Young CriticThe Laundromat
There is a subtle through-line in most of Steven Soderbergh’s films that relates to the abuse of power. This was certainly the case in Erin Brockovich (2000), Traffic (2000), The Informant! (2009), and even his Ocean’s t
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Young Critic
Young CriticWhile at War
The Spanish Civil War has been brought to screen by Spanish filmmakers innumerable times; after the return of democracy in 1977 it seemed to be a necessary atonement and exploration of a horror that still echoes 80 years
Young CriticDownton Abbey (2019)
The audiences at Avengers: Endgame (2019) on opening weekend were nearly a show to behold themselves. Every time a beloved character was introduced onscreen or a fan-favorite moment occurred, raucous cheering, more at ho
Young CriticAd Astra
The human being is a naturally social animal, needing interaction from others in order to stay sane and alive. It is fascinating, as the age of space exploration has developed, how films and art have sought to explore th
Young CriticRambo: Last Blood
The Rambo film series is a curious case study of how a small and well-intentioned film, was corrupted because of its own success. The first Rambo film, First Blood (1982), took an allegorical look at the difficulties Vie
Young CriticHustlers
The stripper sub-genre in film is one that should be tread into carefully; there is a very fine line between exploiting bodies for money, and diving into a character piece. This is the difference between films like Showg
Young CriticThe Goldfinch
To capture the essence of a book in a film adaptation is always hard. Many qualify a good adaptation by how many of the book’s depictions appear on screen, few value the real strength of an adaptation in capturing the bo
Young CriticIt Chapter Two
It (2017) became the highest-grossing horror film of all time, with its clever adaptation and split of Stephen King’s 1400 page novel, and nearly $800 million at the world-wide box-office. The 2017 film only took on half
Young CriticReady or Not
Fables are the oldest method of teaching lessons to kids and adults alike. As storytelling has developed over humanity’s existence, the art of the narrative has grown more complex with fables alongside. Teaching lessons
Young CriticBlinded by the Light
It seems to be the year of the music biopic. There has been a surge of music biopics since Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) immortalized Queen. 2019 has brought us the lives of Elton John in Rocketman (2019) and a smart and dist
Young CriticGood Boys
The coming-of-age R-rated comedy is a niche film category that is slowly gaining more members. This summer alone the great Booksmart (2019) was a welcome addition, and Good Boys (2019), centering on a much younger age gr
Young CriticThe Farewell
Death is a difficult subject to broach, on film, in literature, or even in everyday life. It seems surprising that this aspect of life should be so dense for us, as Benjamin Franklin said, “… in this world nothing can be
Young CriticScary Stories to Tell in the Dark
The book series “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” proved to be hugely influential to US teenagers of the 80s, as they brought original and terrifying tales to life (with a helpful dose of the petrifying illustrations).
Young CriticFast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
The phenomenon of the Fast and Furious movies is unlike anything seen in cinema apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The franchise has become so successful; producers don’t know what to do with it. The most recent f
Young CriticOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood
The culture of violence is one that is ubiquitous everywhere in the world, Kubrick himself showed the longevity of such intraspecies violence with his famous “bone” sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). However, viol
Young CriticThe Lion King (2019)
Jon Favreau has fully transitioned from a comedic actor-writer into the go-to director for blockbusters. He was responsible for kick starting the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man (2008) (and has subsequent
Young CriticMidsommar
Ari Aster burst onto the horror scene with Hereditary (2018), a meticulously crafted film that has been compared to The Exorcist (1973) in its craft and scares. No doubt, the American director’s second film is highly ant
Young CriticSpider-Man: Far From Home
The Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have been too successful regarding even the studio’s own expectations. Producer Kevin Feige had mapped an initial story, revolving around the Infinity Stones and culminating in a ba
Young CriticYesterday
Richard Curtis is one of the few screenwriters left that can genuinely craft an original idea and get the funding to make it. His romantic comedies of the 90s and the early 2000s were impactful for their unique concepts
Young CriticToy Story 4
Pixar is one of the few studios that has chosen quality over quantity; yet their recent foray into sequel territory has many worried that their creative zenith was behind them. With the announcement of Toy Story 4 (2019)
Young CriticLate Night
The Late Night world of American television is one of the most cut-throat areas of Hollywood and show business. The likes have been parodied in shows such as 30 Rock (2006-2013) and The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998); bo
Young CriticMen in Black: International
It has to take a big flop for movie studios to stop making a franchise, even if that means sapping the life out of a beloved world. Men in Black (1997) had been a fun and surprising hit, whose subsequent sequels in 2002
Young CriticThe Dead Don't Die
The zombie genre has been surprisingly flexible to infuse symbolism. Since the mainstream launch of the genre with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) the genre has explored the fear that people had with infe
Young CriticX-Men: Dark Phoenix
It’s curious that the recent comic book craze was started unknowingly by X-Men (2000) nearly 20 years ago. That franchise has gained momentum as the studios around Fox developed their own sustaining cinematic universes.