Long-Form Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs
Previous Parts Part I: The Age of Innovation For Part II of The Ages of Disney Animation, we enter a very peculiar time. As World War II raged, Walt Disney found that producing full-length films with meager staff and capital was nearly impossible. Instead, he chose to produce six “package films” to keep the studio … Read more
Feature-length Disney animated films are a hallmark of cinematic culture, and it is strange to think that they date back to before the beginning of the second world war. As we approach 80 years of animated features from Disney, I find myself looking back at that history and noting the various high-points and missteps in … Read more
Godzilla, as an idea, is not complicated. He is a large, God-like lizard capable of great destruction and power. The Godzilla films of the past pay respect to Godzilla as a mystical being, as something to be feared as a vengeful deity, or revered as a benevolent savior, depending on the particular plot. But, Godzilla … Read more
With Avengers: Age of Ultron hitting theaters early in May and Ant-Man putting the finished touches on Phase II, I found myself thinking again about the other ten films that form the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Generally speaking, these blockbusters based on Marvel’s comic book heroes offer a fun movie-going experience, but having seen them … Read more
Quentin Tarantino’s World War II historical fiction revenge film, Inglourious Basterds, makes specific stylistic choices with regard to language which significantly affect the quality of the film by providing characterization, generating thematic tension, and even directly influencing the plot. Generally speaking, the choice of which language to use in a film is almost done by … Read more
In the mission statement of this blog, I indicated that I would be approaching the field of film criticism from the perspective of a particular school of aesthetics – Romantic Realism. But, in order to establish what is meant by “Romantic Realism”, to explain its principles and apply its methods of analysis, there is a … Read more
I have enjoyed movies for the majority of my life. I think my first memories of movies were seeing Oliver and Company in the theater at the age of three, and watching Star Wars at a similar age and mishearing Darth Vader’s pleas to Luke as, “You don’t know the power of the Duck Side”. … Read more