John Cena-led Matchbox: The Movie released on Apple TV earlier this month. Starring alongside Cena in the Skydance film are Jessica Biel, Sam Richardson, Teyonah Parris, and Arturo Castro. Does this movie capture the imaginative mind of a child playing with toy cars, or instead does it just recapture the pain of modern blockbuster action films? Director Sam Hargrave has worked in
Read MoreIn a post-Widow’s Bay world, is there enough room for another small town, bay-based TV show like Netflix’s Below? The two shows are quite different in terms of their premise and, most importantly, in their quality. While there are snippets of genuine surprise, Below is not a Netflix series you have to run and see. [Warning: some spoilers for the series
Read MoreAvatar: Seven Havens tells the story of Pavi, a young Earthbender who discovers that she is the next Avatar in a world that no longer trusts people who have this title or associate with it. The first three episodes introduce us to this now destroyed and unbalanced world. In it we see a new mythology, an introduction to new characters, and
Read MoreAnyone who thinks image-making matters less than “the story” (whatever that means) should watch David Fincher’s The Social Network and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning side by side. Shot by the same cinematographer, Jeff Cronenweth, it won’t be long before you realize why Fincher’s film stands the test of time as one of the most impactful masterpieces of the 2010s. But
Read MoreThis year’s San Diego Comic-Con saw Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios make some exciting announcements about their future slate of productions. Among them was the long-awaited and greatly anticipated announcement of a Ghost Rider film currently set to release on July 28, 2028. Shawn Levy is now set to direct the film, with Ryan Gosling stepping into the lead role as the
Read MoreThis week came the release of Legends & Lattes: The Graphic Novel, based on the much-loved cozy fantasy by best-selling author Travis Baldree. The graphic novel was adapted by Samuel Sattin, with illustrations by Shanti Rittgers and Sarah Webb. I have listened to the audiobook previously (which Baldree narrates himself), and when I heard about the graphic novel on the way,
Read MoreThe one good thing about Michael Showalter’s Verity is that it has more verve than previous adaptations of Colleen Hoover’s work. It’s not very good, but at least Showalter has fun with compositions that recall the oeuvres of Brian De Palma and Paul Verhoeven. Plenty of split-diopters and superimpositions create a quasi-campy quality as cinematographer Jim Frohna captures Lowen Ashleigh’s (Dakota
Read MoreThe concept of Vaewolf sounds ridiculous at first. A young elf survives the massacre of his people, becomes infected by a werewolf curse, is rescued by a vampire, and ultimately turns into a creature capable of switching between all three forms. Yet beneath that deliberately exaggerated idea is a surprisingly focused action roguelite. It is set in an alternate version of
Read MoreThe Hunger Games is one of the most popular young adult franchises in the world, spanning five incredible books and six popular films. Naturally, some creative individuals thought the stage was the next frontier for Katniss to conquer. The Hunger Games: On Stage debuted in London earlier this year in a purpose-built theater in Canary Wharf. As a massive fan of
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