Film of the Week: ‘John Carter’: I Need a Hero
John Carter (2012)—adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1917 novel A Princess of Mars—is a perfect example of why many movies with inflated budgets don’t work. The focus is on spectacle: explosions,...
View ArticleDon’t You Feel Cheated?: Why Chick Flicks Are Bad for You and Bad for Society
When we hear the term “chick flick,” we generally think of the standard romantic comedy or a heavily emotional drama focusing on so-called female issues concerning relationships and/or family....
View ArticleGary Ross: The Greatest Director You Never Knew Existed – BEFORE ‘The Hunger...
Director Gary Ross’s films are better known than he is. When I mentioned to my friends that I’d be writing a feature story on him for CT, most of them looked at me with a quizzical expression and then...
View ArticleFeeling Manly?: Defining the “Dick Flick”
In a previous feature published by Cultural Transmogrifier on “chick flicks,” I assert that our culture should refer to action films as “dick flicks.” Essentially, action films are the male equivalent...
View ArticleA Love Letter to Jack Black
I remember the first time I saw Jack Black in a movie. I was around 12-years-old, home sick from school with the flu, watching a terrible film on some cable channel very early in the morning. The film...
View ArticleFilm of the Week: ‘Dark Shadows’– Tim Burton Has Officially Lost It
I admit that I didn’t walk into Dark Shadows (2012) expecting greatness. Based on Tim Burton’s most recent contributions to cinema, I’d anticipated yet another overly done and trite film that would...
View ArticleFilm of the Week: ‘Hysteria’: The Past Is Our Present
The year was 1880, and most women had no rights. Because of their experience of disrespect, their gender was overlooked by the medical profession, which made up a condition called “hysteria”—a...
View ArticleNothing To See Here: ‘The Watch’ Reviewed
I like to walk into a movie theater with little or no expectations. This enables me to watch a film as unbiased as possible, to appreciate or criticize it fairly for what it was trying to accomplish....
View ArticleRichard Ayoade: Actor, Filmmaker, Nerd, Sex Symbol
Richard Ayoade is a name many Americans are not familiar with now but will be in the next couple of years. Most recently, he has received attention for his role in The Watch, currently in theaters,...
View ArticleAren’t You Bored? The American Remake and Erosion of our Culture
Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase of remakes in the American film industry and I am certainly not the first to take notice. There are countless articles on the internet and...
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