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Tag: films

Impotence, Inauthenticity, and Identity in ‘Hail, Caesar!’

It’s somewhat surprising that, of my nebulous top ten-ish favourite films, there are two that both came out in 2016, are both decidedly off-kilter and odd in their own ways, and are both ‘cult’ films to an extent – beloved by their fans, but little-known beyond those circles.  We’ve discussed The Nice Guys on this site before, and today it’s time to turn to what is (in the Blog of Mazarbul’s household) its improbable companion piece – certainly, these two movies have been rewatched more than any other by my wife and I! So, today, I figured I’d write up…

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Why The Man with the Golden Gun is the perfect Bond reboot

The Man with the Golden Gun is not a great Bond film. Indeed, it isn’t even a particularly good film.  It’s by no means the worst Bond film ever made (I can think of three or four that I loathe much more off the top of my head), but it’s either the best of the bad Bond films, or the worst of the mediocre entries. Yet, I think it’s the Bond film we need right now.  It might not be the best Bond film ever made, but I think that The Man with the Golden Gun is the best Bond…

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Gwen Stacy & The Hero’s Journey In Across The Spider-Verse

Ever since I saw Across the Spider-Verse, I’ve been really interested in the journey that Gwen Stacy undergoes in the film.  I’ve already talked about the hubris of Miles, Miguel, and even the Spot, and how this is a core thematic element of the story – but Gwen’s very much got her own thing going on.  So I figured I’d try and break it down a little here, with the help of one Joseph Campbell and a certain infamous narrative template – but I’m getting ahead of myself. A central plot point of Across the Spider-Verse is the idea of…

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Miguel’s family and Earth-67 in Across the Spider-Verse

So I’ve actually just come home from rewatching Across the Spider-Verse – partly because damn, I really really like it, and actually also partly because I’ve had a follow-up blog post in mind for some time concerning Gwen and her character’s arc and development throughout the film…and I am impatient and didn’t want to wait for the film’s wide release. That post will hopefully follow in the next few days, but there was one little detail that struck me on this viewing that’s also completely irrelevant, and that struck me as being interesting enough to warrant a short post (especially…

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The Price of Pride & Prejudice in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’

This isn’t really a blog for reviews – and I’m not about to break form here by even trying to review Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.  Apart from anything else, it’s been just over a week since I saw it and I’m still trying to digest it all. So, if you want my review, here it is: go and watch the damn film.  Or better, watch Into the Spider-Verse first, and then go out and immediately watch Across.  I really enjoyed Into, and Across outdoes it in nearly every aspect.  The animation is stunning.  The soundtrack is perfect.  The script is…

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