Movie News

Super-Heading for all kinds of movie news.

State of the Blog – April 2017

by

It’s April, the lion of March has transfigured into a lamb (at least I think that’s how it works), and now the fools have come and gone (I’m sure).  All the while, the endless cycle of movie releases continues unabated and I’m here on Plot and Theme to contribute to the confusion with my entirely … Read more

Official Teaser Trailer for Pixar’s “Coco” Melds Music, Magic, and Family

by

Disney recently released the first teaser trailer for Pixar’s next original feature film, Coco. The teaser introduces us to a world full of music, magic, and spirits centered around Dia de los Muertos. In accordance with standard Pixar protocol, this teaser offers us only a slight glimpse at the characters and story, and instead envelopes … Read more

Trailer Hype: “Free Fire” and “Baby Driver” Boast Peculiar Aesthetic Gimmicks

by

I’ve got a pair of sweet trailers here, and they both look like high-octane, shoot-em-up action flicks, though they have wildly different tones.  Free Fire is going to be the first to hit theaters, and features an insane collection of talent along with a humorous concept.  Baby Driver is similarly stocked, and an Edgar Wright … Read more

“Alien: Covenant” Seems to Seek Cheap Alchemy

by

The  marketing team over at Alien headquarters is hard at work polishing up a turd.  A teaser trailer, a Red Band trailer, a “Last Supper” prologue,  and the latest layer of varnish, a CGI-fuelled full-length trailer that apes off both Prometheus and Alien and Aliens in a vain attempt to discover the perfect way to … Read more

A Pair of Afterlife Trailers: “The Discovery” and “The Void”

by

A pair of off-the-radar film released trailers recently, and both of them appear to offer something interesting for the fan of genre film.  Each also, in their own way, use concepts revolving around the afterlife as major plot elements.  These films are The Discovery and The Void.  This will be a short piece introducing each of these films and their trailers, and offering a few stray observations about what we’re seeing (and what other people have been saying).  Here we go!

Read more

The Last Jedi Revealed – Level-Headed Reactions and Definitive Predictions

by

In the biggest news since the last time the title of a Star Wars movie was revealed, the title of the next Star Wars movie has been revealed.  Disney’s Star Wars Episode VIII:  The Last Jedi – A Star Wars Story promises to be the next best film in the Star Wars saga for the three weeks after its December 15th release.  Me, personally, I love the new title.  But what can we predict now, 11 months before opening night, with nothing to go on but the title, a red outline, and the phrase, “the next chapter in the Skywalker saga”?  Basically everything.

Read more

Why You Can’t Trust User Ratings from IMDB: A Case Study

by

It can be incredibly difficult to get a feel for the “critical consensus” for a new film, if there even is such a thing.  But, online review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic do their best to provide their readers with a general idea of the quality of a film, which I have discussed at length before.  Today, I’d like to show a crystal clear example of why another metric, the User Ratings from IMDB.com, borders on absolute uselessness.  Put bluntly, the site does not require that a person giving a rating has even seen the movie.  The result is blatant vote-brigading, either artificially elevating a substandard film through the sheer size of the fanbase of its underlying intellectual property, or unjustly punishing a film for its perceived transgressions that are unrelated to the quality of the filmmaking.  In the former case, we’ll look at Batman v. Superman:  Dawn of Justice, and in the later, the more recent A Dog’s Purpose.

Read more

State of the Blog – January 2017

by

We’re just into 2017, and the time-honored tradition of celebrating a new year by accidentally writing down its predecessor first continues unabated.  Though the early months of the year often struggle movie-wise, there are interesting things going on.  These include a few intriguing films, the meaningless over-evaluation of Awards Season (and the vitriol it inspires), and even the beginning of the festival season.  Here at Plot and Theme, I’ll reflect backwards a bit, mention some cool things I’m looking forward to, and then set some goals for the year.

Read more

State of the Blog – December 2016

by

In the Northern Hemisphere, darkness insists upon our waking hours earlier each day.  The country is full of crybabies and fascists, and nothing in between.  It’s cold.  But at least there’s a new Star Wars movie to over-appreciate.

Read more

State of the Blog – November 2016

by

The second-scariest month of the year has passed, and we now find ourselves in the most-scariest.  Something about an election (to paraphrase Barry Crimmins, the problem is that someone will win). Fortunately, there is a high chance that fans of film stand to win as well, as November appears to the month with the most intriguing array of releases.  December looks fine too, but we’ll deal with that one as it comes.  For this month’s base-touching, I’ll lament about the relatively disappointing October (briefly), wig out about November flicks that I predict will be worth seeing, and do a little managerial upkeep on Plot and Theme.

Read more