Public Victim No.1
/
The Fate of the Furious (2017)
/
If you go all the way on everything, why not embrace the silliness on every level and call it F8 of the Furious?
Read More
Wonder Woman (2017)
/
When a blockbuster superhero action movie is more than a blockbuster superhero action movie
Read More
Moana/Vaiana (2016)
/
The Disney skeptic's heart is filled by the ocean and its awesome protagonist.
Read More
A Series of Series: Stranger Things, Season 1
/
Strange days have found us
And through their strange hours
We linger alone
Bodies confused
Memories misused
As we run from the day
To a strange night of stone
Music Box: Sia's "This Is Acting" (2016)
/
Sia's latest album tackles the things our culture forces us to struggle with
Read MoreThe Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (6)
/
We are still rushing down the cliff on our improvised plane contraption, so let’s get to business right away. Remember, we have stopped at the point of trying to figure out which laws everyone but our culture follows that tells us how to live and which we have been breaking for 10,000 years, taking the whole planet down with us. Let’s find out more.
Read MoreThe Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (5)
/
Last time, we arrived at the end of the myth we tell ourselves about the origin of mankind. That we are working through a constantly progressing development which makes us better and better until humans, the top of the species, will be able to control everything. But Ishmael promised to tell a different story, a story about knowledge of having a way to live which we deny even exists. I’m not sure how much of a “secret” this is anymore, but I still like that part because it goes beyond what we think is there, uncovering what is right in front of our eyes.
Read MoreBehind These Castle Walls, Part III: Fantasia (1940)
/
It’s been clearly too long since the last installment and I blame today’s movie for it. Fantasia is a difficult movie to approach because it has no larger story and is also not as well known today as all the other movies. Yet again, it is clearly a technological achievement with astonishing visuals and an unusual concept for its time, mixing animation, classical music and live action footage for what must have been really confusing to audiences in 1940. I had never seen it before but only the Fantasia 2000 sequel. I thought about talking about the original version that includes the racist scenes that have been removed since 1960 and while this is interesting, I decided not to because a) this problem is obvious and has been dealt with by Disney (with only a 20 year-delay) and b) I’m doing this to discuss the effects these movies still have today, so I might as well go with the current version. There are still enough issues to look at in this one and I can’t wait to move on to get to the next ones (of which there are still officially 53 left).
Read More