The Wild Robot is, simply put, almost as perfect an animated movie as there could be. I am in awe of it. The writing, the character work, the multiple incredible scenes. If you have not yet experienced this movie—even if you’ve been spoiled on the plot—you should seek it out immediately.
Werewolf by Night is a fun, campy Marvel show that disappointed me because of its marketing and presentation. If you wanted to see a horror movie done in the Marvel universe with a Deadpool level of R-rated gore, then you’re in for an unpleasant surprise.
The fact this is being made into a movie doesn’t bode super well for things. Remakes are a contentious topic under normal circumstances. This doesn’t seem like normal circumstances.
When you become a diehard fan of a type of media or genre (really any of them), you notice patterns. I’ve spoken before about storytelling patterns in the wider construct of narratives, but what I mean this time is tropes.
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors is a Marvel movie you’ve likely never heard of before. I hadn’t. It’s a movie about a superhero team with some very familiar names if you keep up to date with the greater MCU canon.
Float marks the last of the currently available SparkShorts that are solidly within the science fiction/fantasy genre. What I’ve seen of the other ones is excellent, though, and you should watch all of them.
Wind is even better than Smash and Grab, and that’s saying a lot. SparkShorts, it turns out, are some of the best short films I’ve ever seen. And they’re quite different from each other, with unique settings, characters, and stories.
Smash and Grab is adorable, heartwarming, and incredible for how short it is. This is the second Pixar SparkShorts I’ve ever reviewed, and once again, the quality is evident. This is better than some whole-length movies.
It was difficult limiting this to only ten favorite articles. Ultimately, it boiled down to a quirk of memory. Which ones, upon looking through the year, evoked the strongest memories, the most potent feelings.
Last year, I took a look at some of my favorite and least favorite pieces of media I reviewed for 2022.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is inescapably a nostalgia grab of a movie, relying on people like me and our fond memories of the original film. If it weren’t for that history, I’m not sure it would’ve been that big of a deal for there to be a new kid’s movie about chickens attempting to escape being eaten.
Almost all “speculative” fiction is fantasy fiction. Horror is fantasy. Most science fiction is science fantasy or just fantasy with some aesthetic changes. Superhero fiction is fantasy fiction. Time travel stories are fantasy.
