Adam's Final Cut

Well.

I love Spider-Man. I thought Spider-Man Unlimited was a cool cartoon as a kid. I grew up reading Ultimate Spider-Man, even into Miles Morales's introduction and onto the end of the Ultimate Universe. I think the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride at Universal Orlando is one of the greatest rides in the world. I loved Homecoming. All of Tom Holland's MCU outings have been amazing to excellent, includ...

A lot is repeated in Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die, often to hilarious effect. They're not catchphrases, more like observations of those who practically sigh at the end of world. Or like that story or factoid that you've probably told about 25 times and might have even mentioned this morning once or twice but might as well repeat now to be sure they heard it.

In the trilogy capper of the "Eastrail 177 Trilogy" (or the Unbreakable trilogy, if you prefer), David Dunn (Bruce Willis, Unbreakable), Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy, Split), and Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson, Unbreakable) find themselves locked together in an asylum, now wards of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story), whose mission is to convince them their superhuman beliefs are mere delusions of gra...

Crap.

I hate when I can't fully celebrate a great film. By all counts, this is tremendous filmmaking. I think the last time I was this absorbed in a film was La La Land--completely entranced so it feels like there's barely a gap between you and the action on screen. I really dug the way Ari Aster (The Strange Thing About the Johnsons) used hyper-frame-rate to give hallucinatory sequences a hypnotic and otherworldly feel. It was...

In recent days, I started to feel extremely unsure of what I wanted to do with my life. Was I actually working to fulfill my "calling," or have I been on a long path to nowhere. I think my dream would be to be a film critic and write scripts and stories, and do some freelance editing on the side. Not a particularly steady dream when the first career is slowly dying, the second is the hardest to make a living out of, and the th...

The Greatest Showman and I have had an interesting history. When I first heard about it, it was my most anticipated movie of 2017. Then I saw the first trailer and was off-put by the pop nature of the soundtrack. This wasn't what I expected from the lyricists of La La Land! Nevertheless, I couldn't not be interested in a movie musical with Hugh Jackman, and it still remained, with hesitation, in my list of anticipation, though...

We are knee-deep in the new age of Star Wars. The Last Jedi is the eighth episode, the ninth live-action theatrical film, and the third film without creator George Lucas (though he served as a consultant on Episode VII, most of his ideas were ignored). After The Force Awakens revisited the Hero's Journey arc of the original film and Rogue One dramatized the prelude to the original film, it was time for the Disney era to show u...

All the Money in the World was not even on my radar before Kevin Spacey was removed from the finished film in the wake of numerous worrisome sexual harassment allegations. Shortly after the Spacey allegations came out, though, director Ridley Scott (The Martian, Alien) announced that all of Spacey's scenes would be reshot with Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music, Beginners) assuming the role--one month before the film's re...

A handful of young British soldiers walk the eerily quiet and empty streets of Dunkirk, France. Though the war rages on, this seems to be a rare moment of peace. Flyers rain from somewhere in the sky, obviously from the enemy. A red "X" marks Dunkirk: arrows point at it, all saying "WE SURROUND YOU." A grave message, but they don't seem to be here. The soldiers continue their walk--suddenly, ear-shattering gunfire surrounds th...

In 1990, Tim Curry scarred children forever as Pennywise the Dancing Clown in ABC's 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's brick of a novel, It. Now, 27 years later, just like the eponymous character, It returns to theaters.

This fall's It is directed by Andy Muschetti (Mama) and stars Bill Skarsgard (Hemlock Grove) as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the favorite form the mysterious and terrifying It takes on while haunting the childre...