Hollywood is built on sequels. For decades, studios have ruthlessly focused on IP’s and searched for profitable films that can be milked for additional installments. For decades, critics have gnashed their teeth and bemoaned the lack of originality in filmmaking. For decades, audiences have complained about Hollywood never doing anything new and then subsequently flocked […]

If you’re anything close to a movie nerd, you’ve probably seen references to CinemaScore. Let’s talk about what that is before we get to the subject of today’s review. CinemaScore is a market research firm out of Las Vegas. They perform audience surveys to rate their experiences in 25 major cities around the United States. […]

I wonder if Stephen King likes being an institution, because he sure is one. The guy has been in the writing business for over 40 years, and he’s become a genre unto himself. You may be one of his Constant Readers, you may bemoan his influence on popular literature, or maybe you’ve just read a […]

Post a pic or it didn’t happen. As of last month, there were a hair over 2 billion active users of Facebook. Maybe you’re not old and uncool like me, and you have better things to do than dwell on Facebook. Cool, because there are over 700 million Instagram users as of April. Maybe you’d […]

I know, I owe you an explanation. A laundry movie is a film that you can see in the theater, though you probably shouldn’t. Instead, it’s a film that plays in the background while you’re folding laundry, making out, checking social media, or doing essentially anything else. You can check out for a while, but […]

A friend of mine once confidently declared that she only watched movies to relax. Needless to say, I was horrified. I was baffled. I couldn’t let it go. “Let me get this straight. You’re not interested in watching great art.” “No.” “You don’t want to see an amazing performance, an incredible script, or peerless filmmaking.” […]

You already know that making a good movie is hard. The alchemy is peculiar, and it requires combining the skill of a craftsman with the soul of a poet to create something uniquely itself. If you think that’s tough, try adapting a novel into a movie. Sometimes the filmmaker can be faithful, too faithful to the source […]

I’m a father to a ten-year-old boy. Part of my job is to teach him to be a decent human being, to be kind to others, help whenever possible, and try to make things suck just a little bit less. I’m also white. My wife is white, so that makes our kid white. That whiteness […]

Are we entering an action movie Rennaissance? Maybe, because God knows we need it. Whether we like it or not, things have changed. As much as I’m a shill for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s a fact that superhero movies have largely taken the place of action movies. They’re still around, but these days theaters […]

I need to make a couple of confessions to y’all. First, I am scared to death of chimpanzees. Absolutely terrified. You might respond to that admission with, “What’s the problem with chimps, Mr. Scaredy-cat-wussy-pants? They are adorable, and they have a genetic profile that’s 98% similar to humans.” Fine, I’ll give you that. I’ll also mention that […]