New DVD release

06 Dec

Argylle: Matthew Vaughn Talks Henry Cavill, Dua Lipa, and Theories That He’s Elly Conway

New DVD release

Matthew Vaughn is no stranger to spy movies. The iconoclastic genre filmmaker has already directed three Kingsman movies, and that came after having a brief flirtation with James Bond. Yet the filmmaker who’s also dabbled in fantasy (Stardust) and superheroes (Kick-Ass) is up to something extra mischievous with Argylle, his new 2024 action spectacle: he’s playing it for real. Kind of. Set in a heightened world where Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard playing the allegedly real-life author of the Argylle novel) stops writing spy fiction, which includes Henry Cavill as her idealized agent Argylle and begins living it upon meeting…

Read More

05 Dec

The Making of Poor Things: ‘A Great Vehicle to Talk About Base Desires and Sexuality’

New DVD release

Tony McNamara does not spend much time on the sets of Yorgos Lanthimos productions. This is not because there is no joy to be had. Who wouldn’t be amused by the sight of Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo crawling around soundstages and snarling like beasts or being forced to speak all their lines backward and in double time? Those are but a few of the acting games Lanthimos encouraged his cast to indulge during the beginning of rehearsal, and which were a delight for a scribe to witness. However, when it comes to working with an auteur as singular as…

Read More

05 Dec

Why Americans Can Never Get Godzilla Right

New DVD release

“King of the Monsters—Savior of Our City?” This is what a news channel chyron at the end of 2014’s Godzilla asks. The question appears on a television set in a San Francisco stadium that has been converted into a FEMA camp for survivors of Godzilla’s attack on the Bay Area, which climaxed with a battle between the Big G and two Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms (MUTOs). The scale of suffering caused by these creatures, and the shrieks of terror the survivors let out when they see Godzilla rise after defeating the MUTOs and walk to the sea, tell us that…

Read More

04 Dec

Wonka Review: Timothée Chalamet Makes a Sweet Song and Dance Man

New DVD release

Director Paul King does not qualify his newest movie as a traditional film production. Nor does he credit it as a Paul King “picture,” “joint,” or otherwise effort of industry. Instead, during the opening titles of Wonka, the movie is simply described as “a Paul King confection.” It’s a cute flourish for a movie about the most famous chocolate maker in cinema. It also proves surprisingly, and joyously, apt; for Wonka is indeed the sweetest thing you are likely to experience at a movie theater this holiday season. More impressive still, it doesn’t feel like teeth or brain rot either.…

Read More

02 Dec

Disney Blames The Marvels Failure on Wrong Targets

New DVD release

Disney’s much vaunted centennial jubilee has taken on a sour note, at least at the multiplex. Trumpeted in the press as a celebration for a hundred years of classics, 2023 was likely intended to be a victory lap in the vein of 2019, when the once and future Disney CEO Bob Iger saw his “final year” coincide with a fire sale at the cinemas. Eight of the 10 highest grossing movies that year were either Disney releases or productions Disney had a profit share in, and each grossed more than $1 billion. Avengers: Endgame nearly touched $3 billion. The lone…

Read More

02 Dec

The Real Mystery Behind Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s Archimedes MacGuffin

New DVD release

This article contains Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny spoilers. It’s the sequence that either makes or breaks the fifth Indiana Jones flick for you: using a mysterious device composed of gears and arcane numerals, Harrison Ford’s grizzled archaeologist, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s delightful Helena Shaw, and a plane full of Nazis travel backwards in time. Suddenly, a legendary hero and his greatest foes—who already seem themselves a step out of time in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s 1969 setting—become the ultimate anachronisms. They’re veritable 20th century spacemen transported back to a world of Romans and Greeks, swords and…

