‘Ghost in the Shell,’ the live action version of the popular 90’s anime and manga of the same name arrived in theaters last weekend, trailing with it some high expectations for adapting the source material and controversy around its’ casting choices. The final verdict on the end product is that it basically leaves little… Continue reading ‘Ghost in the Shell’ – A Visual Feast Without Much Meat?
* * * WARNING – SPOILERS ABOUND * * * Season 7 of ‘The Walking Dead’ premiered last October with the audience held in the palm of its’ hand. Although much derided for its’ blatant manipulation of fan emotion, the season premiere accomplished what it meant, to leave the cast of characters and the viewers… Continue reading ‘The Walking Dead’ (Season 7) – A Creative Lull or the Decline of Appointment TV?
‘Life,’ the recent thriller in theaters now, is meant to be a heady shocker about very capable people dealing with the first indisputable proof of life on Mars. What it ends up being is a film that looks great, is populated by recognizable actors, yet is in service to a plot driven by some very poor… Continue reading ‘Life’ – A Thriller in the ‘Alien’ Vein or Just a Series of Bad Decisions?
For better or worse, the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers have been popular with people across multiple generations around the world, starting in the 1990’s, and continuing right into today. Since nostalgia is hot (and very profitable), studio Lionsgate obtained the rights to bring the television and action figure stars to the big screen, backed by a… Continue reading ‘Power Rangers’ – A Failed Attempt at Modernizing a Global Phenomenon?
Fans (and who isn’t, really) of the 1991 original animated Disney classic, ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ should be blown away by the fine-tuned detail on display in the new live action adaptation in theaters now. All of the original Alan Menken songs are present and staged with the aid of computer effects. The costumes evoke the… Continue reading ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – A Painstakingly Live Action Staging of a Classic?
As kids, who didn’t want to see King Kong ten times his size, taking on the humans who would otherwise exploit or kill him, even fighting on the side of the good guys? ‘Kong: Skull Island’ arrives in theaters with all this in mind, in an attempt by production house Legendary and studio Warner Bros. to kick-start a shared universe of… Continue reading ‘Kong: Skull Island’ – The Ultimate B-Movie Experience?
Hugh Jackman has stated that the new Wolverine stand-alone film, ‘Logan,’ will be the final time he portrays the character. It is only fitting that he does so as X-Men comic book movies produced by 20th Century Fox have entered the ‘baroque’ phase of genre evolution, when an art form transcends the confines of its’… Continue reading ‘Logan’ – A Swan Song to the Legend of the Wolverine?
Jordan Peele is a funny guy – as one half of the Comedy Central hit, ‘Key & Peele’ he regularly wrote and participated in skit after skit that skewered racial issues with a populist slant. Now that the two comedians have ended their show on a high note, he sought to create, to paraphrase his own… Continue reading ‘Get Out’ – A Sly Satire of Race Assimilation Wrapped in a Crowd Pleasing Thriller?
The presentation of the Academy Awards is the perfect time to reflect on what the best movies of the previous year really were. As opposed to scrambling out a top ten list that gets heavily influenced by all of the year-end Oscar bait, taking some time to consider, and even revisit favorites a few months… Continue reading Top Ten Films of 2016 – Reinventing Genre, Celebrating Cinema?
The idea of the New England witch is a ripe subject, studied intensely as a shameful part of the American past, immortalized in the oft-produced and taught play, ‘The Crucible,’ but one would be hard pressed to identify an artistic representation on screen fitting of the matter’s resonant themes of religious persecution, feminine repression, and… Continue reading ‘The Witch’ – The Definitive Horror Piece on the American Witch?
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