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)
At the 96th Academy Awards, Diane Warren failed to win Best Original Song for the fifteenth time in fifteen tries. Shockingly, “The Fire Inside,” written for the movie about the guy who did not in fact come up with the idea for hot Cheetos, did not win. On the other hand, I’m willing to wager… Read More The Warren Index: Will They Win a Competitive Oscar Before Diane Warren?
Dir. Jon Watts. Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Willem Dafoe Spoilers, but also I might be the last person in America to see this. In Spider-Man 2, there are two climactic action scenes which must be considered alongside the best sequences of this subgenre. First, the one where Spider-Man stops a speeding train, saving the many… Read More Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
The part of this song that everyone likes best is the “What can you do/What can you DOOOOOOO,” which is pure vocal catnip. We’re supposed to like it. It’s in there as enjoyable punctuation in a number which is not shy about throwing chest voice belting in with rapid enunciation. In the Raul Esparza interpretation… Read More “30/90,” from tick…tick…BOOM!
Dir. Lin-Manuel Miranda. Starring Andrew Garfield, Robin de Jesús, Alexandra Shipp There are spoilers for a recent release below…as always, I don’t care, but maybe you do! During my musicals phase, this one (which I’m abbreviating as TTB the rest of the way because I have not gotten any more patient in my obsolescence) was… Read More tick, tick…BOOM! (2021)
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. To read the second half of my post on 2016, click here. Well, here it is. If not the best year of the decade, then very… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2016, Part 1
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 80-76
You can read up on the basis for this series here, and also find links to other posts in the series. Movies I’ve reviewed on this site have a link in the title which you can follow to read my full review. 10) Cloud Atlas (2012), directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer Look,… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Sprawling, 10-6
The following is part of an overview of the top 100 American narrative fiction feature films, from my perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility qualifications, click here.… Read More Better than AFI’s Top 100: 95-91
Dir. David Fincher. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer There is a sadness at the heart of The Social Network which is attractive to me because so much of it is self-inflicted. When we recall the movie, we will no doubt remember the warmly lit but definitely dour boardrooms where the depositions take place, and we… Read More The Social Network (2010)
Seeing Things Secondhand 