FRANKLY SPEAKING

My mixed opinions on The Eternals, a movie with high ambitions that perhaps flies too close to the sun.

Discussing the art of artifice and framing, and how fantasy heightens reality in Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch"

Dune is big!! And also I talk about Villeneuve's skill with scale and audience experience, and how his gamble is hopefully paying off.

How Marvel's third acts often fall towards spectacle rather than character, and how Shang-Chi could have been different.

How Star Wars' anime anthology brings to life a core essence of Star Wars that has often gotten lost.

How Shang-Chi does a great job at introducing a new cast by revealing character through combat and important choices.

As I return to the theatre, I reflect on Black Widow & The Suicide Squad, and how smaller stakes often make bigger-feeling movies.

How Lowery's dazzling "The Green Knight" enters into modern conversations and sensibilities to reimagine myth.

In a time of transitions and uncertainty, I turn to Cowboy Bebop and the way it looks at both liminality and the inevitability of endings.

Invincible starts strong, but its languishing pace exposes a hollow, aimless story underneath the bloody veneer.

How the MCU's first Disney+ shows inspire reinvigorated hope for the heartbeat for a franchise losing its momentum.

I tackle Planet of the Apes, and the way it flips the script with every new movie in order to best challenge its world and characters.

In this spoiler-free review, I talk about my complicated love for Tenet, especially through its characters and themes about time and fate.

Close out the year by looking at some of Nolan's earliest movies, as I gush about things I love and reflect on the art of great showmanship.

In the wake of Disney's Investor Day announcements, we look at the future of film and television.

Comparing Avatar: The Last Airbender to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and how playing with tone and content can hurt or hinder your story.

How Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the MCU's greatest weakness turned to its greatest strength and what the MCU lost when it forgot it.

I reflect on the past year, and start to plan for the future!

For May the 4th/Revenge of the 5th, I discuss how The Last Jedi embodies the best of Star Wars.

Birds of Prey strikes exactly the sort of balance of fun, frenetic violence that Suicide Squad promised and failed to deliver on.