The purpose of Primal Fear may surprise you. Because that purpose doesn’t have much to do with the murder-mystery-thriller part of the plot. Yes, that makes up the majority of the story and what we’re interested in while watching Primal…

Why Shinji chokes Asuka. Why Asuka says "Disgusting." And the meaning of the live-action scenes.

The Plot of Paprika explained To understand Paprika, we need to sort a few things out. First, there’s what’s happening and why it’s happening. Second, there’s Atsuko Chiba’s personal story. And third, we have the subplot involving Detective Konakawa. Once…

How Dostoevsky and ironic process theory help explain Nicholas's journey in "The Game."

Even with my novice understanding of the horror genre, I have to say I was captivated by an incredibly nerdy, passionate horror movie discussion between Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino on Roth’s podcast, History of Horror. This back-and-forth reminds me…

Orson Welles made soooo many good movies. The Magnificent Ambersons. Othello. The Trial. F for Fake. Yet, outside of major film buffs, he’s pretty much only remembered for his very first feature film: Citizen Kane. What a strange curse, to…

I’m pretty sure one day we’re going to talk about The Beach Bum as one of the greatest cult films of all-time and an outright masterpiece. That’s down the road, though. In the short term, I think we first have…

Michael and Reverend Toller sit across from one another in this pivotal moment—the house dead silent, the atmosphere awkward, the space between them immense. Michael is distraught, scared to bring a child into a world he believes will soon become…

The first Creed was all about Adonis, the late, great Apollo Creed’s bastard son who was unknown to the world, claiming his namesake. Could he follow in his father’s footsteps? Could he be a Creed? The final fight, despite Adonis…

In recent interviews Dan Gilroy (writer/director of Velvet Buzzsaw) has talked about two topics. His interest in the intersection between commerce and art. And one of his own Hollywood tragedies. I went through a personal experience: I worked on the epic…

Odds are you haven’t seen many articles discussing how the twist of Serenity is actually grounded in our everyday decision-making practices.  Most of the talk is about how bizarre or bad Serenity is. One headline I saw said it was almost impossible to describe…