Long-Form Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs
We got the first trailer for Denis Villenueve’s Sicario earlier today, and it was a real treat to finally see some scenes from this Cannes audience favorite. I case you’ve forgotten, this is the crime thriller about a FBI agent, played by Emily Blunt, who joins a task force to investigate cartel activity in Mexico. … Read more
Pixar’s fifteenth animated feature film, Inside Out, is inarguably its most conceptual, ambitious, and distinctive; it may also be its greatest. The studio is known for its unique brand of emotional storytelling and blending of humor and heart, but generally the stories follow a familiar narrative structure. Inside Out transcends this trend by offering two … Read more
The revenge genre has experienced a small renaissance of late with films like Taken and John Wick portraying purposeful and expert killers running roughshod through those who have wronged them in some way. The audience is generally encouraged to recognize the protagonist’s ability, and celebrate his or her violence. The low-budget film Blue Ruin, from … Read more
The original Jurassic Park is a modern masterpiece with memorable and developed characters, a tight plot, and it helped usher in the modern use of CGI in blockbuster films, to boot. None of the sequels have ever lived up to the possibilities created by Jurassic Park in terms of story, character, or heart, and sadly … Read more
In an exclusive story from The Wrap, production company Open Road Films announced that they would be allowing tickets for their film Dope to be purchased with the digital currency bitcoin. The indie comedy, which was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival this year, prominently features bitcoin as a plot detail when the main … Read more
After Inside Out is released next week (which I get to see on Tuesday!), there’s probably only two films that I absolutely have to see for the remainder of 2015: Star Wars The Force Awakens, and Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight – and it looks like I’ll get to see both in December. It was … Read more
There is a moment late in the second act of the Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy where everyone is celebrating the success of the Good Vibrations single and lyricist Van Dyke Parks is tasked with describing the next project, which Brian wants to call SMiLE. Parks describes it as a mixture of various artists … Read more
Enter the Void is not an easy movie to watch, and that isn’t simply because it contains a startling killing, gratuitous sex, and a horrific car accident which routinely interjects the narrative. When you watch the most recent film from Gaspar Noé (at least until Love is released later this year), you are cast into … Read more
Earlier today, Disney released the first teaser trailer for their next animated feature Zootopia. This film is Disney’s follow-up to the successful Big Hero 6, and as explained by the wonderful Jason Bateman (the voice of the fox Nick Wilde), Zootopia is a world where there never were humans, and the mammals all have human … Read more
It seems like 20th Century Fox was pleased with the response to its marketing onslaught for the new Ridley Scott film, The Martian. The film was originally slated for a November 25th release date, but the production studio announced today that the release would be moved to October 2nd, swapping places with another Fox property, … Read more