Tweet Originally posted at Splice Today Indie film tends toward realism. It’s not hard to understand why: on a low-budget, the special effects necessary for fantasy and science fiction are hard to achieve. Creative filmmakers aren’t afraid of a challenge, though. In recent years, and especially 2011, a handful of art house movies ventured into [...]
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Hollywood Needs Will Smith. Why Doesn’t It Make Another One?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on October 27th, 2011
Tweet In yet another great exclusive report on the industry, New York‘s Claude Brodesser-Akner writes today that Fox has been having a bit of trouble starting production on two possible sequels to Independence Day, in part because Will Smith is not yet signed on to star. Money problems. Smith, who’s been absent for years but is [...]
Did ‘Attack the Block’ and ‘Misfits’ Presage the London Riots?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on August 8th, 2011
Tweet Thanks to the Boston Phoenix for linking! I’d been planning a post on Attack the Block, the brilliant UK sci-fi film, and Misfits, e4′s hit teen series, before I read about parts of London spuriously rioting in response to the police killing of Mark Duggan. When I read the youth of London were enraged, [...]
In Film, Classic Feminism Fights For A New Generation
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on April 18th, 2011
Tweet UPDATE: Pixar’s Brave seems to be following in this tradition. Talk to any feminist over the age of, say, 40 or 50, and you’re likely to hear a sigh of resignation at the state of women in Hollywood, in front and behind the camera. Young women today just care about Sex and the City, [...]
From ‘Avatar’ to ‘Source Code,’ Living in a Fantasy
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on April 6th, 2011
Tweet Posted at Splice Today In his magnificent essay on Avatar in The New York Review of Books, Daniel Mendelsohn contrasts Avatar with The Wizard of Oz, another vibrant fantasy about travelling to exotic places. Using the end of Oz — the return to Kansas — as counterpoint to the end of Avatar — staying in [...]
‘The Adjustment Bureau’ Aims For A Quirky Middle
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on March 1st, 2011
Tweet Full post at Splice Today You have a problem. You’ve got a good script in your hands, adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick. It’s interesting and sophisticated. It’s a romance and a thriller. It’s science fiction and fantasy. It has Christian overtones for Middle America and a New York setting for the [...]
What is Popular?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on February 24th, 2011
Tweet TV has never been bigger, but individual programs? Not so much. Yes, the latest Super Bowl was the most watched telecast ever, but the success of the program only underscored how hard it has been for series to grab the huge audiences they used to twenty and thirty years ago. Jennifer Beals’ The Chicago [...]
The Best Best Picture Nominees Ever?
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on February 22nd, 2011
Tweet Having seen most of this year’s best picture nominees, I have to say: we have a good crop. But don’t ask me, ask moviegoers. Even as sales and attendance are down compared to last year (when Avatar dominated for weeks), many of the Oscar nominees are 2010′s standouts. Social Network? $220 million worldwide. King’s [...]
Celebrating MLK Day on AfterElton
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 17th, 2011
Tweet It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Most Americans will probably spend this day sitting at home, perhaps taking in a movie. School kids will get a perfunctory lesson about civil rights. College kids will recover from partying last night. Here at AfterElton.com we’re taking the opportunity to reflect on King’s legacy by spotlighting some [...]
Gay in Color: 2011 Wish List
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on January 14th, 2011
Tweet It’s a new year, and going forward I’ll be writing a bi-weekly column for MTV/Logo’s AfterElton about issues affecting gay men of color in pop culture for AfterElton. I’m trying to focus on as many colors as possible, so please message me with tips and suggestions: there’s a lot to cover out there! Since [...]
