The Video Game Movie Curse is Dead
I think there’s an odd conception about movies based on video games, that they must suffer from some curse. I wrote a book called Pixels to Premieres: A History of Video Game Movies and when I sold the book the most common comment was “that must’ve been an agonizing book Continue Reading
Revenge of the Nerds is Worse Now More Than Ever
1984’s Revenge of the Nerds is a film that has not aged well. At all. This notion has been a little easier to accept shortcomings that become more obvious over time. The lead nerd of Louis having sex with a woman under a false identity is basically rape, the race Continue Reading
Missing the Movie Theater
The last movie I saw prior to the Coronavirus pandemic shutdown was a preview screening of Bloodshot, a routine and forgettable action picture of Vin Diesel playing a cyborg seeking revenge. I sat there in the theater with the comfy seats, the massive screen, and Dolby sound, not the least Continue Reading
Top 10 Films of 2019
What a whirlwind of a year it’s been. We saw a legacy of Marvel movies and a trilogy of Star Wars draw to a close, even though we know they won’t be slowing down coming into 2020 as the Disney movie-money train is chugging hard. We saw Green Book win Continue Reading
The Last Jedi is Good, Actually
Early in the week of December 15th, 2017, I ventured into the theater for the preview screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It was an exciting event as there were so many burning questions desired to be answered about the next entry in the new trilogy. The lights went Continue Reading
No Punchline: Joker’s Nihilism Nosedive
The 2019 film Joker may appear like the most artful picture amid the tsunami of samey superhero films. It is by far the most divergent. There’s no hero that comes to save the day. The central villain is not made out to be an anti-hero. The tone is relentlessly bleak, Continue Reading
Top 10 Best Films of 2018
2018 was a fast and exhilarating year for film. Marvel Studios celebrated its 10th year anniversary of superhero films, setting new box office records for the trailblazing films of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Horror was given a massive shot in the arm with such brilliant doses of the Continue Reading
The Best Movies of 2017
2017 was certainly an interesting year of movies. Marvel Studios did the same old thing with Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, a brand new thing with Spider-Man: Homecoming, and slap a technicolor coat on Thor: Ragnarok. DC Comics finally delivered a solid effort with Wonder Woman, only to go Continue Reading
No, It’s a Horror Movie
There’s an old joke about the difference between a film being a horror or a thriller; thrillers win awards. There’s a stigma that seems to come with a horror film where if it turns out to be a brilliant movie, audiences deny the genre attached to it. Two of the most Continue Reading