It has been nearly a decade since Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens debuted in theaters. The film was a once-in-a-generation event, as the final domestic box office gross is still the highest in cinematic history (unadjusted for inflation). Suffice it to say, the flick was an honest-to-goodness pop culture phenomenon, and with it, came all of the collectible merch. In fact, fans got their hands on The Force Awakens merchandise a few months ahead of schedule, with their release commemorated by Disney’s first “Force Friday” in early September 2015.  While every subsequent Disney Star Wars theatrical effort…

In the final moments of Dune: Part Two, Chani storms out of Paul’s court and back into the desert. Disgusted by the megalomania she sees in the man she once loved, Chani readies her hooks for the oncoming worm, which she’ll ride away from here. For a while, it looked like director Denis Villeneuve would do the same. After mounting the massive productions that were Dune and Dune: Part Two, Villeneuve had hinted that he might want to leave Arrakis for a bit and pursue another project. However, the Canadian filmmaker more recently changed his position, and revealed that he…

Genre filmmaker Osgood Perkins is on a roll after the moderate success of 2020’s fairy tale terror Gretel & Hansel, as well as the summer phenomenon that was 2024’s supernatural serial killer thriller, Longlegs. Now this week sees him tackling a story by the king of horror himself, Stephen King, with the comedic splatter film The Monkey. It’s looking to be another ace in the hole for the rising director too.  The Monkey was partly shepherded by Conjuring Universe impresario James Wan as a producer through his Atomic Monster banner. Wan is one of those guys like Jordan Peele, John…

“Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he made movies about Batman and Oppie.” That’s been the cry of every movie fan since Christopher Nolan announced that his next movie would be an adaptation of epic Homeric poem The Odyssey. Surprisingly, we don’t have to rely on secrets of the Muses to learn about one aspect of Nolan’s approach. The first image of star Matt Damon as hero Odysseus has hit the internet, giving us our first indication of Nolan’s thought process. And must of us are reacting by nodding and saying, “Yep,…

Daisy Ridley has never loved heights. That might be surprising for some who naively believe a Jedi cannot experience fear. But more realistically, it’s simply impressive since her new action-movie, director Martin Campbell’s Cleaner, stars Ridley as a window-cleaner… who must dangle precariously off the side of a building for much of the film’s taut 96-minute running time after terrorists commandeer the building she’s working in. “It came to it,” Ridley says of the day she was first harnessed mid-air, “and I thought ‘I really don’t like this.’ Of course I knew I wouldn’t really be dangling on the side…

Osgood Perkins is taking a big step into King country this week as he turns Stephen King‘s 30-page, 1980 short story “The Monkey” into one hell of a bloody fun ride. The film, like the original story, focuses on twin brothers named Hal and Bill (Christian Convery as children) who discover an old drumming monkey toy among the detritus left by their deadbeat dad. Here’s the problem: Every time the monkey is wound and bangs his little drum, someone dies… horribly and ironically. The curse of this monkey follows the boys into adulthood where they are now played by Theo…

“It’s based on a Saturday Night Live sketch.” As hard as it might be to believe, there was a time about three or four decades ago when that was an intriguing proposition. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd proved their movie star bonafides by being on a mission from God, and Mike Myers reminded millions of Americans they’ve been sleeping on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” for years. There’s a reason they kept making SNL movies: the show’s best sketches are funny, so why not a film about those same characters? These days, the answer is obvious. Sometimes what works as a punchline…

This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE GORGE. There is a line of dialogue in the first act of The Gorge which is so grandiloquent, so full of genre promise, that it will give almost anyone pause. This includes Scott Derrickson, a director with more than 20 years in the business of crafting genre promises, and terrors, in films like Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. “The Gorge is the door to hell,” Miles Teller’s deeply troubled Army sniper Levi is warned in the script. “And we’re standing guard at the gate.” Upon coming across that gem of a…

Captain America: Brave New World is crossing $100 million over the four-day weekend according to Disney. That is a record for the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making it the fourth highest-earning debut of any film to open on Presidents’ Day weekend ever. That is even more respectable when you realize the other three films that earned more were all MCU or Marvel associated joints—with the second highest earner over Valentine’s Day weekend being the 20th Century Fox-produced Deadpool and its $152 million haul in 2016. Considering the movie is suffering from apparently horrid word-of-mouth as judged by…

It really is amazing how much the superhero genre has exploded over the last quarter of a century. Before 2000, the only cinematic releases under the Marvel banner were for C-list characters. Meanwhile, the more well-known names at most had direct-to-video or TV movies. Now, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to return from a year of (mostly) rest, we live in a world where there have been over 70 Marvel box office releases when you include all the other studio efforts. It’s a lot. The House of Ideas has so many comics, with so many heroes and villains,…

