Are you a cynic or a romantic? That may sound like an odd question to pose at the beginning of a review of a romantic comedy film since the underlying assumption is that as a partaker of this type of Cupid-esque confection that you are totally on board with the Continue Reading
Movies
An undead family history: How zombies have changed over time in popular culture
SNAPSHOT“The zombie, they say, is the soulless human corpse still dead but taken from the grave and endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life. The zombies of Haitian folklore are controlled by a sorcerer called a bokor who uses them for his own ends often for menial work Continue Reading
Weekend movie poster art: Harley Quinn emancipates herself with cheeky chutzpah in Birds of Prey
SNAPSHOTMargot Robbie will be reprising her Suicide Squad role of Harley Quinn in the film, which also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Ewan McGregor as the villain Black Mask, Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz and Rosie Perez as Continue Reading
What’s hiding in the most solitary place on Earth? Deep Sea has the answer … and it’s not Ariel
SNAPSHOTThe water pressure here is 1,086 bar. Taking a swim here is like having to balance 1,800 elephants on top of you. But even here, life has found a way to thrive. Next to sea cucumbers, white and light pink amphipods wiggle their way through the water. Their size is Continue Reading
The Matrix: Exposition in action (video essay)
SNAPSHOTThe Matrix utilizes [sic] so many great filmmaking techniques that it’s hard to focus on any specific one, but I’m continually impressed by how they establish an entire world filled with complex rules in a way that feels effortless. In this video, we look at how The Matrix manages to Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: Martha the Monster learns to embrace her otherness
SNAPSHOTIn a world where humans live alongside monsters, Martha finds herself stuck with a major identity crisis. (synopsis via Laughing Squid) There is something intoxicatingly powerful about the freedom to be completely and utterly yourself. I don’t mean in some kind of antisocial, douchebag kind of way; rather, being unapologetically Continue Reading
Ridiculous but fun to watch: The discarded opening scene for Toy Story 4
Brilliance, even for animation as innovative and talented as Pixar, is a progression, not an immediate destination. Granted, the company that brought us the eternal delights of Toy Story (1 through 4), UP and Wall-E, among many, many others, has a bigger head start thatn most but evebn so, every Continue Reading
Wheee! Lucas the Spider and his friend the Fly go for a icily-fun ride
Summer is here! Lucas and his friend found a new toy to play with – if only they could get it to stay still! (synopsis via Laughing Squid (c) Lucas the Spider Here in Australia, winter, which truth be told doesn’t amount to all that much, at least compared to Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: “Wish you were fictitiously here” – imaginative postcards from pop culture locales
It was Cheers which famously asked “Wouldn’t you like to get away?” Well, yes we would and the further away from real life the better thank you very much. A nice fictional locale with none of the banal or trying trappings of the everyday would be quite lovely thank you Continue Reading
The short and the short of it: The close enough to reach otherworldliness of The Moon’s Milk
SNAPSHOTSeven and a half years in the making, The Moon’s Milk is an entirely handmade stop motion animated short about a time when the moon was close enough to be reached by ladder. Narrated by Tom Waits, the film chronicles the last expedition of Captain Millipede and his crew to Continue Reading