The Rise of Retcon A Film Review of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker The legacy of the Star Wars sequel trilogy is a cautionary tale of what results from the film production of a beloved intellectual property when not enough hard work, tough choices and legitimate time are put into planning such …
‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ Review: The Rise of Retcon Read More »
(Editor’s note: The following is an opinion piece regarding commentary on the reviews for the “Death Stranding” video game. Lawrence Napoli reviews movies for us and at times handles video game-related content.) Understanding Death Stranding’s Metacritic Scores Ever since Death Stranding was announced at E3 back in 2016, gamers have been intrigued and excited at …
(Editor’s note: The following is a response to recent comments made by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese regarding Marvel movies. Lawrence reviews movies for Cosmic Book News and is a film school graduate. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of Cosmic Book News.) Marvel vs. Curmudgeons Is it Wabbit Season …
OP-ED: A Response To Marvel Bashing Comments By Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese Read More »
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in the year 2018, have finally come to an epiphany several years if not decades in the making: the annual telecast of The Academy Awards, a product whose broadcast rights are controlled by ABC until 2028 and accounts for about 80% of the academy’s revenue, sucks. I …
The Academy’s Desperate Ploy: Best Popcorn Film of the Year Read More »
The Metal Gear Movie Project: Goals, Hopes, Fears and Realities (Editor’s note: the art found in the article is concept art Jordan Vogt-Roberts commisioned; find more art and follow Jordan Vogt-Roberts on Twitter) Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of several TV shows, indie films and a little project known as Kong: Skull Island (2017) is currently …
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Respect for What It Is A Film Review of Mission: Impossible – Fallout There’s something to be said of a film production that knows exactly what it is without trying to shoehorn half measures of nuanced complexity that only succeed in distracting from the good rather than building upon it. The professional collaboration among …
(Editor’s note: The Following is an opinion article about the James Gunn situation by our movie reviewer, Lawrence Napoli) James Gunn, Branding and What it Takes to Make it in Hollywood James Gunn has been banished from the MCU by Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn. The formerly celebrated director of The Guardians of the …
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I See Stupid People A Film Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 25 Years and 5 big budget “dinosaur attack” films later and all I still see are dim-witted people the audience is meant to care about in these films. The underlying theme of the Jurassic franchise is that the science to manipulate genetics …
E3 2018 Quick Asides: Resident Evil 2 Remake Revisiting Familiar Survival Horror with Style Resident Evil 2 for the PS1 was the first “survival horror” game I ever played. I remember this experience distinctly as some friends (Allan M. and Danny K.) and I rented it and tried playing it the way we had …
E3 2018 Quick Asides: Fallout 76 Radioactive Fallout from Games as Service Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, having logged hundreds of hours into multiple platforms and too many player builds to count. When Bethesda released that game back in 2008 and the sprawling open world beckoned players into …
E3 2018 Quick Asides: Death Stranding What’s With All This Walking? Those who follow the video game industry know that it has more than its fair share of drama, corporate buffoonery and political power moves all in the name of vying for control of what’s to be done next with the company’s assets moving …
E3 2018 Quick Asides: Cyberpunk 2077 FPS Concerns Cyberpunk 2077 was announced with a gorgeous teaser trailer back in 2013 by Polish software developer CD Projekt RED that would be based off of the tabletop RPG, Cyberpunk 2020, created by Mike Pondsmith in 1988. This production set the gaming community on fire with anticipation …
The Only Prescription is More Soy A Film Review of Solo: A Star Wars Story Years from now, people may regard Solo: A Star Wars Story as simply another chapter in a series of blockbuster space operas that at one point was the gold standard for cinematic entertainment. However, the current zeitgeist for the Star …
Here’s a Tip for the Pool Boy A Film Review of Deadpool 2 Everyone who is a fan of movies and well versed in Hollywood’s business culture should be happy that a film like Deadpool exists. In such a cynical world of formulaic, profit predictive, pre-release audience tested, social agenda subversive, superhero and visual effect …
Mixed bag.
Rewarding the Faithful A Film Review of Avengers: Infinity War Bold. Bold is a word that so easily gets tossed into the promotion of so many products, concepts and movements in today’s western culture that society has developed a tendency to take such lofty promises with a healthy grain of salt thanks to several end …
The Altar of Pop Culture A Ready Player One Review There are no heroes. Everyone has an agenda. Nothing is sacred. In this day in age for every shining example to aspire to regarding any walk of life, examples of the extreme opposite have been revealed in those same pockets of actuality. In tumultuous times, …
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them A Film Review of Get Out It has been a full year since the cultural phenomenon known as Jordan Peele’s Get Out released in theatres and circumstances kept me from a first wave screening and review. Since its release, this film has received nigh universal praise for …
Progress A Film Review of Black Panther Hollywood is a highly profitable industry which, like every other, has been exploited and controlled by a select cross section of people. The demand for increased diversity in Hollywood within the industry stems from more than just people of color wanting to make bigger Hollywood money; although …
The Truths to Which We Claim A Film Review of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Rosebud? There is no spoon? Finkle is Einhorn? I am your father? Cinema and “the truth” are partners in a never ending dance of chaos and control that thrust apart to create dramatic conflict and come together …
Going Through the Motions A Film Review of Justice League I wish you all a belated, Happy Thanksgiving and pre-season’s greetings as Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend has passed and we can shift focus from rampant consumerism back to what really matters: entertainment. Just kidding, but seriously, one thing I continue to give thanks for …
Rag-Na-Rock-And-Roll! A film review of Thor: Ragnarok By Lawrence Napoli When the end credits finished rolling on the screen my initial reaction to this film was, “Wow! That was a ton of fun crammed into one feature length film!” There’s so much action, so many visual effects and so many laughs that the shear …
A Long Time Coming A Film Review of Blade Runner 2049 Blade Runner (now a film franchise) represents a corner of science fiction less interested in invading aliens, space travel and flashy technology and far more intrigued with using mankind’s ever increasing knowledge of science and its advancing application to further explore the nature …
It Brings Back Horror A Film Review of It (2017) If there’s one thing American horror films can be counted upon these days it’s adhering to a relatively basic list of prerequisites to get the final product in the can as quickly as possible to move on to the next project. Jamming in tropes, …
Part Fan Service, Part Nostalgia
Jenkins v Cameron: Steps Back or Forward? In an interview posted on Thursday the 24th of August 2017 with Hadley Freeman of The Guardian, James Cameron had some interesting things to say in a puff piece about where he’s been and what he’s moving on to as a director in Hollywood Land. The conversation …
The Power of Showing over Telling
(Yet) Another Cinematic Universe
