Richard Donner, who became the grandfather of contemporary superhero cinema with 1978’s Superman, lamented in a recent interview, “There are so many people that make superheroes so cynical, it’s depressing. When they’re dark and bleak and angry with themselves and the world, I don’t find it entertaining. I think there’s enough reality going on for…Read On
In Love in the Western World, Denis de Rougemont mounts a remarkably probing investigation into the origins of our modern notions of romance. His startling thesis: for the last thousand years, the overwhelming majority of poetry and literature in the west has glorified passionate love – which is necessarily unhappy – over and against marriage…Read On
From time to time, I will scroll past blog posts with sweeping titles like, “The Mandalorian is the Best Star Wars Since the Original Trilogy”. These articles will often rely on the rather dramatic claim that The Mandalorian captures some esoteric “spirit of Star Wars” which is, apparently, possessed by less than one third of…Read On
Every now and then, people will say that such and such a city or town "becomes a character" in such and such a film. Usually, this means the locale is depicted in a particularly vivid way or has an especially striking bearing on the plot or atmosphere of the film. For this month's Undefended, FilmFisher's writers picked the five best cinematic depictions of cities and towns onscreen…Read On
At the end of December, it is customary for FilmFisher's writers to assemble "best of the year" Undefended lists. However, given the relative deficit of new releases in 2020, FilmFisher's writers picked the 5 best films they saw all year, regardless of release date…Read On
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I made my way through Fargo – not the Coens’ 1996 opus, but the television series it later spawned. Though Joel and Ethan themselves have no creative involvement in the series, and the idea of spinning a beloved film off into a TV show sounds like a dreadful, creatively…Read On
Brian De Palma. Steven Spielberg. M. Night Shyamalan. David Fincher. Over the years, any number of filmmakers have been hailed as "the next Alfred Hitchcock," though the title rarely sticks for long. This month, FilmFisher's writers picked the best Hitchcock films Hitchcock never made…Read On
This year, in the spirit of Halloween, FilmFisher's writers picked their favorite movie monsters – though they were given leeway to define the word "monster" as loosely as they wanted. Chime in with your own selections in the comments section!Read On
Autumn is upon us and the year begins to draw to a close. In keeping with the season, this month, FilmFisher's writers picked the five best cinematic depictions of a somewhat underrepresented subject in mainstream movies: old age…Read On
Often, the best way to begin interpreting a work of art is to ask good questions of it. The following questions are not trivia prompts with open-and-shut answers to test one’s knowledge of the film; instead, they are meant to spark and sustain thoughtful engagement with the film, whether through individual reflection or discussion in a group setting…Read On
Often, the best way to begin interpreting a work of art is to ask good questions of it. The following questions are not trivia prompts with open-and-shut answers to test one's knowledge of the film; instead, they are meant to spark and sustain thoughtful engagement with the film, whether through individual reflection or discussion in a group setting…Read On
Often, the best way to begin interpreting a work of art is to ask good questions of it. The following questions are not trivia prompts with open-and-shut answers to test one’s knowledge of the film; instead, they are meant to spark and sustain thoughtful engagement with the film, whether through individual reflection or discussion in a group setting…Read On
It is the middle of summer, the season where thoughts incline towards youth. For many, school is just around the corner again and nostalgia is setting in. This month, FilmFisher's writers picked the five times cinema best captured the experience of childhood. Chime in with your own picks in the comments section…Read On
Whenever I reach the end of a season, my film-watching habits spin off in unexpected directions. After graduating from Biola, I went on a random tour through the Alien franchise. After finishing a novel that took a year to write – the longest I have ever spent on a single writing project – I jumped into…Read On
A good adaptation is hard to find. This month, FilmFisher's writers had a different sort of prompt, which required some creativity: they were asked to pick the books they most wanted to see adapted to the screen, and to pair them with the ideal directors for the project. Take a look at the lists below, and chime in with your own pairings in the comments:…Read On
This article has two aims and two parts. First, I want to enumerate the many ways that Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet are uncannily similar. Released only a year apart — Atlantis in 2001 and Treasure Planet in 2002 — both are 95-minute action-adventure animated films with a steampunk aesthetic…Read On
With an apparently endless stream of Star Wars media issuing forth from Disney and Lucasfilm, it may sound melodramatic to speak about eras ending. Last December, The Rise of Skywalker brought the 40-years-in-the-making saga of the Skywalker family to a close, only for a new episode of The Mandalorian to hit Disney+ less than a…Read On
Many of FilmFisher's writers have been taking advantage of quarantine to seek out new films that they may not have discovered otherwise. This month, in lieu of an Undefended list, they were asked to pick and briefly write about the best movie they've seen while stuck at home…Read On
Tomas Alfredson’s immaculate John le Carré adaptation, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, may be the unsung masterpiece of the 2010s. After garnering a few nominations on the awards circuit and lately making a handful of best-of-the-decade lists (including FilmFisher’s), it seems destined to pass unseen from the public consciousness. This lack of fanfare is sad, though…Read On
Perhaps the most agonizing scene in Saving Private Ryan is Corporal Upham’s (Jeremy Davies) refusal or inability to save Private Mellish (Adam Goldberg) from the soldier who kills him. While perfectly able to do so, Upham slumps in the middle of the stairs, weeping, as he hears his friend calling for help. Although painful, I’ve…Read On
