By James Powers One of the more persistent (and annoying) labels given to Jesus is that of political revolutionary. Especially lately, it’s trendy to claim that his primary purpose was to knock down tyrants and give power to the disenfranchised masses; that he was a member of the same club that includes Gandhi and Che and the barricade boys from …
Uniting the World Through Entertainment: The Imagineering Story
– By Sam Hendrian – “What we are selling is not escapism, but reassurance.” This quote from legendary Disney imagineer John Hench captures Disney’s core mission perfectly, even if the multibillion-dollar company does not always live up to it. Escapism is predominantly commerical and maybe a little psychological; reassurance is profoundly spiritual. In The Imagineering Story, a six-part documentary …
What Seinfeld Taught Us About Embracing the Humor of Everyday Life (and Transcending Selfishness)
– By Sam Hendrian – Too tired to watch a whole movie at the end of a long day, the father and son sit down to enjoy a couple half-hour reruns of Seinfeld, sharing many a hearty laugh before it is time to hit the sack. The next morning, their laughter may continue as they gleefully reference the antics of …
Fate and Free Will in Netflix’s ‘Dark’
– By James Powers – Editor’s Note: Potential Spoilers Below for Season 1 of ‘Dark’ Most of us have probably had the freaky experience, in some high school world lit class, of reading Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex. In case you don’t remember, that’s the one in which the doomed protagonist tries and fails to avoid the unsavory destiny pronounced for …
Striking Out with ‘Striking Vipers’; What ‘Black Mirror’ Gets Wrong About Relationships
– By Joe Campbell – Spoilers below for the Black Mirror episode ‘Striking Vipers’. Black Mirror has been heralded as the new Twilight Zone, so much so that when CBS debuted a modern version of The Twilight Zone, many people wondered what the point was in a world where Black Mirror already existed. Created by British writer Charlie Brooker and named …
Deadwood: A Case Study on How to Execute a Masterful Opening Scene
– By Matthew Sawczyn – On May 31st, in a mere few hours, HBO’s critically acclaimed Deadwood will revive itself for one final shootout, in its culminating feature film of the same name. One final time, we viewers will set foot on the muddy thoroughfare of that the seedy mining town, seeking our fortune with the unfortunates. Though universally praised …
The Emptiness of Success in ‘Fosse/Verdon’
– By Sam Hendrian – “You happy now?” These words are spoken by the perceptive writer Paddy Chayefsky (Norbert Leo Butz) to his troubled best friend Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) as he sits with a lap-full of awards in the backseat of a limo, and they brilliantly summarize the thematic core of FX’s biographical mini-series Fosse/Verdon. The story of legendary …
Hulu’s ‘Ramy’ Is an Important Show – But Not Quite a Good One
– By James Powers – A strange little scene in Hulu’s new show Ramy tragicomically highlights the average American’s tortured relationship with traditional religion. The setting is New Jersey, in the midst of Islam’s penitential season of Ramadan, outside a halal restaurant. A loutish construction worker, having just witnessed a group of Muslim men praying fajr together in the parking …
Putting the Lion Before the Horse: Screenwriting Lessons From “The Long Night”
– By Matthew Sawczyn – Spoilers Below for Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 The battle is over. Melisandre sheds her necklace. Drained, worn, haggered, she walks out into the bitter snow… and dies. CUT TO BLACK. First, extreme gratitude to the cast and crew of Game of Thrones. They probably felt like Melisandre after all was said and …
Seven Traumatized Children Under One Umbrella Academy
– By Carly Twehous – [Spoilers Ahead] At a time when the superhero origin story consumes nearly every available screen, so often audiences get caught up in the bright colors, over-the-top special effects, and elaborate villains intent on world domination, that people begin forget the one thing that makes superheroes so compelling: the hero’s relentless quest to fight not only …