Midway through Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres break into the home base of Samuel Sterns, the gamma-irradiated baddie known as the Leader. After an impressive-looking establishing shot that features a pair of red-hued satellite dishes, a close-up catches the heroes charging the bunker door. The pair frantically pry the door open and slide inside. One last shot outside the door catches two guards passing by, suggesting that our heroes just evaded capture. The sequence will annoy anyone who thinks about it for more than two seconds. Where did the guards come from? Why didn’t we…

This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World. Captain America: Brave New World finds Sam Wilson on his heels. A vast conspiracy has entangled Sam’s mentor Isaiah Bradley, and Sam doesn’t know who to trust. He certainly can’t trust President Thaddeus Ross, nor can he trust Ross’s new aide Ruth Bat-Seraph. He can’t even trust most of his fellow members of the Armed Forces. Sam has one glimmer of hope on the inside, a boots on the ground soldier (William Mark McCullough) who worked with Sam on a mission to recover canister of adamantium and knows better than…

You can have too much of a good thing. If Titanic or Gone with the Wind are your romantic movie night picks, then you’d both better have eaten early, pre-planned your toilet breaks, and made some serious investment in the lumber support of your living room furniture. Cuddling up with a loved one to watch a film that extends over three hours? Prepare for discomfort. The romantic movies below are humble creatures that don’t overstay their welcome. By clocking in at 90 minutes or under, they can be watched pre- or post-dinner, and don’t have to be interrupted by attacks…

This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World. No one would argue that Captain America: Brave New World is a jam-packed movie. It’s stuffed with so many characters and subplots from The Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that Sam Wilson doesn’t always feel like the main character in his own movie. But it could have been featured even more Marvel characters. It’s no secret that Brave New World went through reshoots that radically changed the finished film, including by cutting several characters who originally had scenes in the movie. It’s a testament to…

“Paddington tries to make toffee”, “Paddington makes a mess cleaning the chimney”, “Paddington investigates the disappearance of Mr Brown’s prize marrow”. Such are the types of adventure that Paddington creator Michael Bond wrote for his fuzzy creation. The Bond books are filled with stories of the bear as an unwitting agent of chaos in small, domestic English settings. In practically every instance of Bond’s stories, Paddington would enter an ordinary and often genteel situation – meeting a vacuum cleaner salesman, for instance, or attending a ballet – and despite his unfailing politeness, he’d get into a royal mess about which everyone…

Mr. Miyagi didn’t know Karate at all. Noriyuki ”Pat” Morita, who immortalized Mr. Miyagi into a cultural icon with his signature “wax on, wax off” lessons, had not studied the Japanese martial art prior to taking on the role. Neither did Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) or Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). The Karate Kid is the most prominent Karate film of all time, and yet none of the lead actors had any Karate skills.  Karate is a martial art that is rooted in Okinawa, although it’s worth noting that half of the Karate that the Cobra Kai TV series demonstrates is Korean. The…

This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World. Doomsday is coming. You know it. I know it. And now, thanks to the Leader, Captain America knows it too. In the lone post-credit scene for Captain America: Brave New World, villain Samuel Sterns offers a warning to Sam Wilson, one that points to the next Avengers movie and, potentially, the end of the MCU as we know it. Captain America 4’s Post-Credit Scene Explained As the marketing for Captain America: Brave New World loves to remind us, Sam Wilson is not Steve Rogers. And that’s a good thing. Brave…

This article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World. Upon first viewing, some fans may leave Captain America: New World Order feeling a bit let down. The final confrontation between Sam Wilson’s Captain America and President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross in Red Hulk form featured prominently in commercials and posters, pretty much spoiling the big reveal. Yet, New World Order‘s connections to little-discussed MCU entries of the past, especially The Incredible Hulk and Eternals, and its important setup for Wolverine of the X-Men, mean that the movie’s ending isn’t quite as simple as it seems. Worry not, True Believers! We’ve…

It is sometimes only a pleasantry when the winner of a major award says they “are so surprised to be here” while accepting the accolade. Yet that sentiment from Sean Baker seemed genuine Friday night when he accepted the Best Picture prize at the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards. Consider that just moments beforehand, his deceptively layered screwball comedy about a sex worker from Brooklyn, Anora, had been largely shut out by the critics. Up until this moment, Anora failed to pick up the CCAs’ Best Director award, nor did it get Best Actress for Mikey Madison. Even the one…

Nearly 15 years ago, DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon soared into theaters. At first, the film appeared to be another quirky idea from the animation studio that once played second fiddle to Disney, a la Bee Movie (2007) or Monsters vs. Aliens (2009). However, Hollywood quickly learned this wasn’t another middling entry into the DreamWorks catalog. In fact, How To Drain Your Dragon flew to new creative heights the animation studio hadn’t seen since Shrek (2001).  The film was an honest-to-goodness smash hit, spawning a trilogy of movies, an animated TV series spinoff, and a plethora of merchandise.…