Love Letters and Angry Rants of a Devoted Cinephile
The concept of a prequel is always difficult to justify. What story value can be gained by going back in time rather than continuing forward? The ones that work (The Godfather Part II, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) succeed by not only filling in the gaps of the material that came before it, but... Continue Reading →
Frank Herbert's classic Dune novel from 1965 was called unfilmable. Which is a ridiculous thing to say. You know how many books have been called unfilmable: The Lord of the Rings, Anna Karenina, The Lovely Bones (okay, that one wasn't good, but I still hold that it could have been adapted well). Given David Lynch's... Continue Reading →
The problem with this Monsterverse of films has never been scope or engaging sequences or even necessarily plot; it's been characters. Try to name one character from this set of Godzilla, King Kong and Ghidorah films that is somewhat interesting, somewhat compelling. You can't. These characters are boring, lifeless and forgettable. And Monarch: Legacy of... Continue Reading →
The weakest part of pretty much every Godzilla movie is everyone that is not Godzilla. You almost root for the big guy to smash towns (and people) because they are so bland and interchangeable. But Godzilla: Minus One alters the formula by... making us care about the humans?! An astounding change of pace. Written and... Continue Reading →
Adam Driver and dinosaurs. You think that concept alone would be enough to guarantee a hit, but 65 is so paper-thin in terms of plot and wit that it just plods along without much emotional impact, making its 90-minute runtime feel twice its length. Not even Kylo Ren can make this story feel worthwhile. Written... Continue Reading →
The character of Spider-Man has been around since 1963. After decades of superhero stories starting with Superman and continuing through Batman, Wonder Woman and the Fantastic Four, his arrival heralded (in my opinion) the perfection of the superhero character: a relatable hero, stuck in the doldrums of youth, depressed, wanting, burdened by great power and... Continue Reading →
The idea of a Cassian Andor series is still a little ludicrous to me; anybody remember that random character from Rogue One who dies at the end? (I mean, they all die at the end. Spoilers, I guess), Disney really seems to be digging at the bottom of the barrel here for Star Wars material.... Continue Reading →
Properties based off videogames have proven to be highly problematic. Tomb Raider, Warcraft, Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil, Sonic, Assassin's Creed, the fricking Angry Birds... the list goes on and on of terrible adaptations. Why though? It is an actual mystery. Are the studios rushing these projects into production to just make a quick buck?... Continue Reading →
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had the unenviable task of balancing multiple situations: a sequel to a hugely successful film, another chapter in the MCU, a continuation of a cultural watershed and of course the unexpected death of star Chadwick Boseman. That the film is as good as it is is a testament to writer-director Ryan... Continue Reading →
There's been a spat of AI-run-amuck films recently: Blade Runner: 2049, i, Robot, Ex Machina, who knows how many Terminator movies. It reflects general human fear about new technology, the unknown progress that may replace us or render us obsolete. Which is all pretty ridiculous given what technology has given us. But M3gan takes that... Continue Reading →
Hardwired for Film 