Video game adaptations have a rocky history in film. For every good-to-ok one, like Mortal Kombat (1994), Sonic The Hedgehog (2020) or Werewolves Within (2021), there are scores of films that don’t do justice to their digital counterparts. The K:D ratio* just isn’t great for these movies, partly […]
Imagine, if you will, King’s College, Cambridge, almost one hundred years ago… Every Christmas Eve has its ritual. Those invited make their way for the appointed time, out of the darkness, where the Master waits. Montague Rhodes James, provost of King’s, scholar, antiquary, and writer of ghost stories. […]
Dobaaraa, a Hindi-language film released earlier this year, stands in intriguing contrast to mainstream Indian cinema’s habits, not just in how this compelling remake handles it source material but also just more generally as a contemporary project. It is one of only a handful of Indian adaptations of […]
I’ve been thinking about what “disreputable art” means in a time when nerds, fans, and geeks have won a kind of cultural hegemony. It was different when the Cultural Gutter was founded in 2003, before Iron Man (2008) launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Force awakened, and the […]
“I don’t wanna quit, I just wanna be in control of it” – Becky Something, Her Smell (2018) Some movies challenge you. Difficult to watch, grappling with heady or uncomfortable themes or ideas, or just straight-up disorienting as the stupid camera swirls around like you’re on the Gravitron […]
I only purchased Disney Dreamlight Valley for my child. I will swear to it. It seemed like a good idea. The appeal of creating her own virtual space via games like Roblox and Minecraft was reaching my daughter through peers and family, but–not to be a Pollyanna–the things […]
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