Skyfall is, for lack of a better word, an anti-James Bond movie. It flips all the central characters 180 degrees and makes the aggressors the ones under siege. The effect of this is that the series clears house, internalized the criticism it received, and answered it within the movie itself.
Articles By: Max Urai
Why “Malcolm X” is a Goddamn Masterpiece
Twenty years is a strange age for a movie. It’s too old to be considered contemporary, but it’s not old enough to really be a classic either. So why am I, twenty years after the facts, still writing this 1000-word article about Malcolm X? Because I think it’s a great movie.
What is the Greatest Trilogy?
An IMDb user whose nickname I forgot put a post on the page of The Dark Knight Rises that asked – apparently completely in earnest – “Is Nolan’s Batman trilogy the greatest trilogy of all time?” Now, a simple answer to this would be “no, of course not, you numnut”. A better answer would be: “No, of course not, but then again, what is?”
Why Batman Might Not Be the Good Guy in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Warning: ALL the spoilers. Also politics.
Max Urai: A Look at My Favorite Films
Let me start this with a very big disclaimer: the following is a list of my favorite films, not the films that I would necessarily consider the best. These films hit me in an emotional or intellectual way that went above and beyond just about everything else I have seen.
Five Minutes of Zen: The Wisdom of Pop Culture
Is there wisdom in art? Of course there is. The world has been made so much more insightful by the explorations into the human condition that writers, poets, filmmakers and musicians have shared with us. The two seem almost synonymous. A much more intricate question would be to ask if there is wisdom in pop culture?
Not the 20 Best Movies of the 1980s
So, yes, I’ve decided to do these lists all the way back. Some stray observations: as we’re going back further and further, you will notice these lists are going to steadily get shorter. This has little to do with the movies of that period, and everything with your writer.
Not the 30 Best Films of the 1990′s
I was very pleasantly surprised with all the lovely reactions my list of Not the Best Movies of the 2000′s received (although, in a nice mirror image of the article itself, it also had a hater: “you have terrible taste” – Jason, AM). So I decided to give it what every successful thing receives these days: a prequel.
Not the 30 Best Films of the 2000’s
The following movies are not the best of the previous decade. They received mixed reviews at best, have obvious flaws and are at times just downright bad. But they also have vision, artistry, and the balls to go out and do something different.
