– 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 …
Hollywood Can No Longer Take VFX for Granted
– By James Powers – One of the trailers that’s been playing before Avengers: Endgame is for an upcoming sci-fi thriller that stars Will Smith – twice. Ang Lee’s Gemini Man follows an assassin who must fight for his life against a younger version of himself, and Smith plays both characters, one his fifties and the other in his twenties. …
Avengers, Game of Thrones, and the Growing Blur Between TV and Cinema
– By James Powers – I never liked watching TV much as a kid. Nine times out of ten, I preferred to watch a movie, because I’ve always favored the closure of feature films over the unending twists, cliffhangers and repetitions that TV shows depend upon. So good news for me: TV lately has more and more been coming to …
After ‘Endgame’: Where We Go From Here
– By Tyler Carlos – NOTE: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME and the SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME TRAILER Well, after 11 years and 22 films, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is finally wrapping up its “Infinity Saga,” and believe me, it went out on a major high note. Avengers: Endgame is undeniably one of the greatest cinematic experiences of the 21st …
How Shazam! and Aquaman Saved the DCEU
– By Tyler Carlos – It sure has been a long road for the DCEU. Since Christopher Nolan’s trilogy masterpiece wrapped up in 2012, DC has been doing its best to keep up with the massive success of Marvel’s cinematic universe, but to no avail. No matter how far DC gets, Marvel always seems to get the best of them. …
Why Apple’s Streaming Service is a Bad Idea, and Why Disney+ Will Succeed
– By Katherine Sanderson – On March 25th, Apple had a presentation where they officially announced that they are launching their own streaming site called Apple TV + (which was already a rip-off of Disney’s upcoming streaming service name). With each having a release date set for Fall 2019, we will see two major streaming sites go head to head, striving …
Why ‘Unplanned’ Surpassed Box Office Expectations
– By Maria Andress – $6.1 million opening weekend on 1,059 screens. A+ Cinema Score. 93% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score. Still holding 4th place in the Box Office. For a Christian film that was looking at a projection of $2-3 million opening weekend, R-rated by the MPAA, marginalized by Hollywood, and given little to no ad coverage, Unplanned has been …
How the WGA’s Showdown With Talent Agencies Could Backfire
– By James Powers – To the casual observer, it looks like Hollywood’s screenwriters really enjoy picking fights. Most of us probably remember the massive, 100-day writers’ strike that took place in 2007-2008 as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) demanded improvements to their customary contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). Then a couple years …