Hollywood has a long history of taking foreign movies, TV shows, and literature and adapting them for a more American context. Sometimes the movies are outright remakes (The Ring, The Departed, Let Me In) or they are reinterpretations of the original material (both American Godzilla movies). The act of adapting non-American material is often fraught with danger as …
Continue reading The Failed Adaptations of “Ghost in the Shell” & “Death Note”
Since Labour Day marks the beginning of the school year for a whole bunch of people (and this year is my child's first year of preschool) I'm going to spend this week revisiting some school-themed movies. Should be fun. Close your eyes and listen to the dialogue and cadence of Brick and you are instantly transported …
With the last week of summer almost upon us, it's time to celebrate the end of Hollywood's silly season and embrace Fall. it's the time of year when Hollywood roles out it's big prestige pictures, would-be awards contenders, and, as we get closer to Christmas, fun-for-the-whole-family movies. This year promises to be no different as …
It is hard to overstate just how big a deal The Matrix was when it first came out. The sci-fi action thriller seemed to perfectly combine heady philosophical concepts with kick-ass action. It's dystopic world was at once wonderfully alien and also shockingly not so far from ours. It felt completely relevant to reality at the end …
Continue reading Franchise Ruminations: The Matrix Trilogy as Misunderstood Masterpiece
It's no secret that ever since I've gotten a child my opportunities to watch movies has decreased significantly. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade parenthood for the world, but the fact is my childless days afforded me many chances to check out movies on the big screen. However a side-benefit of having a child …
Continue reading Big Screen Double-Header: Baby Driver & Logan Lucky
I looked out my window and realized that the tree in my front yard is slowly starting to yellow. Pair that with the incessant back-to-school displays and the slow creep of Halloween merchandise in stores and it is increasingly clear that summer is drawing to an end. Now wise and well-adjusted people might take that …
Bambi is the final film in this series and the final great film in Disney's original golden period. As with most of the first five films, it was a tremendous creative risk for the Disney company especially since it was a film with no human characters, no typical magical elements, and with a firm focus …
Shin Godzilla is the latest reboot of an iconic character who has terrorized and terrified Japan (and parts of the USA) for many years since its debut in 1954. While this is an ambitious entry into the series and finds itself hitting a lot of the right notes, it ultimately stumbles across the finish line …
August is traditionally not a great time for movie fans. It's too late in the summer season for studios to release any of their heavy-hitting blockbusters but it is also way too early for those studios to release any of the prestige pics that they hope will make an impact come awards season. And so …
The story starts out simple and conventional enough. We meet the titular character (John Turturro) in the moment of his breakthrough triumph as he opens a successful proletariat play in New York and is summoned to Hollywood for a quick cash-grab on his presumptive journey to crafting a new and better theatre "for the common …
Homebody Movies 