I Still Believe in Heroes

What is it about horror movies that draw audiences in to see them?   There is the thrill of being scared, sure, but is that really as far as it goes? I think not. You see, more than any other genre, horror films are a product of their generation and they typically speak to or highlight the societal issues that are going on around the time that a given horror film is made.   In many ways, horror films help us understand or comment on important issues such as race ( Get Out ), sexuality ( It Follows ), and mental/physical/emotional issues ( The Babadook ). Horror is a genre with many faces but for this particular article, I will touch on what I believe to be the best horror subgenres, the slasher film, and discuss why they are important.              I can understand why people may be a bit turned off by slasher films. In many ways they are a lot closer to reality than a monster or demonic horror movie. Many slasher films...

The official nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards are here. As is the case every year, there were some surprises along the way. Below are the nominations for each category along with my biggest takeaways. BEST PICTURE Call Me by Your Name Darkest Hour Dunkirk Get Out Lady Bird Phantom Thread The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Biggest Takeaways: I was really rooting for Phantom Thread  but I doubted its chances to get in. It ended up doing much better than I thought it would and that makes me very happy. Get Out becomes just the third horror film ever to be nominated for Best Picture, following in the footsteps of The Exorcist (1973) and The Silence of the Lambs  (1991).  I really hoped that either Logan or Wonder Woman would maybe sneak in, but figured they wouldn't. Finally, I really wish Coco  would have been nominated for Best Picture because it honestly deserved it. BEST DIRECTOR Christopher Nolan - ...

Director Nicolai Fuglsig brings us 12 Strong ,   the unbelievable true story of the very first Special Forces team sent to Afghanistan after the terrorist attack of 9/11. Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), an untested captain, and his team must team up with an Afghan warlord in order to take down the Taliban. 12 Strong stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Michael Peña. It seems that the vast majority of war films in recent years have centered around the subject of PTSD which makes this film a nice departure into a different aspect of war. Instead of dealing with the aftermath of war,  12 Strong is very much about the beginnings of it and briefly touches on the initial emotions one goes through after killing someone for the first time. While I would have liked to see the film dive into this a little bit more deeply, I appreciate the fact that it at least tried. The film   wastes no time in sending us to the battlefield. However, the short period of ti...

On Sunday, January 7th the 2018 Golden Globes will be taking place. Below are my predictions. Please note that I will only be making predictions for the film side of things. BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA Call Me by Your Name Dunkirk The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Should win: Call Me by Your Name Will win: The Shape of Water While I think Call Me by Your Name has a legitimate shot at winning, it's hard to ignore the amount of love and hype behind The Shape of Water .  BEST MOTION PICTURE - MUSICAL OR COMEDY The Disaster Artist Get Out The Greatest Showman I, Tonya Lady Bird Should win: Get Out Will win: Get Out Look, there is absolutely no reason why Get Out should be nominated in this category since it is neither a comedy nor a musical, but here we are now. While I wouldn't argue with anyone who thinks Lady Bird will win, I think that Get Ou t 's social relevance will g...