The Five-Movies Test or: Which Director Has Had the Best Stretch of Consecutive Feature-Length Films in English?

Steven Hyden introduced his five-albums test more than a decade ago as a third way to judge a band, short of its popularity or its critical acclaim. While this one is not meant to stand on its own—for example, he’s not sure that either Bob Dylan nor the Rolling Stones had made five great albums… Read More The Five-Movies Test or: Which Director Has Had the Best Stretch of Consecutive Feature-Length Films in English?

May 5, 2022May 6, 2022 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

Pixar Meta-Analysis

I started this meta-analysis hoping to have somewhere between fifteen and twenty lists to go on. In the end I found forty, because the results kept shifting when I’d enter new data. For the Tarantino analysis, for example, adding more lists would basically just solidify where every movie landed. Here, though, there are multiple pairs… Read More Pixar Meta-Analysis

May 6, 2021May 13, 2021 speakerformediocrities3 Comments

Disney/Pixar Rankings: 10-6

The landing page, with rationale and links to other posts in this series, can be found here. Most of what I said in my last post about Toy Story 2 carries over to Ratatouille, with the caveat that the theoretical in this movie comes out more strongly, and Ratatouille cuts out a lot of the silliness that Toy Story 2 didn’t benefit… Read More Disney/Pixar Rankings: 10-6

June 25, 2019May 12, 2021 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

Disney/Pixar Rankings: 45-41

The landing page, with rationale and links to other posts in this series, can be found here. Somewhere towards the end of this movie, I had to level with myself. I was laughing my butt off at basically everything Jack-Jack did, but as the movie decided to get closer to solving its plot and further away… Read More Disney/Pixar Rankings: 45-41

June 17, 2019May 12, 2021 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

The Incredibles 2 (2018)

Dir. Brad Bird. Starring Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Catherine Keener I never write about movies on their opening weekend, but because I am here…spoilers. Many spoilers. In the abstract, an Incredibles 2 seems as heinous as a Toy Story 4. Both The Incredibles and Toy Story 3 end, in my opinion, quite completely and… Read More The Incredibles 2 (2018)

June 17, 2018 speakerformediocrities2 Comments

100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Family Drama, 5-1

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. 5) Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), directed by Woody Allen (Straightens tie, looks… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Family Drama, 5-1

November 7, 2017 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Speculative, 10-6

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) Arrival (2016), directed by Denis Villeneuve “What if communicating with aliens… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Speculative, 10-6

July 28, 2017September 25, 2017 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

Ratatouille (2007)

Dir. Brad Bird. Starring Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Janeane Garofolo Up until 2007, here’s how Pixar movies had ended: Toy Story – Woody and Buzz chase down a moving truck on an RC car, fall with style into a minivan, and then have their first Christmas together A Bug’s Life – After the gruesome death of… Read More Ratatouille (2007)

March 22, 2017June 30, 2017 speakerformediocrities1 Comment

Jawn Voyage – The Incredibles, Minute by Minute

Welcome to the minute-by-minute podcast devoted to The Incredibles, the 2004 Disney-Pixar film about a family with superpowers. Tim is a high school teacher living in the Southeast. His online writings are mostly about movies and can be found here, at Seeing Things Secondhand. Matt is a grad student and teacher based in the Great… Read More Jawn Voyage – The Incredibles, Minute by Minute

January 16, 2017May 20, 2018 speakerformediocrities4 Comments