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My contemplation on the nature of Jungian shadows, shoulder angels, and facing the temptations of our worst instincts ends with the original Hollywood blockbuster incarnation of negativity: The Return of the Jedi’s (1983) Emperor Palpatine. Arguably the most popular and parodied symbol of evil, authoritarianism, and general villainy in modern pop culture, Ian McDiarmid’s cruel, … Continue reading
Another series of films that deal with obvious, yet not on-the-nose representations of Jungian shadows or shoulder angels are Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight (2005, 2008, 2012) franchise. In the broadest terms, the trilogy could be interpreted as a thematic analysis of fear, how it can evolve from an enemy to an ally. Batman Begins introduces this … Continue reading
“These boys come in here, this is how they survive. They gotta fight for life — kill or be killed. People die in there! Your Daddy died in the ring…” American writer William Faulkner is credited as saying, “The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” I first stumbled … Continue reading
One of the more divisive, underwhelming followups to a landmark Hollywood trendsetter was the 2003 two-part sequel to the original Matrix (1999). The first Matrix remains one of the defining science-fiction action films of new millennium cinema, holding up to this day as a thinking-man’s high-concept, big-budget genre film, and arguably the most original mainstream … Continue reading
What is cinematic merit? I am searching for a word or phrase that indicates how readily something is to be cinematic, the likelihood of an entity possessing attributes of or carrying out actions that are cinematic. The term, cinematic, itself means “relating to” or “having qualities of motion pictures,” according to Google. The primary or … Continue reading
I recently wrote about my affections for the sitcom television show and pop culture phenomenon that is The Big Bang Theory (2007-present), a show I feel is both overrated and underappreciated by different audiences. In many respects, however, the prism through which I view The Big Bang Theory (henceforth, BBT) and have viewed most every … Continue reading
The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular television sitcoms of the late 2000s and 2010s. Like similar modern shows such as How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014) and Modern Family (2009-2020), it represents a shift in mainstream television portrayals of modern America, including its emphasis on pop culture references, scientific research, higher … Continue reading
In light of Michael Bay’s fifth (5th!) upcoming robot-sex movie, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), I thought it appropriate to look back on Bay’s previous work on the franchise that has become synonymous with big, loud, brain-dead Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking, as well as obnoxious product placement and blatant, shameless international pandering. I have made my … Continue reading
I am not the biggest fan of AMC’s popular zombie-drama, The Walking Dead, but I wasn’t always a critic of it. When the show first aired in its abbreviated, six-episode debut season, I was one of its early converts, impressed by its production values, epic scope, and excited by the prospect of a long-running television … Continue reading
With the upcoming release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) upon us, I decided it was time to look back at the Harry Potter film megafranchise that birthed the modern Young Adult (YA) novel-adaptation craze, giving us everything from Twilight (2008-2012) to The Hunger Games (2012-2015) to Divergent (2014-2016) to Maze Runner … Continue reading
Express Elevator to Hell 