2018’s understated science fiction drama tackles family dynamics and personal responsibility with the dashed hopes of more to come — Jonathan and Josh Baker’s KIN is a movie I’m sad to say I dismissed when it was dropped on me in August 2018, seemingly out of nowhere and with little fanfare. It’s a movie I would’ve loved to have seen in theaters, especially since it was boasting an IMAX screen…

Missing in action since 2002, Liu Kang returns to the forefront of ‘Mortal Kombat’ in his first franchise altering story since the 90s — As I’ve written these opinion pieces on Mortal Kombat, I’ve learned and re-learned things about the franchise I was otherwise disinterested in, or didn’t know about because I was not a super fan who desired to know all there was to offer about Mortal Kombat. To some degree, I still…

‘King of the Monsters’ follows the all-too common trend of science fiction and broadcasts Malthusian fascism in its tale of climate change — Climate Change is fast becoming the centerpiece of discussion I never thought it would be as a kid. I know what people should do to safe-keep the environment thanks to shows like Sesame Street, Sailor Moon, and Captain Planet and the Planeteers urging its young viewers to “do their part”…

Stripping their crossover of its human story, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ is full of empty spectacle, and no real heart — In 2009, mainstream media was caught in the throes of the Twilight pandemic. My sister (nineteen at the time) enjoyed Stephanie Myers’ vampire series-turned-mega franchise, and talked my ears off about the books whenever she got the chance. With the film adaptation of New Moon on the horizon that November…

Supermassive walks the path of least resistance in their latest game about a family haunted by past sins — Everyone tells a different version of the Massachusetts Salem witch trials. In the 328 years since the event, historical accounts of the Salem town and Salem village schism change. Who sparked the accusations or baked the witch cake shift depending on the sources. Historians disagree on details big and…

‘Star Wars’ was never a planned story, but it also wasn’t subject to the whims of no plan at all either — A common refrain you’ll hear from the casual viewer to the die-hard Star Wars fan is that Star Wars wasn’t a series with a roadmap. 1977’s Star Wars had a beginning, middle, and an end. It was a bottled narrative that ends with the definitive victory of the heroes over…

Episode IX drives home the message that ‘Star Wars’ doesn’t have the room nor the creatives necessary to support diverse narratives — February 2020, Netflix debuted the BBC Two produced docuseries, They Gotta Have Us. Aired October 2018, the Simon Frederick directed series marathons crucial points in Black history in interviews with Black actors, writers, directors, and producers that took part in the eighteen-month production.

Episode IX never stood much chance of being a good film, and the bitter pill is living with that reality — Depending on whom you ask, J.J. Abrams’ decision not to direct the whole of the Sequel Trilogy beyond Episode VII changes from franchise fatigue (he was still working on Star Trek: Into Darkness when hired to direct Episode VII) or wanting to spend more time with his family. In an…

‘The Last Jedi’ is not a sequel to ‘The Force Awakens’ but a standard, non-subversive refutation of its ideas and its lead characters — As The Force Awakens nears its conclusion, it establishes three branching paths for Finn, Rey Skywalker, and Kylo Ren. For all of my frustration with how Kasdan and Abrams ended Finn’s arc, the unfortunate implications that it carried for Finn in the future, if I was naive enough to trust…