There’s a long history in children’s television songs being composed by decidedly un-child friendly writers. Disney’s in-house writers for a half-decade were Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who got their Broadway start with dirty, nasty, funny...
One of the most exciting moments a critic – and even a general audience member – can have is when a new talent bursts onto the scene. While writer/director Lulu Wang has made a few smaller features before, The Farewell is the kind of breakout...
One of the more underrated musicals out of this year’s Tony lineup was The Prom. Written by The Drowsy Chaperone’s Bob Martin, and with music and lyrics by The Wedding Singer’s Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, The Prom has been a critical and...
We don’t really get many “insane concept” films anymore. I don’t mean high concept, aka traditional films with crazy plots, like Her or The Shape of Water. I mean truly dumb ideas that either work or they don’t – films like Bugsy Malone, a...
Cinema has, in the modern era, become quite stale. Long gone are the days when film was transgressive, when artists took risks in their narrative, visual, and thematic storytelling. Once upon a time, there was the French New Wave, the Italian...
Another week, another series of movies as we near the halfway point of the year! I saw two new films this week – one that I’ve reviewed already, and one that is on its way. The former is the delightful Toy Story 4, which I reviewed right here and...
Something I’ve done on this site for quite some time, as a means of explanation for readers, as a fun little throwback, and as an analytic trademark, is compare modern directors to directors of the past. Christopher Nolan is the new Spielberg...
Toy Story 4 is a lot like its newest character, Forky. It should not be. It is an affront to the rules of its own storytelling and, by its own admission, should not exist. And yet, also like Forky, it is a creation made of love, filled with joy...
Gary Gray has managed to transform himself into one of Hollywood’s most reliable hit machines. After getting written off early into his career as “the Friday guy,” Gray has managed to turn out two massive hits in a row: Straight Outta Compton...
We’re on the verge of kicking off the Summer portion of the Oscar season, and considering I have a screening for Yesterday tomorrow that could pretty definitively change my Oscar rankings (I’m about to find out if it’s a contender or not), I...
As we officially enter the summer movie season, I’m doing my best to keep up-to-speed on both the big-budget blockbusters (even if they fail) and the small indie films. This week, I managed to head out to the theatres twice, taking in one of each...
Comedy has been an outlet for the major issues of the day going all the way back to the 30s. In particular, women in the workplace has always been a subject ripe for satire, thanks to the condescension, harassment, and sexism they face on a...
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