How “Freakier Friday” Gets Sequels Right For Body Swap Family Comedies
In 2003, teenage daughter Anna (Lindsay Lohan) and mother Tess Coleman (Jamie Lee Curtis) swapped bodies in Freaky Friday, via a magic spell when each simultaneously wishes for the same thing. The only way to break it is through mutual empathy. Amid the mayhem, they grow to like, appreciate, and even understand each other following the […]
The Art of the Smart Dumb Joke: Why “The Naked Gun” and Other Broad Comedies Work
By many accounts, The Naked Gun should not be considered a classic. Its humor is juvenile. Its characters are cartoonish. Its plots are barely held together with sight gags, puns, and glue. And yet, decades later, it remains wildly entertaining, rewatchable, and more expertly constructed than many so-called “serious” films. This raises important questions for […]
KPop Demon Hunters: A Cultural Phenomenon Forged in Korean Myth, Music, and Motion
It all started with an off-the-cuff one sentence idea followed in 2021 by the memorialized phrase by Maggie Kang, ‘This will never get made.” Sony Pictures Animation disagreed and bought the pitch soon after – KPOP girl group by night, demon hunters by day. The aren’t filling stadiums like they used to, so a side hustle […]
Netflix’s Untamed: Murder, Mystery & Suspense In Yosemite National Park
After exploring the unflinching ruggedness of Americana in American Primeval and The Revenant, Mark L. Smith decided it was “bring your child to work day” and invited his daughter Ella to co-create Untamed, a moody suspense thriller set in the unforgiving majesty of Yosemite National Park. The series stars Eric Bana, Rosemary DeWitt, Lily Santiago, […]
Eddington: Ari Aster’s Post-Pandemic American Western Film
Of all the films that have attempted to address the chaos, conflicts, and contradictions of pandemic-era America, few have done so with the darkly comic and sheer audacity of Ari Aster’s Eddington. Already divisive among critics and audiences at loggerheads over what the filmmaker truly wants to express, the film is a crucial addition to […]
