When Doctor Who Christmas specials first began with the 2005 revival, they often existed lateral to main storylines bar the occasional outlier (such as The Time of the Doctor). With The Church on Ruby Road last year, though, Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as The Doctor began with an episode that sparked …
Unlike the rest of my reviews for this season of Doctor Who, this review will contain spoilers for the episode. What marks this change is that Empire of Death is one of the worst finales of Doctor Who, and to efficiently discuss and critique the episode in a manner that …
The cinematic format holds the privilege of imagining numerous variables of what the future may be like. The screen platforms artists to compose frames through camera lenses to reflect on the present and create a future through imagery. In this sense, the French director Aude Léa Rapin, who previously directed …
DC Comics has no shortage of quality animated material. This includes numerous direct-to-DVD films (the most recent being the Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earth trilogy). While those have offered mixed results, one corner of DC that has remained popular is its animated television content. HBO Max’s shows, such as …
After two monumental entries into the Star Wars trilogy, Return of the Jedi had a lot riding on it. Trying to stick the landing is always a high pressure job but with this final piece of the original trilogy, we are thankfully in luck. While it’s not as airtight of …
If anyone suspected that the success of George Lucas’s Star Wars was a fluke, then the 1980s Irvin Kershner-directed The Empire Strikes Back smothered these allegations. It maintains the imagination and splendour of the original while adding narrative twists and new character dimensions to the mix. But while it is, …
In 1977, blockbuster cinema changed forever with the release of George Lucas’s Star Wars. While Steven Spielberg’s Jaws spawned the term blockbuster, Star Wars came to define the genre with its humongous popularity, critical acclaim, and financial success, which was unlike anything cinemas had seen at that point. Nearly fifty …
2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – the final entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy – had severe production hurdles from the start. The film was originally going to be helmed by Jurassic World director Colin Treverrow, who had managed to pen a full script with Derek Connolly …
Despite the critical acclaim of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, certain corners of the internet would have you believe that the film was “divisive.” While there were certainly some unhappy fans – they’ve been screaming from their parents’ basements since 2017 – the evidence of audience gathering surveys …
Star Wars media has returned to the cultural forefront since the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. A film trilogy and several television shows later, the franchise has become a norm within the entertainment media landscape. Unfortunately, such an extensive array of content has not had the …
Shortly after Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, one of the first announcements made was their intent to make a Star Wars sequel trilogy. Talks of a continuation in the form of Episodes 7, 8 and 9 had been floating around the zeitgeist for years, but to see …
Revenge of the Sith is the best of the Star Wars prequel trilogy by a country mile. Where The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones felt narratively meandering, handicapped by their insistence on telling over showing, Revenge of the Sith takes much better advantage of writer-director George Lucas’s idiosyncrasies. …
If my review for The Phantom Menace could be perceived as me going out of my way to be fair, then Attack of the Clones is me reaping what I’ve sowed. Not only does this film suffer from many of the same issues as its predecessor, but it amplifies them …
What is there to say about Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? A franchise that once ruled the world has now become a mixed bag of incredible highs and abysmal lows. On one hand, we have films like Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: No Way Home, which joined the ranks of the original …
DreamWorks Animation has always been regarded as the biggest rival to Disney/Pixar, but despite a few memorable sagas like Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and Madagascar, the truth is that the studio has rarely delivered stand-alone original works with the same cultural impact as many of the latter’s movies. …
When Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the first of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, hit cinemas in 1999, it proved extremely divisive. A definite victim of overhype, with some fans literally camping outside cinemas before the first screening, neither critics nor audiences seemed to agree on the film’s quality. The …
Francis Ford Coppola’s first feature film in 13 years was always going to generate excitement, but Megalopolis – since its divisive Cannes premiere and disastrous marketing campaign with AI-generated quotes (the fault of US distributor Lionsgate, not Coppola) – is almost a sensation. Add in a star-studded cast, some of …
Agatha All Along, with Kathryn Hahn, is the latest from Marvel Television and is a solid Halloween watch. Ever since Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been scrutinized. Fans have felt that the post-Infinity Saga films and television series have lacked focus. While engaging characters have entered the equation, it’s …
It may be unrealistic to suggest that zombies will rise from graves or aliens will flood the sky, but a lot of films and TV shows, like War of the Worlds and The Walking Dead, provide an insight into what might happen in those situations. They beg the question: what …
In mega-popular franchises like Alien, it’s common to have a primary filmmaker whose role can either be to continue as a director or to shift into a producer role, serving as a sort of supervisor of the original vision of the saga. Ridley Scott is that person, starting in 1979 …