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01 Apr

The Bubble: Judd Apatow COVID Comedy Needs to Get Out More

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If and when the COVID-19 pandemic fully ceases, one of the relics from this bizarre time (beyond the face masks) will be the COVID movie. To keep the content flowing during the height of the pandemic, studios pushed smaller pictures that had a limited cast and limited locations into production. Movies like Locked Down, Malcom and Marie, The Guilty, and Kimi, whether explicitly about our current situation or not, made what they could of a bad situation and told smaller scale stories to various degrees of success. It’s become something of its own genre. Judd Apatow’s latest comedy for Netflix,…

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01 Apr

Amazon Prime Video New Releases: April 2022

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Good news for all you Brolin-heads! Amazon Prime Video’s list of new releases for April 2022 is highlighted by one very intriguing TV project starring Thanos himself. The Josh Brolin-starring Outer Range premieres April 15 and looks like it could be a wild ride. The synopsis is terse and reads “A rancher fighting for his land and family stumbles upon an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness, forcing a confrontation with the Unknown in ways both intimate and cosmic in the untamable American West.” That, combined with an enigmatic first trailer, has our interest piqued. Also on the…

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01 Apr

Morbius Post-Credits Scenes Explained

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This article contains Morbius spoilers. Ever since Marvel Studios began the tradition of including extra scenes during or after the end credits of its films–starting with the now legendary appearance of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man–such bonus content is considered mandatory. With Morbius, Sony’s extended Spider-Man Universe, which is a poor man’s version of the MCU, reached a new low via two bonus scenes that are ridiculous, pointless, and clearly the product of rushed, haphazard decision-making. These really are laughably bad. We want to stress that these scenes, just like the rest of…

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01 Apr

Finding Western Wanderlust in The Unknown Country

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Filmmaker Morissa Maltz has always loved road trips. Whether traveling with company or alone, there is something liberating about getting lost in the country; vanishing into hidden spaces and forgotten pockets. In many ways, it’s a kind of therapy. Yet in recent years, and as the tone and tenor of folks changed, Maltz became more aware of the world around her. She also saw, perhaps in the cracks of the highway, the seeds for a story bigger than any single journey. “I think that for me it was [after 2016] when I really started to be much more conscious of…

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31 Mar

Best Movies Coming to Netflix in April 2022

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April showers may indeed bring May flowers, but Netflix is showering us with some dazzling entertainments this April all from the comfort of our own homes. As indicated below, the most popular streaming service in the world is preparing to share a relatively wide variety of quality (Hollywood) films beginning on April 1. Be it superhero movies with an edge or a genuine classic of American cinema from Arthur Penn, or one of the all-time great war movies and the impetus for the J-horror phenomenon in the States, there appears to be a movie for everyone in the list below.…

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31 Mar

Morbius Review: Marvel Vampire Movie Is Lifeless

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About midway through Sony Pictures and Marvel’s Morbius—a monstrous union of bottom of the barrel intellectual property and fiscal year planning—Jared Leto’s title character is in the belly of the beast. Before this moment, Dr. Michael Morbius (Leto) has traded in his rare blood condition for a case of vampirism, a Faustian bargain that’s led the NYPD to finger him for murders throughout the five boroughs. Whether guilty or not, Michael reaches for Bill Bixby levels of grandeur as he broods and in a hushed whisper warns the coppers, “I’m getting hungry. Believe me, you wouldn’t like me when I’m…

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30 Mar

Pink Flamingos Is DIY Filmmaking at Its Best and Worst

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John Waters mixed do-it-yourself moviemaking with don’t-try-this-at-home mayhem to produce the ultimate and most fiercely independent film. Made for $12,000, Pink Flamingos premiered at the Baltimore Film Festival 50 years ago. The cult masterwork replaced Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo as the midnight movie in residence at Elgin Theater in Manhattan and set high and low standards for no-budget motion picture filmmaking. While the extremely low-budget Plan 9 from Outer Space is renowned as the worst film ever made, Pink Flamingos has a street rep as the raunchiest. Ed Wood’s sci-fi horror mashup cost $60,000 to make, which by 1956 standards…

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29 Mar

Lord of the Rings: Why Galadriel Was the Only Ringbearer to Keep Her Ring

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Of the many Ringbearers in Tolkien’s legendarium, only one got hold of a Ring of Power right after it was forged and kept hold of it for millennia, until the destruction of the One Ruling ring rendered them all pretty much useless. This Ringbearer was one of only two characters to appear in all six of Peter Jackson’s movies, and will be one of the leading characters in Amazon Prime’s upcoming series The Rings of Power: Galadriel. So, how did she manage it? She’s an Elf, So Has a Very Long Lifespan The first and most obvious reason Galadriel gets…

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29 Mar

The Godfather Is Really the Story of American Capitalism

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The Godfather, which just turned 50 last week, took out all the competition. Budgeted at $6 million, it earned $287 million in theaters. Its worldwide box office was 38.4 times its production costs. It was the first film in history to take in a million bucks a day. Completed ahead of schedule, director Francis Ford Coppola’s family film reflected his Sicilian roots and those of Mario Puzo, the author of the novel. But it wasn’t personal for them, just business. Prior to 1972, the gangster movie genre traditionally presented a disillusioned underclass in morality plays which sent the same message:…

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28 Mar

The Godfather: The Real History Behind Michael’s First Kill

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The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola from the bestselling novel by Mario Puzo, has just hit another historic milestone: its 50th anniversary. Released on March 24, 1972, it is a landmark film that made and remade history. The ultimate saga, which can be seen in the recently-released The Godfather Trilogy 4K Ultra HD edition, follows an immigrant family as they rise in American society. The Corleones reflect the vantage point of one of the Five Families of New York’s organized crime ruling commission. While the words “mafia” and “cosa nostra” are never used in the film, many of the…