Read More

01 Dec

May December: The True Story of Mary Kay Letourneau That Inspired the Movie

New DVD release

Todd Haynes’ latest movie May December may not seem like a traditional true crime tale, but Gracie (Julianne Moore) and Joe’s (Charles Melton) story is based on the real life “relationship” between Seattle teacher Mary Kay Letourneau and her student Vili Fualaau that began in the late ‘90s. While there were obviously some changes made to fictionalize their story for dramatic effect, a lot of what May December depicts isn’t terribly far off from the truth. In 1997, Letourneau gained nationwide attention after she was arrested on two counts of second-degree child rape, which she eventually pleaded guilty to after…

Read More

01 Dec

Godzilla Minus One Review: Japanese Godzilla Remains King

New DVD release

Unless he’s palling around with Minilla or Godzilla Jr., it’s hard not to see Godzilla as anything other than a 20,000-ton, fire-breathing metaphor. When used well, that symbolic weight crystalizes the terror of living in a world in which 100,000 people can have their lives snuffed out by atomic weapons. When used poorly, well, Godzilla fights a smog monster.  This tension between human weight and the sheer awesomeness of giant monsters has plagued all variations of the franchise since the first sequel to the 1954 original, Godzilla Raids Again (1955). More recently, it has stymied Legendary Pictures, the studio responsible…

Read More

01 Dec

What The Hobbit Animated Movie Did Better Than the Peter Jackson Trilogy

New DVD release

The animated adaptations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings from the 1970s and 1980s have a bit of a bad reputation these days, but these are not entirely deserved. In particular, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass’ 1977 TV movie of The Hobbit, with a screenplay by Romeo Miller, gets a lot of things right that Peter Jackson’s three-part live-action film adaptation did not. The most obvious advantage that the animated version has over the live-action films is its length. The fact that the live-action movies are too long is pretty well-established, but by way of a…

Read More

01 Dec

A Beginner’s Guide To Hayao Miyazaki

New DVD release

Studio Ghibli, a scrappy Japanese animation studio that was founded in the ‘80s, would go on to become an industry powerhouse that surpasses Disney’s sense of fantasy, Pixar’s emotional catharsis, and the unabashed against-the-grain individualism of DreamWorks Animation. Hayao Miyazaki’s name is often synonymous with Studio Ghibli, the animation studio that he founded with fellow director Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. Every Studio Ghibli film is special, but Hayao Miyazaki is an anime auteur whose cinematic offerings become pop culture events that redefine animation and storytelling.  Hayao Miyazaki is a renowned voice in traditional hand-drawn animation whose movies have…

Read More

01 Dec

First Furiosa Trailer Reactions Are Shiny and Chrome

New DVD release

George Miller wrote down the saga of Furiosa, the greatest survivor of his twisted vision of the apocalypse, more than 20 years ago. And now after concluding her story—at least for the time being—he is going back to its beginning with Furiosa, one of the most anticipated blockbuster epics of 2024. And at last it has a trailer. Oh, what a day, what a lovely day! Filmed over six months last year, and across vast stretches of Australian deserts and outback, Furiosa (as the trailer will explain in all caps) is set 45 years before the events of Fury Road…

Read More

30 Nov

How a Small Change from the Book Made It’s a Wonderful Life an Enduring Classic

New DVD release

“I’m stuck here in this mudhole for life, doing the same full work day after day,” George tells a stranger he meets while leaning over a bridge. George has come to the bridge on a frigid winter night with the intention of throwing himself off and ending it all. “Other men are leading exciting lives, but I – well, I’m just a small-town bank clerk,” he vents. “I never did anything really useful or interesting, and it looks as if I never will. I might just as well be dead. Sometimes I wish I were. In fact, I wish I’d…

Read More

30 Nov

10 R-Rated or Adult-Skewing Movies That Were Turned into Children’s Cartoons

New DVD release

The late 20th century was a wild time to be a kid immersed in the world of pop culture. It was the period that produced Jessica Rabbit, a cartoon character you felt embarrassed to watch with your parents, and a time when stores regularly stocked movie tie-in toys linked to “kid-friendly” fare like Aliens and Terminator 2. It seemed like nothing was off the table and that was certainly the case in the world of cartoons. Eager to cash in on the appeal of cinematic properties in a way that would give even the MCU pause for thought, a glut…

