The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly wasn’t “Cinema” either

Older Hollywood directors really seem to enjoy causing a stir with their divisive opinions about what is and isn’t cinema, or what really qualifies a movie experience. Steven Spielberg hates Netflix, Quentin Tarantino hates Netflix, and on a regular basis they’ll both happily tell you about why it’s the worst thing to happen to movies…

“Han Shot First” is important (not for the reasons you think)

The Cantina is one of the iconic locations in the original Star Wars. In the center of Mos Eisley, the “wretched hive of scum and villainy” there’s a seedy tavern where Obi-Wan and Luke meet Han and Chewbacca, Han fights off and over-eager bounty hunter, and we see the first of many limbs being chopped off in…

Personal Favorites: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Pretty much all Western heroes, and arguably all movie heroes, fall into one of two categories: they’re either a John Wayne or a Clint Eastwood. Will Kane from High Noon? He’s a John Wayne. Shane from Shane? He’s a Clint. Indiana Jones is a John Wayne, but Han Solo’s definitely a Clint. Ethan Edwards from The Searchers…

Not every character has an important origin story, and that’s okay

Often, the best origin story is no origin story

Captain’s Log: May 2016

Game of Thrones / Captain America: Civil War / X-Men Apocalypse / Tower of Terror / Magnificent Seven

Intertextuality: The Noble Heroes of The Magnificent Seven Samurai

Regarded as some of the greatest films of their genres, Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven both hold a special place in their respective Japanese and American cinema. Akira Kurosawa’s 3-hour samurai epic debuted in 1954, and was re-worked into the 1960 Western that audiences loved. (It’s worth noting that The Magnificent Seven will be remade later this year,…

Snubbing Great Performances: #OscarsSoWhite

My friends and I walked out of the theater. We were floored. It was a visceral tour-de-force, and we could scarcely find the words for it. It was a cinematic achievement in many regards. Being Tarantino’s eighth film, we should have been prepared for such a pleasantly overwhelming experience. It was a film called The Hateful Eight, and despite…

The Man with No Chill: A Moral Analysis of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

“Certainly one of the greatest film cowboys, and certainly the best known of Clint Eastwood’s roles. Other than perhaps James Bond and Han Solo, no movie hero has proven to be as badass or uniquely masculine as the Dollars’ trilogy protagonist. However, if we are to look at the trilogy’s most famous installment, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, there is something very interesting to be noted about our hero; namely, that he isn’t a hero at all.”