Before the Season 3 crowdfunding exclusives were delivered, I did a similar version of this list. Since then, most of my beliefs about the heroic characters in this game have stayed the same. I still think it’s true that stars are undervalued compared to punches. Push comes to shove, I think you’re more likely to… Read More Marvel United Season All Seasons Character Rankings
The first part of this series, where I talk about the historical context for superhero movies as a genre, is here. The second part, where I talk the superhero movies I think are the best, as well as the superhero movies other people think are the best, is here. The Auteurs of the Superhero Genre… Read More The Fourth Genre: The Auteurs
Exactly what the title says. I took Toby to the vet (he’s acting normal except for the throwing up thing, he should be fine) and got home around 5:30. I’m starting the actual writing of this list at 7:30. The goal is to finish within three hours or so. (Update: three hours and thirteen minutes.… Read More I Made a Better “Best 101 Acting Performances of the 21st Century” Than The Ringer While My Cat Was Barfing
This is the second part of a three-part series. The first part, where I talk about the superhero genre’s place among other quintessentially American film genres, is here. The Best of the Fourth Genre What I was going to do here, in the interests of giving you the wisdom of crowds and critics, was one… Read More The Fourth Genre: The Best Superhero Movies
The Fourth Genre (Just in Case You’re from Space and Haven’t Seen The Avengers) Before I watched a bunch of DC animated movies, I watched A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies. In that doc, Scorsese says there are three American genres, genres which sprung up in their fullest forms in American movies:… Read More The Fourth American Genre: The Superhero Movie
Recently, I was inspired by the unveiling of the Variety list of the 100 best horror movies. I was curious why the list had been received with trepidation. To sum up the post, my conclusion was that Variety included a number of older movies which rely more on atmosphere than gore or jump scares, and… Read More Which Movies Make Up the Horror Canon?
For those of you coming to the discourse a little late, let’s summarize some of the little reasons why people got mad at the Variety list. (The list was put together by Siddhant Adlakha, Peter Debruge, William Earl, Owen Gleiberman, Courtney Howard, Tomris Laffly, Amy Nicholson, and Rene Rodriguez. I wish that they, as Slant… Read More The Variety 100 Best Horror Movies – Whose Horror Is It Anyway?
Dir. Marc Webb. Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx Every movie adaptation of the Batman story has to cope with the Joker in the same way that whenever Poochie’s not on screen, the other characters should be asking, “Where’s Poochie?” “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” doesn’t cast quite as long a shadow as Poochie… Read More The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Dir. Fred Zinnemann. Starring Shirley Jones, Gordan MacRae, Charlotte Greenwood The year is 1955, the year of Kismet and Rebel without a Cause. The black-and-white musical is dead. The model of 42nd Street is crumbling around the feet of The Band Wagon. The three M’s (that’s “Method,” “Meisner,” and “Miller”) are coming to symbolize the… Read More Oklahoma! (1955)
From @JFrankensteiner, one of the leading lights of Film Twitter, the guy who popularized “Jimmy Carter: Letterboxd President.” This has over six million views on Twitter and more than 100,000 likes. Is it hyperbole? Is this, in fact, the worst filmography you’re liable to see in your life? As ever, I am still just one… Read More Who Has the Worst Filmography of All Time?
Seeing Things Secondhand 