In Episode 8 of the Crooked Table Podcast, Rob and Kai marvel at the mountain of terribleness that is Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room. It may be hard to make a great movie, but it’s quite possibly far more difficult to create something this bad. Yet, The Room has become an insanely quotable phenomenon spawning a behind-the-scenes book and an in-the-works film adaptation from James Franco. “What a story, Mark” indeed. Continue reading Crooked Table Podcast: Episode 8 – Anyway, How Is Your Sex Life? (Crooked Commentary #1)
Monthly Archives: May 2015
Review: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’
By Robert Yaniz Jr.
For the better part of the last decade, Marvel Studios has been hard at work establishing itself as one of the most recognizable and profitable brands in the business, with a combined worldwide gross of nearly $3 billion for its first 10 films. The 2012 release of The Avengers
– which marked the first major team-up of several individual superhero franchises within what has come to be known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) – in particular changed the face of moviemaking both within the superhero/comic book genre and beyond. Because of that film’s success, virtually every major studio is looking to launch their own shared universe franchises, from comic book rival DC’s own superhero mega-franchise to the Universal monster-verse and even a Jump Street/Men in Black crossover (yes, really).
So Avengers: Age of Ultron has a lot more riding on it than your typical sequel. The film is not only the follow-up to a game-changing pioneer in the industry, it is also a vital chapter in the continuing saga of the MCU and a testament to Marvel’s continuing relevance and storytelling prowess with its rising competition. With the entire cast back onboard and writer/director Joss Whedon in place, there’s no way the film could fail. Right? Right?
Review: ‘Ex Machina’
By Robert Yaniz Jr.
Even the genre’s most well-versed fans would be hard-pressed to find a sci-fi film that doesn’t in some way, shape or form touch on the dangers of technology. Stanley Kubrick set the tone in 2001: A Space Odyssey 