Knives Out was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at this year’s Oscars. It didn’t win. The Academy favored Parasite over Knives Out, and indeed, Parasite had a deservedly big night. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote here about its Best Picture win, and I broke down in detail the effectiveness of its screenplay and …
Category: Reviews
1917 – An Intense Movie Well-Shown
There is a reason 1917 is crushing it at the Box Office. Yes, it’s one of the most intense films I’ve seen in a long time. It almost never lets up. Even scenes in which the action and the tension seem to lessen in order for the audience to catch their collective breath, there is …
My Thoughts on Joker
Man, Joker is an intense movie. Everything about Director Todd Phillips’ origin story for the iconic villain is intense, from the incredible performance by Joaquin Phoenix to the excellent story, which feels more like a Scorsese mash-up than a DC popcorn movie. It’s interesting. I can see several variations on how this could have been …
Captain Marvel or: How Marvel Became the McDonald’s of Cinema
Few movies in the Marvel canon have been as anticipated as Captain Marvel, and few Marvel movies have been as divisive upon release. Marvel films are generally popcorn movies with little in the way of overt social commentary, which is usually just fine. Their sole purpose it to entertain you, and most of the time …
Avengers: Infinity War – Best Marvel Movie Ever
I saw Avengers: Infinity War Friday night, and I’m prepared to call it the best Marvel film of their relatively short history. I’m not including Logan because it’s in a different canon, and it was a totally different style of storytelling and film making. That said, it’s probably the best film to bear that Marvel …
My Thoughts on The Death of Stalin
If you didn’t see The Death of Stalin when it opened in theaters this past weekend, and judging by the box office numbers, you didn’t, then you missed a biting satire with a script that performs dialogue gymnastics and a troupe of actors who brought their A-games to the screen. This is a thoughtful and …
My Top-10 Pre-1970 Disney Animated Films
I wrote this blog for Night Owl TV and it first appeared on their site on January 18, 2018. A link to that post and other Night Owl TV material can be found here. …
My Initial Thoughts on Black Panther
I’m going to get this out of the way immediately. I liked Black Panther, but I did not love it. I would rank it high in the Marvel pantheon but it was certainly not my favorite Marvel film. I’d have to digest it a little more, but my initial ranking would put it behind Iron …
My Top-7 John Huston Films
I wrote this blog for Night Owl TV and it first appeared on their site on January 10, 2018. A link to that post and other Night Owl TV material can be found here. John Huston was one of the most important and greatest directors of the 20th Century. A two-time Oscar winner and 12-time …
Coco – A Feast for the Eyes, Ears and Heart
I am one of the few people who has been down on PIXAR films over the past decade. It could be because their first decade was so full of amazing films that their own bar was set impossibly high. Like many other studios, PIXAR also experienced their own “brain drain” as talented artists left the …