Record of Ragnarok Opens Strong with a Flawed but Entertaining First Season
Record of Ragnarok is one of those absurd animes that leans into its premise and revels in its absurdity. It takes place entirely during a tournament- and it’s not just any tournament. Thirteen gods and humans go up against each…
Wish Dragon Breathes New Life into a Familiar Premise
Wish Dragon is about a poor boy who discovers a dragon in a teapot who will grant three wishes. Sounds familiar, right? Director Chris Appelhans is definitely aware of the similarities with Disney’s Aladdin. He focuses instead on the world…
Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy is a Smart, Satisfying Adaptation of Classic Horror Stories that Balances Slasher Gore with Character Development
Directed by Leigh Janiak and adapted from R.L. Stine’s books, Netflix’s Fear Street trilogy tells an episodic story through three films, with each film taking place in a different time period and paying homage to a different type of horror…
Loki is Marvel’s Weirdest Show Yet- Essentially, their Own Version of Doctor Who
Loki is perhaps the best salvo yet in Marvel’s new direction for its tv properties. It’s definitely the weirdest series so far, and it’s got the best of both worlds: largely self-contained for most of its runtime while still bearing…
Black Widow is a Satisfying but Flawed Blockbuster that Chooses to be an Okay Superhero Story When it Could Have Been an Excellent Spy Story
After fans clamored for it for years, and a year-long delay due to the pandemic, Black Widow is finally here. It also marks the return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the big screen after 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home.…
The Tomorrow War is a Competently Made Action Blockbuster that Benefits from the Dearth of Competition
The Tomorrow War is an interesting piece of filmmaking. Some of its aspects are competently made, while others leave much to be desired. If you have read the overwhelming critical response, you’ll find that most of the things they panned…
F9 Takes the Fast and Furious Franchise to Even More Ridiculous Heights
If you have been watching the Fast and Furious movies for the last two decades, you have already bought into the ridiculousness and turn-your-brain-off entertainment built into the franchise’s DNA. F9 is not only more of the same, it acknowledges…
Ray is an Ambitious, Modernized Take on Satyajit Ray’s Stories that Doesn’t Always Work
Adapting the works of a storyteller as lauded as Satyajit Ray is no easy task. Netflix’s four episode anthology, Ray, doesn’t quite manage to hit a home run, but it’s an encouraging step towards creating better modernizations of classic stories.…
The Conjuring: the Devil Made Me Do It, the First Film in the Franchise Not Directed by James Wan, is a Pale Shadow of its Predecessors
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is, unfortunately, one of those sequels that falter despite a rich heritage and a capable cast. James Wan made The Conjuring series a leading name in horror, despite the simplicity and commonality…
Cruella is a Ridiculous, Stylish Reimaging of a Classic Disney Villain That Only Has Tenuous Connections to the Original Story
Cruella is both ridiculous and strangely engaging, despite its myriads of flaws. It’s a prequel that would have stood much better as an original story but pays tepid lip service to the classic 101 Dalmatians. Featuring two great performances and…
