Film Essays and Analysis
Cineworld Is Dead. Long Live Content. - Cineworld Group plc is filing for bankruptcy. Here's what happened, how it happened, and why you should care about it. Story by Joseph Wade.
Top Gun: Maverick Is in Love With Companionship, Familiarity - 'Top Gun: Maverick' is the biggest hit of 2022 because it's more than an action movie, it's a romance flick dedicated to all the things we love, and love, and love again. Essay by Callum McGuigan.
Straightwashing Removes All Rainbows: Removing Bisexuals from Comic Book Films - In 2022, the blockbuster sphere's choices in representation must face more scrutiny, particularly with regard to straightwashing bisexual comic book characters. Essay by Paul Klein.
‘Blue My Mind’ and New Female Monsters - 'Blue My Mind' cathartically redefines the old-fashioned film logic that pain must be felt in the coming-of-age period and thus redefines the rulings of the monstrous feminine. Essay by Grace Britten.
Is Marvel’s Insistence on Being So Firmly On-The-Nose Rooted in a Distrust of Its Audience? - In 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness', Marvel, writer Michael Waldron and director Sam Raimi, tell rather than show. Is this because they don't trust us to understand film language? Essay by Callum McGuigan.
What Film Can Teach Us About Heartbreak - "Real life is often nonsensical and absurd – if art can truly mirror that experience, something special can occur." What abstract ideas in film can teach us about heartbreak. Essay by Sam Florsheim.
The Before Trilogy: How to Capture a Moment - A love story is made of moments, and in no place are those moments captured better than in Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy - Sunrise, Sunset, Midnight. Essay on why, by Jack Fanning.
Cooper Raiff and the Strength of Vulnerability - Cooper Raiff uses his films 'Sh*thouse' and 'Cha Cha Real Smooth' to re-evaluate the limits of masculinity, confronting limited stereotypes to present vulnerability as a strength. Essay by Tina Kakadelis.
Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ VFX Remain the Industry’s Gold Standard - How Steven Spielberg's direction helped to make the visual effects on 'Jurassic Park' (1993) not only revolutionary but the Gold Standard of Hollywood CGI. Article by Joseph Wade.
In Defense of the Happy Ending: Alice Wu and LGBTQ+ Movies - For so long, Hollywood has made it seem like only white, cisgender, non-disabled, heterosexual people fall in love. The films of Alice Wu offer condolence for those outside of that box. Essay by Tina Kakadelis. 