Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a decidedly average young man is able to get into a prestigious high school. Once there, he meets up with a cast of colorful characters, struggles with fitting in and nasty teachers, and learns valuable lessons about friendship and not giving up. Danganronpa is basically that story, […]
The Gentleman Spy has been taking a bit of a vacation from film of late. Even James Bond, one of the iconic examples of the trope, has been taking a leaf out of Jason Bourne’s book lately, and on the whole most modern spy films seem to prefer the darker, more serious approach. Kingsman: The […]
I’ve had a lot of fun following the Marvel Comics movie universe as it’s gone through its paces. I found “Phase 1”, the lead-up to The Avengers, quite interesting to track, although the quality of each step varied. On the whole, I thought the Iron Man franchise was the strongest part of Phase 1, while […]
Cormac McCarthy is a great writer. Quite a few people share my views on this, and you have only to look at previous works of his like No Country For Old Men and The Road to see how his often bleak, minimalistic style produces some very compelling narratives. With a writer like Cormac McCarthy behind […]
2013 has been a very good year for movies I’ve enjoyed, perhaps thanks in part to me going to the theaters far more often over the course of this year. To pick a favorite among the movies I’ve seen in this year would be extremely difficult, but Ron Howard’s Rush, starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel […]
We seem to have a great affection for the “crime doesn’t pay” movie in any given generation. Between the mafia, bank robbers, and a whole range of other forms of organized crime, there are a wealth of well-regarded movies that tell the story of a protagonist entering the criminal underworld, being dazzled by its wealth, […]
It’s always interesting to me when I find an actor I am familiar with in some measure is involving themselves in the film-making process at other ends, such as writing and directing. As such, I took an interest in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s debut as a writer and director in a feature-length film, Don Jon, both for […]
Film and literature based on real history have always been very interesting to me; I never fail to find it amazing how sometimes looking into just the right life can reveal a fascinating narrative amidst events we know will help shape the world. A well-done historical narrative can make a story with its roots in […]
It is an unfortunate numbers game in movie trailers that every so often you will come across advertisements for a movie that looks very clever, funny, or awesome, only to go see it in the theater months later and find out most of the good stuff was used up in the trailer, or misrepresented in […]
Despite being one of the most over-saturated genres in fiction, fantasy action-adventure novels have always been my favorite kind of book. High or low, light or dark, familiar or wildly original, well-written fantasy stands to me as one of the most enjoyable things in any given bookstore. Dark “low” fantasy novels have become fairly popular […]