Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

Colossal: Giant Monsters and Inner Demons

Your Name. - Something Worth Remembering

T2: Trainspotting - Sometimes Nostalgia is the Deadliest Drug

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for the film Trainspotting. I mean, the movie’s been out for over twenty years, but since I can’t really talk about its sequel without also discussing the original, I thought I’d give you a head’s up anyway. We good? Good.

Ghost in the Shell: As Intangible and Hollow as it Sounds

Life: Life Finds a Way (To Kill You)

Originality is overrated. While many bemoan Hollywood’s lack of originality while awash in a sea of reboots, remakes, sequels and franchise building, they forget that everyone has to get their ideas from somewhere. Everything is a remix, nothing is original anymore, and every new idea is just the culmination of ideas from the past. Or as Pablo Picasso once put it, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The thing that separates the inspired ideas from the uninspired ones, however, is what they do with their plunder. Life is a terrific example of this. It may not have a single original bone in its body, but it at least knows how to use its stolen ideas effectively.

Power Rangers: A Movie Stuck in Mid-Morph

When I found out that they were making a Power Rangers movie, I was a bit skeptical. I wasn’t surprised at all that it was happening, though. Since Hollywood has been mining my generation’s nostalgia for script material for years, it was only a matter of time before they got their turn. The thing that had me worried, though, was how exactly they were going to attack this subject. I was a huge Power Rangers fan back in the day, but I’ll be the first to tell you that it hasn’t aged well at all. The inconsistencies with the American footage and the Japanese Super Sentai footage are glaringly obvious in retrospect, and it’s a perfect distillation of the vapid focus testing that dominated children’s television in the 90’s. There were two ways this could’ve gone about: they could keep the goofy, cheesy aesthetic and make the experience a groan inducing nightmare for anyone above the age of 10, or they could take the grim and gritty route and risk pissing off the legions of jaded fans who’ve had their hearts broken by Michael Bay and Zack Snyder too many times. In their attempt to find a happy middle ground, this movie just ended up killing both tones with one stone.