We travel back in time to discuss the nostalgia of the very first “Spider-Man” movie and how it kicked off a series of sequels and superhero reboots produced by Marvel Studios.
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Culture Crash 19-30: Ensuring the Accessibility of Independent Films
We discuss how the rise in streaming technology has impacted the availability of classic, foreign and indie films.
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Culture Crash 19-29: What To Do When You Don’t Really Like the Book You’re Reading
It happens to everyone. Despite your perseverance, you just can’t get into the book you’re reading. Do you push yourself to keep on going or give up and raise a white flag?
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Culture Crash 19-27: The Year of Repetitive Sequels and Reboots
2019 is flying by. From the good to the bad to the so-so, we discuss movie trends so far this year and what we hope is coming in the second half of 2019.
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Culture Crash 19-24: The Rise of the Supervillain in “Brightburn”
We discuss the new movie produced by Sony Pictures titled “Brightburn”. The film is different than the typical storyline in that it chronicles the rise of a superhero that uses his power for evil rather than good.
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Culture Crash 19-17: Adapting a Book Into a Movie: Annihilation
The sci-fi adventure movie, Annihilation, is based on a book but the adaptation is looser than what we typically expect. How director Alex Garland created something new.
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19-16 Segment 2: The Lady from the Black Lagoon
Horror movies are major box office. Some experts see the film “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” as a turning point. One reason is the Gill Man character, created by an often overlooked female trailblazer in monster design, Millicent Patrick. An author who has researched Patrick discusses her significance in American culture and the horror film genre.
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Culture Crash 19-15: The Increasing Cost of Cutting the Cord
Streaming services are multiplying, and none of them carry everything. Many people are finding that satisfying their TV viewing desires through streaming services is getting as expensive as cable.
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Culture Crash 19-14: Sketch Comic Becomes Movies’ Hottest Horror Director
Jordan Peele used to be best known as a sketch comic, but his second film as a director, “Us,” is showing that the success of his first, “Get Out,” was no fluke.
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Culture Crash 19-11: Do we all have the cultural taste of our 15 year-old selves?
Anecdotal evidence and some real data science both suggest that we never grow out of the things we loved at 15.
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Culture Crash 19-05: On Ethan Hawke and Oscar Snubs
Every year, there is some outrage over Oscar snubs. This year, many of us wish Ethan Hawke had been nominated for First Reformed. We look at why.
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Culture Crash 19-03: Movies to Look Forward to in 2019
With a new year always comes new things to look forward to, so let’s take a look at some of the movies people are anticipating the most in 2019. As a warning, there are a lot of them.
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Culture Crash 19-01: Minding the Gap
The year 2018 gave us a lot to love at the movies. Some of the absolute highlights for me were Eighth Grade, Roma, A Quiet Place, and Blindspotting. Each of those thrilled me, entertained me, and moved me. But for me, the best film of the year was Bing Liu’s incredibly personal documentary, Minding the Gap. It’s a film I saw back in August but has stuck with me more than anything I’ve seen in a long time.
Minding the Gap tells the story of Liu himself, and of his closest friends from his childhood in Rockford, Illinois. Each came from something of a broken home, and turned to each other, and to skateboarding for an escape from their personal demons. What begins as a movie about kids skateboarding and hanging out becomes a searing look at childhood trauma, the bonds of friendship, and what effects our families can have on us as we age into adulthood.
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Culture Crash 18-50: A look ahead at the movies set to dominate awards season
Awards season is officially upon us. The Golden Globes have already announced their nominees, which are as questionable as always. Year-end lists are being finalized, and Oscar buzz is reaching a roar for some contenders. But now is also the time when many of these movies are being released in the first place. So, here’s a guide of what to keep an eye out for to get ahead of the nominee pool.
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Culture Crash 18-49: The disappointing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Last month, JK Rowling’s Wizarding World saw its latest installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes on Grindelwald be met with a low score on Rotten Tomatoes and countless disappointed Harry Potter fans across the globe.
Count me among them. Not since 2009’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film totally bungled its source material has a Wizarding World installment felt so misguided. Crimes of Grindelwald isn’t quite as bad as Half-Blood Prince, but it is poorly paced and difficult to follow, even for those who have spent their entire childhoods learning the universe forward and backward.
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Culture Crash 18-46: Filling the Thanksgiving movie void with Stuck in Love
In the build-up to Halloween, many of us get in the spooky mood by watching horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street or, naturally, Halloween. Before Christmas, seasonal cheer leads people to dig out their old copies of It’s a Wonderful Life or Elf. But there aren’t many Thanksgiving movies.
Of course, you can watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, but that’s only 30 minutes long. So what can be done to fill the void? Let me propose that you give the movie Stuck in Love a try.
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Culture Crash 18-42: The Old Man & the Gun Allows Robert Redford to Age Gracefully
Movies with bank heists tend to be action-packed movies full of chase sequences and maybe a dramatic shoot-out. What bank robbery films tend not to be are quiet meditations on aging. But that’s exactly what director David Lowery’s latest film, The Old Man and the Gun set out to be.
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Culture Crash 18-39: 2018 Fall Films
Now that summer is behind us, it’s time for fall movies to take over. Of course, there are some big ones coming, most notably Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Gindewald, the next installment in JK Rowling’s wizarding world. But there is a lot of excitement for some non-franchise films as well.
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Culture Crash 18-36: American Animals
American Animals is a film that tells the true story of four college kids who stole millions of dollars in rare books from a library in broad daylight. I first saw the trailer in March and it has been on my radar ever since. I was intrigued to see a stylish heist movie starring some exciting up and comers like American Horror Story’s Evan Peters and Dunkirk’s Barry Keoghan.
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Culture Crash 18-33: The Academy’s ‘Best Popular Film’ Snafu
In a wild moment, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced its intention to honor popular films at the Oscars. We explore why that’s a really bad idea.
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