Disney+ for those who can't get enough franchise!

by Nathaniel R

Disney, the corporation that will one day have a complete monopoly of the entertainment business, made lots of Disney+ announcements this week. Gizmodo has the details on how much their streaming service will be like Netflix. If you haven't been playing along they've announced at least eight scripted episodic streaming series thus far though we don't really know how far these are from being realities but for the first one...

Click to read more ...

Blueprints: "Ingrid Goes West"

In the latest installment of our screenplay column, Jorge takes a look at the tricky task of making a phone screen visually engaging.

As technology becomes more efficient and finds new ways to make our lives easier, it’s making the job of screenwriting more difficult. It’s now nearly impossible to not be able to reach a person in some way (once a common source of screen conflict) and, worse for the visual montony, most of our day-to-day activities include staring at some kind of screen.

Ingrid Goes West didn't just incorporate how we relate to technology today, but made it its central theme. Let’s look at the underrated gem to see how the use of technology is captured in its pages, and how the writers made it as emotionally thrilling as any action movie car chase...

Click to read more ...

Review: "Ingrid Goes West"

By Spencer Coile 

Following the death of her mother, Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is in a rut. With no one to turn to, she scrolls through Instagram in hopes of finding her ideal friend. She soon finds Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), a California-based social media influencer -- and Ingrid's latest muse. Captivated by Taylor's seemingly glamorous life, Ingrid packs up her life in Pennsylvania and heads to the sunny West Coast, in hopes of befriending Taylor and catching a glimmer of social media stardom. 

Written and directed by Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West is the latest in a long line of films that demonstrate the pervasiveness of technology and the influence social media has on our lives. If you find yoursevles rolling your eyes at that comment, fear not. Ingrid is far more interested in exploring our relationship with the likes of Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., rather than merely demonizing its usage. Oh, and it is hilarious. 

Click to read more ...

Review: Wind River

by Lynn Lee

It should come as no surprise that writer-director Taylor Sheridan, currently hot in Hollywood after his Oscar screenplay nomination for Hell or High Water, is an actual, bona fide cowboy.  Perhaps that’s why his work feels like such a throwback—to an era in which quietly capable men, silently toting unspoken burdens, took on the joyless task of meting out frontier justice.  At the same time, he’s shown a canny gift for placing such old-school archetypes in a distinctly modern, of-this-moment social and political context, making their struggles feel unexpectedly timely or, rather, timeless.  That gift is on ample display in his new film, Wind River, which is now in wide release after nabbing the best directing prize in the Un Certain Regard category at Cannes earlier this year.

Set on a remote, wintry Indian reservation in Montana, the film marks the third installment in a loose trilogy of Westerns penned by Sheridan (the first two being Sicario and Hell or High Water), though Wind River is the first one he directed...

Click to read more ...

Review: Avengers 3 aka "Captain America: Civil War"

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It is reprinted here in a slightly expanded version.

Captain America and his man, the Winter Soldier

Poor Captain America. You know how it is. You’re frozen in a block of ice and when you wake up several decades later the world has gotten so complicated! Everyone you loved is dead except your 96 year old girlfriend with Alzheimers (Agent Peggy Carter) and your brainwashed homicidal boyfriend (Bucky/The Winter Soldier) who is totally ghosting you.

New friends are plentiful but also trouble. Either they have two faces (Black Widow/Agent 13) or they’re constantly vanishing for personal reasons (Thor/Hulk/Hawkeye) so you totally can’t rely on them.

Click to read more ...