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Since Toy Story‘s premiere way back in 1995, Pixar’s name has become synonymous with quality. With the possible exception of the more generic Cars 2, Pixar movies are reliably breathtaking affairs that tug on our heartstrings even as they’re making us laugh and wowing us with beautiful visuals. The studio has an armload of Oscars to further drive home the point that they make the [...]
I’m sure no one wants their movie to be labeled bad. Hearing someone proclaim a movie the worst isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement…unless you have a soft spot for bad movies. Which I do. A steady diet of schlock would eventually drive me crazy, but occasionally I just want to watch something cheesy and over the top (sometimes literally because Over the Top is an [...]
Costume dramas are my ultimate movie comfort food. The gowns, the tights, the manners, the buildup to the chaste (and not so chaste) final act kisses–nothing else is quite so satisfying. It’s a genre that is rooted in familiar tropes and familiar characters and as a viewer I wouldn’t have it any other way. Romantic costume dramas are timeless; they speak to that part of [...]
Sometimes I feel like I watch superhero movies wrong. I get overinvested in the relationships, bored with the villains (particularly if there’s more than one big bad) and, most importantly for the purposes of this article, distracted by the supporting characters. It’s not my fault. Superhero movies often have large ensemble casts and the main cape and tight wearers tend to have very specific types [...]
Sometimes it’s hard to predict which movies will catch on at the box office and which ones will languish. Franchises like the Harry Potter films are a safe bet, but little movies with no built in fanbase (or one too tiny to add up to millions of dollars worth of revenue) are on their own. Add in mixed reviews and you’ve got the perfect recipe [...]
We all love a good romance movie. Few things in life are as satisfying as watching a couple fall in love on the big screen. They go through their requisite meet cute and getting to know you phase before some misunderstanding or obstacle comes along to temporarily break them up so they can have a big, emotional reunion in the final act. It’s a familiar [...]
Fairy tales are kind of a thing right now. It’s not like those tales of princesses and happily ever afters ever actually went away, but they haven’t experienced a renaissance on this level since Disney started mining them for features back in its Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs-fueled heyday. Right now we have Mirror Mirror in theaters with Snow White and the Huntsman not [...]
It seems strange that watching movies, an activity that is by nature passive, can inspire wanderlust in viewers, but the medium of film is actually in a unique position in that it can quite literally take us anywhere. All a filmmaker has to do is turn his camera on the natural beauty of India, Venice or even Kansas and as long as the cinematography is [...]
Darth Vader, Anton Chigurh, The Joker–these are classic movie villains. They have the ability to strike fear (and a twisted sense of admiration) into even the bravest of hearts. As villains go, they make sense. Clown-faced mad men, stoic coin-flipping killers and evil overlords are a kind of scary moviegoers can understand. But there are some movie villains that are just downright bizarre. I blame [...]
The desert island game used to be reserved for books. Lists were used to test the coolness (or literary savviness) of new and old friends alike, but now it’s perfectly plausible to assume you could crash land on an island with a solar battery and a laptop full of digital copies of your favorite films. Just like with books, asking someone what movies they would [...]
