The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, take a closer look at the script Aaron Sorkin wrote for The Social Network to see how he uses certain literary devices to give dialogue rhythms and melodies. Plus, watch a wonderful conversation with Ben Stiller‘s late parents, the amazing Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, about their early career in show biz. And finally, listen to actors like Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, Terry Crews, Kristen Bell, and more recalling their first IMDb credit. Read More »
The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, see what Bill Hader might have looked like if he played T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day thanks to an impressive DeepFake video. Plus, watch a vintage clip of Jim Henson and The Muppets making an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and hear a dialect expert review American accents in movies like The Departed, Fargo, and more. Read More »
Since you’re probably going to be cooped up at home for at least the next few weeks, you’re going to need a lot of streaming content to pass the time. Thankfully, April is bringing a new line-up of original programming and library titles to hold you over. It just might help keep you sane during these chaotic times. So without further adieu, let’s check out some of the best TV shows and movies coming to Netflix in April. Read More »
(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
A well-cut trailer is a thing of beauty. To be clear: trailers are pieces of advertising. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be art, too. A bad trailer either shows us too much, relies heavily on cliches, or fails to grab our interest. A great trailer, however, can make or break a film. Put together a compelling, interesting, and original trailer, and you’ve gone a long way towards drawing in your audience. Which is exactly what the best trailers of the decade did.
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(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
The 2010s will mark the decade when cinema as we know it started changing drastically. The movies themselves aren’t really changing, but the manner in which we get to see them is in the middle of a drastic overhaul. In some ways, it’s easier than ever to watch a movie. But along with that, it’s also gotten harder for movies to find their audience, let alone get made. Even so, the 2010s were full of movies that will stick with us for years to come, and below you can find my own top ten movies of the decade. Read More »
(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
Narrowing down a top 10 list for one year is hard enough. An entire decade? It’s almost impossible. Almost. I hemmed and hawed my way through this task, debating with myself as to what titles would go where, and what titles would make the list at all. The bottom line: it was a great decade for film, and don’t let anyone claim otherwise. As of this moment, I am happy with this list. But check back in with me in a week – I may have changed my mind by then.
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(This article is part of our Best of the Decade series.)
I can’t stress enough how formative this past decade of movies has been for my moviegoing experience. Sometimes I wonder if I can fully trust my opinions during 2010-2019, ever-shifting they were, and ever-evolving my movie knowledge was. I went and graduated college during that time, and began to form a movie opinion of my own outside of the one the film classes would impose on me. And in my opinion, the last decade of movies was fantastic.
It was never a more exciting time to be a movie fan in the 2010s, because the movie landscape itself underwent a dramatic shift. This was the decade when the genre movie began to get taken seriously by critics and the Academy, when cerebral sci-fi made a vengeful comeback, when horror got a socially thrilling edge. And most importantly, it’s one where a bear taught us the value of being kind. Here are my top 10 movies of the past decade.
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Facebook has been in the news frequently in the last few years, and not for good reasons. With all the behind-the-scenes turmoil at the online social media and social networking service company, many have suggested it might be time for a sequel to David Fincher‘s The Social Network. And according to screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, it might happen. Sorkin recently confirmed that he himself thinks there should be a sequel, and that Social Network producer Scott Rudin has brought the subject up as well. Perhaps Jesse Eisenberg should get his hoodie and flip-flops ready again.
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Hollywood is full of “what if” casting scenarios, stories of actors who came thisclose to landing life-changing leading roles that may have had huge ripple effects through the rest of the industry. You probably know many of them: Nicolas Cage as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, Dougray Scott as Wolverine in X-Men, etc.
At this point, someone could write an entire book about all of the actors who were nearly cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and one of those chapters would have to be about Wilson Bethel, who eventually landed the MCU-adjacent role of Bullseye on Netflix’s Daredevil. If things were slightly different, Bethel could have suited up as Captain America. Meanwhile, outside of the MCU, Jonah Hill was close to playing Sean Parker in The Social Network. Read more about both of these what-if stories below.
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The start of a David Fincher commentary is kind of like the start of a David Fincher movie: you know you’re in store for something good. Sometimes after listening to hours upon hours of commentary tracks, I question how I spend my time, but listening to Fincher’s commentaries is always time well spent. He’s concise and candid, he’s as funny as his movies, and he’s a great storyteller. The co-founder of Propaganda Films is completely open about his choices and how a scene and film was put together, and never attempts to preserve some sense of mystery about his work.
Everything you’d want to know about one of Fincher’s movies can be learned in one of his commentary tracks, which are usually joined by other excellent and informative bonus features, including a highly reccomended Panic Room commentary featuring screenwriter William Goldman. Audio commentaries don’t get much better than Fincher’s, though, so if you’ve yet to listen to one of his, do yourself a favor and check one out.
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