An ongoing exploration of the dark and gritty reboot
A sort of (but not really) film review Let’s get something out of the way: yes, Christian Bale is great in Vice. He crushes it. He destroys it. He is Dick Cheney. People are saying he deserves awards and he appears to be winning them and, sure, he deserves the awards. He deserves the praise, …
Continue reading Why Will Ferrell Should’ve Played George W. Bush in Vice
A fan theory about The Departed and whether or not Mark Wahlberg's character was once a nice guy.
A deep dive into the true nature of Home Alone's Old Man Marley and the possibility that he is the architect of Kevin McCallister's tribulations.
In the summer of 2016 everyone started telling me that I had to watch a show called Stranger Things. I was reluctant. The reluctance came from the way it was sold: the entire series was one large nostalgia fest for ‘80s Spielberg, Stephen King novels, and Dungeons and Dragons. It’s not that I don’t like …
Continue reading The Homage is Not Enough: on the Limits of Nostalgia-First Narratives
The end of 2017 is nigh. And with it, the top ten lists, the retrospectives, the predictions. Rather than the Top Books Published in 2017 or the Best Films of the Year or anything like this, here's my list of opinions, ideas, and arguments that I have not already written about in 2017 and would …
The internet loves a good fan theory. The trouble is, the phrase "fan theory" has started to go the way of words like content or hipster or artisan or any of the other words whose definitions are so vague, so all encompassing, that they have very little meaning at this point. "Fan theory" is currently …
Continue reading Why That Game of Thrones Fan Theory Is Not a Game of Thrones Fan Theory
The following was written by WWBD columnist Intern-iana Jones. Enjoy! The inexplicable fascination behind the Batman film franchise reflects the mystery of its main character, as well as the brilliance of one Christopher Nolan. The Dark Knight, as you all know, is the alter ego of Bruce Wayne, while Nolan is a talented filmmaker who …
Yes, this blog is dedicated to "an ongoing exploration of the dark and gritty reboot." But, as written about in the previous post on this blog, The World Needs Bad Men, it's time to admit that the dark-n-gritty reboot has run its course. The anti-heroes have ascended to the White House. It's time for a …
Continue reading No More Gritty Reboots: Why Lego Batman and Legion Are the Future of Superheroes
Hating 2016 and wishing for it to end has perhaps been the meme of 2016. It has been called a dumpster fire and was declared to "even sucked for Kim Kardashian." Beginning in July and continuing non-stop, this year was deemed to "suck" and we saw a flood of hot takes either labeling it the worst year in living …
Continue reading The True Theme of 2016: Never Meet Your Heroes
Happy Birthday, Moby-Dick! Not the whale, but the book. 165 years ago today, Herman Melville's epic novel was published in America for the first time. (A different version of it had come out in England one month earlier, but today is accepted as the anniversary of the version the world knows). In honor of this …
Continue reading The 10 Best Moby-Dick Homages, Adaptations, and Celebrations