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28 Mar

Oscars: 15 Years of Best Picture Winners Ranked

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What does it mean to be “an Oscar movie?” While folks are mostly aware of the term (and its often negative connotations), the type of movie that actually wins laurels and accolades from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is always in flux. When the institution launched its first ceremony in 1929, the Oscars were initially seen as a way to build hype for the studios’ wares—an industry agreed-upon publicity stunt. But by the end of the next decade, the prestige that came from being dubbed the “Best Picture of the Year” would often be synonymous with the…

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28 Mar

Oscars 2022: Complete List of Winners (Live Updating)

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It’s been a strange mercurial year, which is now being capped off by a strange and mercurial Oscars season. Last year, the Academy Awards saw its lowest ratings ever due in large part to the paucity of new films that a large global audience would recognize. After all, most major releases moved out of 2020 and into 2021! But a year later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences continues to inhabit its own Twilight Zone. The movies are back, but this will mark the first telecast where eight of the categories—including major ones like Best Film Editing, Best…

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27 Mar

The Godfather: The Three Battles That Decided a Classic’s Fate

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“There’s an old adage in the business… unhappy sets make great movies.” That was spoken by producer Albert S. Ruddy, and he should know. Ruddy was the producer on The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel that is renowned as one of the greatest films of all time. But making a masterpiece like this certainly did not come easily. Ruddy’s comment is recounted in author Mark Seal’s recently published book, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, an exhaustive and fabulously entertaining look back at the making of The Godfather through the eyes of many of those…

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27 Mar

Oscars 2022: Where You Have Seen The Hosts

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After going without a host at the 93rd annual Academy Awards in 2021, as well as during the Oscars ceremonies in 2020 and 2019, this year’s big movie night is swinging things in the other direction. Three individuals are set to share hosting duties for the 94th Academy Awards on March 27: Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall, and Amy Schumer have all been tapped to steward the event. Perhaps in an effort to increase fledgling ratings, the three women will also have a prime platform to entertain audiences both inside of the Dolby Theatre and at home by showcasing their distinctive…

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26 Mar

The Godfather and Frank Sinatra’s Real History with the Mafia

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The Godfather, which opened 50 years ago on March 24, 1972, is the premiere gangster film of all time, elevating the genre to high art and taking all of filmmaking with it. Francis Ford Coppola adapted Mario Puzo’s best-selling novel to tell the story of an immigrant family crashing the dance of the American dream. The singer is Johnny Fontane, paying homage to his benefactor, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). The character may also be something less than a tribute to The Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra. “Frank, I make fun of you, but what could you do to…

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26 Mar

The Best Sandra Bullock Romantic Comedies

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Sandra Bullock is a highly accomplished and versatile actor who can absolutely nail drama, thrillers, and sci-fi just as well as rom-coms. But we do love a Sandy B rom-com! Her latest, The Lost City, sees her play a romance author who ends up on a jungle adventure with her ditzy cover model, played by Channing Tatum. It’s a very funny, good natured romp that harks back to the romantic blockbusters of the ’80s like Romancing the Stone. And it has reminded us how Sandra Bullock is good for the soul. Here’s a round up of some of the best…

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25 Mar

Oscars Fan Favorites: Who Are the Contenders?

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In August 2018, the Oscars infamously announced they were going to create a “Most Popular Film” category. Ostensibly, this was designed to “deliver a more accessible Oscars to our viewers worldwide.” But in practice it was a naked ploy to create a proverbial kids table for mainstream entertainment that would likely be deemed forevermore divorced from the rarified airs of “Best Picture” and the other major Oscar categories. The concept died screaming as it was eviscerated by both the press and Academy members. Within a month it was scrapped, and despite no “Popular Film” category in the next two years’…

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25 Mar

Best Michelle Yeoh Movies You Need to Watch Right Now

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Everything Everywhere All at Once describes Michelle Yeoh’s career right now. She is everywhere. As Emperor Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery, she boldly went where no one has gone before with a role so scene-stealing that there’s talk of a spin-off dedicated just to her character. Yeoh also dominated as the powerful matriarch and ultimate “tiger mom” Eleanor Young in Crazy Rich Asians. And she’s one of the only actors to play two completely different characters in the MCU: Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Aleta Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.…

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25 Mar

Inside The Spine of Night: The Must See Adult Animated Fantasy

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The Spine of Night, now streaming on Shudder, is a forward-looking retro fantasy. Shot with the rotoscope animation technique most associated with Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings and Gerald Potterton’s Heavy Metal, it captures a world in ecological danger because of the greed of powerful men. Lucy Lawless plays the shamaness Tzod, whose magical powers are rooted in the blue flowers which grow in her enchanted swamp, Bastal. Also starring Richard E. Grant, Patton Oswalt, Betty Gabriel, and Joe Manganiello, The Spine of Night is an adult cartoon with responsible themes. Barbarians and librarians vie for power while…

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25 Mar

Morbius First Reactions Suggest This Vampire Movie Sucks

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After years’ worth of delays, Sony’s Morbius will finally premiere on April 1. But with a new blockbuster movie also comes reactions from fans who got to see an early screening. And for the most part, the reactions are not good. Chief complaints include dodgy CGI, poor storytelling, and an uneven tone. Of particular note are the post-credit scenes, which one tweeter called “some of the WORST you’ve ever seen.” Not too much praise for lead Jared Leto, but the response to Matt Smith’s over-the-top villain seems to be positive. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius is the latest in Sony’s…

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