The Little Mermaid is arguably one of my favorite Disney Princess animated films. Not only did it introduce a lifelong obsession with mermaids, but it was also the hook that pulled me into all things Disney. Going into the live action, there was some hesitance. Disney’s live-action attempts have not been the greatest. In multiple …
Review
One of the major contention points of the current writers’ strike is the use of artificial intelligence to write scripts. The writers, rightfully, would rather not see studios use AI to craft films or television shows, and they see it as a threat to their jobs and to the entertainment industry as a whole. AI …
In this age of serialized storytelling, of multi-film arcs that take years to resolve, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in real danger of doing something that the comic books these films are based on have struggled with for decades – keeping the status quo. There’s a resistance to change, of not shaking the tree too …
Citadel is the latest action-spy thriller to grace Prime Video. Clocking in at just six episodes, this latest series executive produced by the Russo Brothers’ AGBO looks enticing. With flashy visuals, tight-boxed action sequences, and a cast dialing into the over-the-top story points thrown at them, it has the makings of comfort food watching. As …
Evil Dead has a strong legacy. With each installment to the franchise, fans get to see how the mythos build while also reveling in delightfully fiendish gore and effects. A decade has passed since the last Evil Dead film, a film I will defend until my dying day, and we now have Evil Dead Rise. …
After abandoning his family and becoming Dracula’s servant for a hundred years, Renfield starts to have some regrets. Overworked and underappreciated, he begins to see his vampire master in a new light. When he stumbles upon a support group for people in toxic relationships, he realizes that Dracula has been using him in an abusive …
Colorful, energetic and empty as a sugar-laden breakfast cereal, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the kind of kid film that gives kid films a bad reputation. It preys on a younger audiences’ capacity for easy joy, the kind that can be easily filled by bright colors and loud noises, by offering nothing but a …
Are you vying for some more action coming off your viewing of John Wick: Chapter 4? Well, Netflix has something up their sleeve with the arrival of Kill Boksoon. Starring Crash Course in Romance‘s Jeon Do-yeon, writer/director Byun Sung-hyun crafts a film that feels familiar, yet still manages to excite with its beautifully-choreographed and shot …
Some warning: the first three rows reading this review may get some nerd on them. I normally hate doing this sort of thing, talking about how much a property means to me – all those personal anecdotes when a Star Wars or a comic book movie comes out and how much the source material was …
Not long after the events of Shazam!, Billy Batson and his foster siblings are still trying to figure out the whole superhero thing… with mixed results. While they manage to save many lives, there’s plenty of collateral damage along the way. Billy does his best to lead his new superhero team, but he has his …
Based on statistics that I can in no way verify, if the internet counters are accurate, the total amount of kills in the John Wick franchise (at least before its latest entry, John Wick: Chapter 4) stands at 299. That’s important, because the 300th kill is a significant one, and sets the events of the …
I may be showing my age a bit with this review. It’s easy to forget, in this modern age of cinematic universes and big budget extravaganzas, just how much Star Wars shifted the paradigm, and how much movie studios tried to follow in its success in the 1980s. A lot of it died on the …
Loud, ludicrous and full of blood and anguish with only a modicum of insight or intelligence, the Scream franchise has long since become what it used to satirize. A copy of a copy of a copy, Scream VI is a degraded photostat lacking all definition, showing only the rough contour of its antecedent but nothing in the interior. Whatever bite …
When Sylvester Stallone announced that he would not be appearing in Creed III, many (including myself) wondered where the series would go without Rocky Balboa as the father figure/mentor to Michael B. Jordan‘s Adonis Creed. It was also announced, at roughly the same time, that Jordan would be taking over directorial duties this time around, …
If you’re already planning on sitting down to a movie called Cocaine Bear this weekend, there isn’t much more to be said. They got you, you bought into the premise, and you’re perfectly happy with wherever the movie takes you, as long as the promise of the title is kept: there will be a bear, …
It’s been a few years since Carnival Row Season 1 debuted on Prime Video. In the first season, viewers were introduced to a fictional world of fantasy, pain, and relatable struggles surrounding class, race, and love. While Season 1 had issues with pacing and juggling too many plots, the world building and romance between Orlando …
“It’s not you, it’s me.” That’s a phrase we hear during a break-up that’s supposed to make the pain go down a little easier. I’m not the same person when we met. My needs and wants have changed. You’re great, you haven’t done anything wrong. We’ve just grown apart. Things like that. Well, after Ant-Man …
Magic Mike’s Last Dance may be the worst film Steven Soderbergh has ever made. Which isn’t to say it is bad, Soderbergh may be incapable of making an out and out bad film even with some of his low budget experiments of the 2000s. But it is thoroughly mediocre in a way Soderbergh has never …
M. Night Shyamalan‘s biggest strength as a director is his ability to orchestrate and sustain tension. It’s what makes The Sixth Sense so extraordinary – not the famous twist, but the subtle, inexorable power and pull the movie has. The film is also helped by two very strong performances, and Shyamalan wisely anchors the film …
The rich exploiting the impoverished is nothing new. Seeing how they find new ways to skirt the rules of the law — both in fiction and reality — can depress. However, in Brandon Cronenberg‘s Infinity Pool, we are both witnesses and gluttons of punishment, taking in the gradual breaking down and rebuilding of Alexander Skarsgård‘s …