Film – Chuck Koplinski

On paper, it sounds ridiculous. Then again, most parables do, and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is just that: a poignant, powerful fairy tale for our times that speaks to universal concerns – the alienation of the unique, the dangerous power spawned from needless paranoia, and the importance of acceptance in a world […]

I have a feeling that many viewers will find the premise in Alexander Payne’s Downsizing rather appealing. As written by director and screenwriter Jim Taylor, it posits a future in which people can voluntarily undergo an irreversible procedure through which they will be shrunk to approximately six inches and then live in a micro-community of […]

With his many larger-than-life roles, it’s a bit disconcerting to discover that Gary Oldman’s presence is far from domineering.  Soft-spoken and standing a trim 5 feet 8 inches, his personality fills the room. He has no reason to shout and rend the scenery – his quiet confidence and his past achievements do that on their […]

One of the mistakes that can occur when looking at the past is that we tend to see things more positively than they actually were. The inclination to buy into the notion of “the good old days” speaks to the power and deceptive nature of nostalgia. I think there’s a certain degree of this at […]

One of the things I feared would happen when Disney acquired the rights to the Star Wars universe and announced an ambitious slate of movies that would take us to that galaxy far, far away on an annual basis would be that what was once special would become all too familiar. There was a three-year […]

There’s no question that Tommy Wiseau is a passionate “artist.” It’s not everyone who can say they financed, wrote, directed and starred in their own $6 million movie. There’s also no question that the man is delusional, or, at the very least, sees the world and his role in it through a very unique perspective. […]

Tell me if you’ve heard this one – a teenage girl, feeling lost and misunderstood, goes to a new high school where her feelings of isolation are assuaged a bit when she meets and becomes friends with a fellow outsider. Over the course of the school year she meets her first love, finds herself attracted […]

After seeing Dan Gilroy’s Roman J. Israel, Esq., I was left with the feeling I hate most when a movie is done – that of frustration. Featuring one of Denzel Washington’s finest performances, the film is tripped up by a conclusion that seems contrived and far too convenient, transformations in character that are too hard […]

It seems as though every time DC Comics releases a movie based on their heroes, they only end up making their counterpart, Marvel Films, look that much smarter. Such is the case with their latest entry in the superhero genre, Justice League, a project in which the company’s most recognizable heroes come together to save […]

I have come to realize what many of my friends and relatives have known for years – I’m not the smartest guy in the world. Over the course of my lifetime, more than a few truly stupid things have come out of my mouth, and I’m sure there have been more than a few times […]

Where the Marvel Comics movie universe is concerned, the Thor films have always been treated like the redheaded stepchild. Fans seem to tolerate them as a necessary evil needed to move the overall MCU storyline along, as no one I am aware of has ever pointed to Thor (2011) or Thor: The Dark World (2013) […]

On June 28, 2013, a lightning strike occurred outside Yarnell, Arizona. Unfortunately, conditions were perfect for the fire to spread rapidly, which it did, threatening the town nearby. Highways were shut down, citizens were evacuated, and extra men were brought in to help contain the disaster. Among them was the Granite Mountain Hotshots based out […]