Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs
Derek Jacobs 
It is no secret that the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has darker ambitions than its brightly colored and quip-filled Marvel counterpart. Since the DCEU is late to the shared universe party, they are tasked with differentiating themselves, and if Man of Steel and the teaser trailer for the follow-up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice … Read more
The rumor mill has been churning of late with regards to the standalone Batman film. The expected timeline for new Batman appearances in the DC Cinematics Universe (DCCU) are actually fairly complex, though. Of course, the first look we get at the rebooted Batman with Ben Affleck will come next March 26th with the release … Read more
In an Empire exclusive interview at Comic-Con preview night, Duncan Jones revealed that his oft-delayed Indie sci-fi film Mute may finally have its shot. Jones has previously created two of the best science fiction films of the new millennium in 2009’s Moon and 2011’s Source Code. Both of those films were pleasant surprises. Source Code … Read more
The Iron Giant was perhaps the last masterpiece of American hand-drawn animation. The film was the directorial debut of Brad Bird, and may be the best entry in his filmography to this date, despite how crazy that sounds. When it was released in 1999, I was not aware of it and missed seeing it in … Read more
Ayrton Senna navigated the racetracks of Formula One as Beethoven navigated the symphony. Born in São Paulo in 1960, Senna and his career racing Formula One is the subject of the Asif Kapadia documentary Senna. The film uses archival footage of Senna’s interviews, racing coverage (including on-car cameras), and voice-over interviews from his friends and … Read more
June is in the books and I was about as productive here on Plot and Theme as I was in May. I published 29 posts (the exact same as in May), most of which were movie news items or reactions. I got a few reviews in, most notably my review for Inside Out, which was … Read more
All four previous entries of the franchise use a time-traveling event as the kernel of a larger story, and the best two films (which I don’t even need to name explicitly) relegate this to the very beginning of the first act. Terminator: Genisys limps along its narrative by using time-travel plot elements like a crutch. … Read more
Today, an article in Variety details the struggle to prevent far-right wing elements of French politics from stamping Gaspar Noé’s Love with an Under-18 rating (our equivalent of NC-17 in the States). The piece is articulate and informative, and likely portends the difficulties that Love will face in other nations as well. If you’re at … Read more
Over the last week or so, details regarding a pair of space adventure sequels have started rolling in, and while there isn’t much to interpret as of yet, I do think it is interesting to consider the choices being made by these two franchises. I am speaking, of course, of the Star Trek franchise, and … Read more
If you’ll recall, a couple of weeks ago The Martian was moved up over two months for an October 2nd release. There, it will compete with the Robert Zemekis film The Walk and Brian Helgeland’s Legend, starring Tom Hardy (twice). And, while we’ve had a couple of different looks at The Walk (which I always … Read more
