Kurosawa’s own influences are both obvious and contested. They are, at once, refreshingly cosmopolitan and distinctly Japanese, a combination that simultaneously earned him a reputation for “not being Japanese enough” while also priming his films for easy international export. It was he, not his contemporaries Yasujirō Ozu or Kenji Mizoguchi, who became the first Japanese … Read more
The latest episode of The Acolyte resolved a bunch of the big theories surrounding the latest Star Wars show by revealing the identity of the Stranger who has been manipulating Mae into killing Jedi on his behalf as part of some mysterious plan. But it still leaves a lot of questions that the show has yet to resolve. Are Mae … Read more
This Friday, “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” returns to theaters to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Some might wonder what’s there to celebrate—the film was a blockbuster but, on a creative level, wretched—but even its loudest detractors have to acknowledge that “The Phantom Menace” profoundly changed Hollywood. Lucas, who wrote (or co-wrote) and … Read more
I like to say that we know our audiences, but our content providers really know their audiences as well. We do rely a lot on social media from here, but we’re owned by AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, and we have pre-approved rights to trailering, movie posters, other theater assets, office handouts, things like that, in … Read more
Paramount Pictures reportedly has “a plan” for the future of Star Trek movies, according to Roddenberry Entertainment’s Trevor Roth. It’s been eight years since the release of the last Star Trek movie, which, believe it or not, is actually the largest gap between movies since the franchise first hit the big screen in 1979. There … Read more
The Lathe of Heaven PART THREE: POLITICAL RUIN In the realm of speculative fiction, few authors have captured societal upheaval and the potential for political ruin as incisively as Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin. Their works, particularly Butler’s Xenogenesis series (Lilith’s Brood) and Parable Duology, along with Le Guin’s The Lathe of … Read more
From there, Cicin-Sain makes U2 a central focus for a few stretches of the film, and rightfully so. After all, the band landed on the front page of every newspaper in every city they visited while on tour. So, they decided to use that coverage to bring more attention to the war-torn streets of Sarajevo … Read more
This year marks the 50th anniversary of John Carpenter’s feature-length directorial debut. ComingSoon will cover each of the horror master’s films throughout 2024 as we chart his career from humble beginnings with a beach ball to the change in career direction that saw him bow out of movies for a while. Back in 1974, a … Read more
Whenever the future is depicted in movies, it is generally a dark, depressing dystopian future where something happens in our present that sets forth the collapse of our society. Even Disney is not immune to showing us a future where Earth is no longer inhabitable (the beloved Wall-E). But occasionally, a movie shows a future … Read more
Your last film, “Trial by Fire,” was 2018. Do you ever think, “Was that the last one I’ll ever direct?” I think I felt that every time that I finished a movie and took a couple of years to get [another] movie going. I was sick 17 years ago [Editor’s note: Zwick was diagnosed with … Read more