– By James Powers – It took a little while for me to jump on the Stranger Things bandwagon when the first season came out three years ago. I remember thinking the title sequence was a slam-dunk when I first saw it. With its brooding synth score and imitation optical typography, it captured the retro sci-fi vibe in a simple, …
A24’s Secret Sauce for Film Marketing
– By James Powers – Back when Avengers: Endgame came out, I published a long rant about how movies like it – massive “event” films with astronomical budgets and correspondingly astronomical audiences – have essentially become the new business model for wide-release theatrical features. In this day and age, a theatrical film that hopes to be profitable needs a marketing …
How Did We Lose the Found Footage Film?
– By Joe Campbell – I was a freshman at JPCatholic when Paranormal Activity hit theaters in October of 2009. I remember because the buzz surrounding the movie took the student conversation by storm. The horror fans saw it, the non-horror fans saw it, and those who didn’t see it were definitely aware of it. It was an indie hit, …
‘Animal Crossing’ Release Date – Nintendo Investors Should Take a Note from Tom Nook
– Dana R.H. Box – At Nintendo’s E3 Press Conference, the screen went black, and a sanitized voice announced the words, “Nook Inc.” like a bass drop, it rocked the crowds with pure excitement, and the line is still being heralded in the trailer’s Youtube comments. As a lifelong Animal Crossing fan (my mom forgot to pick me up from …
How to Overhaul the Oscar Categories
— by Renard N. Bansale — “Best Popular Film” & ‘The Lion King’ Remake Debate On August 7, 2018, the Academy’s board of governors (led by Academy Pres. John Bailey) voted to introduce a new Oscar category called “Best Popular Film”. The reaction to this across entertainment journalism, social media, and the internet in general was a swift and resounding… …
In Between the Panels: A Look At Subversive Superhero Movies
– By Joe Campbell – Spoilers below for “Super”, “Chronicle”, and “Unbreakable” Halfway through the 2010 vigilante movie Super, our two anti-hero Frank and his younger sidekick Libby pause between rounds of dealing out violent justice to petty criminals. Libby, inspired by her favorite heroes in comic books, is new to the vigilante gig and bemoans the long spaces in …
7 Films from Cannes To Look Out For
– By James Powers – One fun side effect of having attended the Sundance film festival earlier this year is that I am now stumbling across various trailers for upcoming films that I already saw at the festival, long before their release to wider markets. If you’ve seen any trailers for Late Night or The Tomorrow Man or The Nightingale, …
The Fall TV Lineup – What To Expect From This Year’s Pilots
– By James Powers – Every spring, in anticipation of the upcoming fall premiere season, the five major broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and The CW) all get together to show off their various offerings for the next year to advertisers, in an effort to entice them to pony up for commercial airtime (because remember kids, the whole reason …
‘Tolkien’ Biopic Omits the Author’s Central Influence
– By Maria Andress – The new Tolkien biopic released in the US last weekend turns out to be a pleasant meander from one tapestry moment in author and linguist J.R.R. Tolkien’s life to the next, but it could hardly be what Catholics or avid lovers of Tolkien the man would deem satisfying. Emotionally and cinematically, the film by Finnish …
From Jackie Chan to John Wick: How to Shoot Action
– By Joe Campbell – If there’s one man who knows how to make action look good, it’s Jackie Chan. Over the past 40 years, Jackie has perfected the art of shooting action from martial arts fights to car chases to explosions. He got his start in Chinese Opera, an art that demands rigorous training, marrying acrobatic skill with visual …