“The Marvel Symphonic Universe”
“People do not remember safe music.” Tony Zhou has more on soundtracks in general and Marvel’s film music in particular at Every Frame A Painting.
Mad Max: Fury Road without Digital Effects
Consequences of Sound has footage from Mad Max: Fury Road sans digital effects.
The Many Faces of Ra.One
Mainstream Hindi cinema doesn’t particularly gravitate towards making superhero films. It hardly needs to, given what physical feats the average film hero can pull off anyway. But like many parts of the world, Indian audiences certainly have a taste for American-style superhero films, so home-grown characters pop up, […]
“Hollywood Gave Up On You: The Summer Blockbuster Movies of 2016”
Friend of the Gutter Jessica Ritchey writes about 2016’s summer blockbusters: “And it matters more than it might seem that Hollywood has lost its nerve and touch in making blockbusters. Pop culture is how a society of diverse people talk to each to other—finding common idioms no matter […]
All Alone in “No Man’s Sky”
“It has been said that video games are best understood by the verbs they invite. No Man’s Sky is built on four primary actions: explore, fight, trade, survive. They are familiar verbs, for players, but, couched in the near-endless variety of this playpen, they remain brightly alluring. Repetitiveness […]
Stranger Things, Barb and Nostalgia
At Vox, Genevieve Valentine writes about how “Stranger Things‘ treatment of Barb reveals the show’s greatest flaw: Its limited view of women” in the story so far: “Nostalgia is a powerful story engine, and Stranger Things is in a sweet spot, since those who grew up with the […]
The Cultural Gutter 