Read More

29 Nov

Christopher Nolan Is Right: Zack Snyder’s Watchmen Was Ahead of Its Time

New DVD release

In the trailer for only his third directorial feature, filmmaker Zack Snyder was heralded with the title of “visionary.” In retrospect, you might label that many things: aspirational, hubris, or just plain, good old-fashioned marketing copy. Whatever the case might be, it had a point. Love or hate Snyder’s aesthetic, his films are visually and instantly recognizable, and they’ve found a fervent audience that is still tens of millions strong more than a decade after this sizzle reel. But all that would come later. Back in 2009, the moniker was adorned on Snyder during the marketing push for Watchmen, the…

Read More

27 Nov

Stop Pretending Twilight: Breaking Dawn Isn’t Weirdly Great

New DVD release

“Childhood is not birth to a certain age,” Bella Swan intones in the opening moments of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1. “The child is grown, and puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” Although she’s quoting 20th century American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, Bella’s observation may very well apply to childish thoughts about the Twilight franchise too. For over a decade after the release of the final movie in the franchise, we can now admit the truth: the Twilight franchise isn’t about sparkly abstinence vampires, it isn’t about stilted dialogue or pasty,…

Read More

27 Nov

The Unsung Heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

New DVD release

This article contains minor spoilers We all love Captain America and Iron Man. Those shining icons made the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the powerhouse franchise that we know, and that at least some of us continue to love. But the MCU has never been just about the guys in the suits. Kevin Feige and his collaborators built the franchise on the regular people around those with cool costumes and code names, the normal folks who trade witty barbs and give Spider-Man and Captain Marvel something to fight for.  These heroes deserve their day in the sun. So here are fifteen…

Read More

27 Nov

Poor Things Review: Emma Stone Leads a Frankenstein Fable for the Ages

New DVD release

Almost 90 years ago, Elsa Lanchester made history when the titular Bride of Frankenstein was quickened to life by a bolt of lightning—plus the eager gaze of two men who wanted to “create” a woman without the aid of an actual woman. To this day, it’s an iconic moment in cinema. And a fleeting one. In fact, “the Bride,” as she is christened by her makers, is never even allowed to leave the lab. After all this time, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s Poor Things corrects that oversight. While the new decadently weird dark comedy could never be mistaken for…

Read More

24 Nov

The Real History of Napoleon’s Greatest Victory Didn’t Happen Like in the Movie

New DVD release

This article contains spoilers for Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. Even in the first trailer, it is an immensely chilly spectacle. On a frozen field in central Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte, the supreme general and Emperor of France, holds the high ground. From a well-fortified and concealed position among many trees, his army has laid a perfect trap for the forces of the Austrian and Russian empires. And from their embankment, they watch coolly as the enemy blunders right into a massacre. In the ensuing chaos, thousands of men, horses, and rolling cannons attempt to flee the thunderous crack of Napoleon’s artillery, but…

Read More

23 Nov

The Evolution of Disney Animation Over 100 Years of Art

New DVD release

As Disney has been enthusiastically reminding us all year, 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio by Walt and Roy Disney. Walt was an animator whose previous company, Laugh-o-Gram Studio, which he founded with Ub Iwerks, had just gone bankrupt. Meanwhile Roy was still suffering from tuberculosis. Yet the studio they founded would come to be ranked number 53 on the Fortune 500 list of the biggest companies in the United States in 2022. More impressive still, the company has achieved the ever elusive mystique of being a brand adored and respected around…

Read More

22 Nov

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: How Tricking Steve Martin Changed the Ending

New DVD release

Few filmmakers have had their finger on the pulse of the American zeitgeist better than John Hughes in the 1980s. A former advertising copywriter and the son of a Chicagoan salesman, also named John Hughes, the now legendary screenwriter and film director rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 20th century by recognizing what audiences wanted to see and hear. And sometimes what they needed to feel. It was that gift which allowed him to transition from moonlighting as a joke writer for standups like Rodney Dangerfield to writing proper comedy films outright—and sometimes lacing them with an emotional sentimentality that,…

Read More