From the beginning the deck was stacked against Spider-Man 3. Its predecessor was not only a perfect Spider-Man film, but is still to this day the most perfect superhero movie ever made. A film whose legacy looms large over the entire genre in a way that no other movie has since Richard Donner’s Superman. But … Continue reading At War With Itself: The Good and the Bad of SPIDER-MAN 3
Between the years of 1995 and 2009, Pixar created an unprecedented and unmatched string of successes. Ten terrific films – critically lauded, commercially successful, instantly iconic. No other movie studio in history has a track record that can compare to Pixar’s golden age, and some filmmakers spend their entire careers hoping to curate a similarly … Continue reading TOY STORY 2: Pixar’s Improbable Miracle Movie
What do you do when you’re asked to make a sequel to the last pirate movie anyone would ever make? During production on the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, there was a very real sense that the creative team behind it had conned a major studio into making a movie that should never have … Continue reading The Last Pirate Movies Ever Made: Revisiting PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
Throughout Disney’s remake of Beauty and the Beast, Emma Thompson performs the voice of Mrs. Potts in a not-particularly-good impression of Angela Lansbury, and you’re left to wonder why they didn’t just get Angela Lansbury to do the movie. This, unfortunately, is Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast in a nutshell. A film so preoccupied … Continue reading BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Review: A Good Movie Suffocated by a Perfect One
This article contains spoilers for Logan. The weekend is over, the dust has settled, and now, we can say without reservation that Logan was an unqualified success. It garnered near universal praise from critics, effusive enthusiasm from audiences, and made a whole ton of money along the way. It also happened to be rated R. … Continue reading LOGAN and the Dystopia of the R-Rated Superhero Film
Now, almost a year later, it’s safe to say that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros.’ second-at-bat in their nascent DC Extended Universe, was the most controversial superhero movie of 2016. Despite financial success and a passionate core group of fans, the film received scathing reviews and was largely dismissed in the popular … Continue reading Heroic Hollywood Exclusive: Full Interview with the BATMAN V SUPERMAN Action Team
This article contains spoilers. After facing monsters, surviving storms, and learning to navigate the seas, Moana, far from her home, is told by the demigod Maui how the ocean connects every living thing in the world. Here, in western culture, we tend to view oceans as vast chasms that separate continents over great distances, but … Continue reading We Were Voyagers! – How MOANA’s Past Shows Us Our Future
We’re supposedly living in a halcyon era for (extreme sarcasm quotes) “geek culture,” but I sometimes wonder how true that is. Sure, science fiction and fantasy dominate film and television screens and you can confess to reading comic books without fear of ridicule, but a lot of that success has been built on the back … Continue reading First Teaser for Luc Besson’s VALERIAN is Jaw-Dropping
Note: This article was originally published on Heroic Hollywood, but their recent site redesign has rendered it unreadable. I am republishing the article in its entirety here for posterity. “We need kids to make stuff.” That quote comes from Lindsey Collins, Producer of Finding Dory and VP of Development at Pixar. Collins was on hand … Continue reading Inside the Science Behind Pixar Exhibition at the California Science Center
A brief note about presentation: I had the opportunity to see Star Trek Beyond at its world premiere in San Diego. The premiere was the world’s first outdoor IMAX screening, complete with the San Diego Orchestra performing the score live to picture. It was an incredible treat… but perhaps not the most ideal way to … Continue reading STAR TREK BEYOND Review
David Daut 