Persona In 2018”
2018 had pop stardom on its mind, but the best pop star movie of the year is the one that bothers being honest about how we talk pop culture in the first place. Continue reading
“How ‘Bird Box’ Tweaked the Book’s Ending”
You have questions about the ending of BIRD BOX. We have answers. (Actually, I have questions, and I have answers, plus residual anxiety that Netflix will green-light a totally unnecessary sequel to this thing.) Continue reading
“‘Escape Room’ and the Comfort of a Predictable Formula”
I generally avoid describing movies as “formulaic”*, except as a matter of fact; I neither consider formula a positive nor a negative. Formulas have their place. Good movies rely on formula. Bad movies rely on formula. Movies in between the two, the movies that comprise the majority of the bricks in the cinematic pyramid, also … Continue reading
“‘Mowgli’ in the Shadow of ‘Lord of the Rings'”
It happens to us all: We crib, subconsciously, from the books and movies and shows and plays and such that make up our creative genetic material, whether when we’re writing our own books or movies or whatever, or writing about others’ books or movies or whatever. In the case of Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, that mental bleed wound … Continue reading
“‘Robin Hood’ And Making A War Movie Out Of A Folk Hero”
Look, I really can’t explain Robin Hood to you, even in two frigging articles; it’s an inexplicable movie. On the one hand, he’s Batman for whatever dumb reason. On the other hand he’s Chris Kyle. I don’t get it. It’s fine to try and update classic characters of yore like this guy, but I’m not sure the … Continue reading
“How ‘Twilight’ Sparked A YA Craze It Then Helped Destroy”
I wonder if I’m being overly critical of Twilight here, suggesting that it’s Twilight‘s fault YA has apparently moved on from genre to more reality-based material; I do very much loathe Twilight, because I love hewing to popular opinion, but at the same time I’m grateful for it as a basis for the careers of Robert Pattinson … Continue reading
“What ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Lost by Leaving ‘Harry Potter’ Behind”
You may remember that two years ago, I had very unflattering things to say about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, allegedly a “spin-off” from and “prequel” to the Harry Potter films, but more honestly an attempt at squeezing a few bajillion more dimes out of J.K. Rowling’s now-classic YA series. To paraphrase Sarah Silverman in Popstar: … Continue reading
“When ‘Rambo’ Was a (Relatively) Grounded Character Study”
The operative word here is probably “relatively,” because even the very first Rambo movie, which, of course, you know is called First Blood*, isn’t exactly “grounded” as in “realistic.” I suppose there’s some element of realism in the sense that a guy like John Rambo would probably be pretty hard to catch and nail down if he … Continue reading
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Coen Brothers’ New Netflix Movie, Is What TV Wishes It Could Be”
A snafu in my latest for Men’s Health, a snag, let’s say, in my multi-point praise for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and my case against peak TV: Apparently, per cast member Zoe Kazan, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was never conceived as a TV series, despite months of reporting that the Coen brothers “retooled” the series as … Continue reading
