Elitist Movie Snob

[via]

It’s happened to everyone. You’re watching a movie, and things are starting to wrap up, and all of a sudden, you see it: The Perfect Ending. But then a strange thing happens… the movie keeps going. Even though they had the perfect ending, the filmmakers don’t end their film, and in the process, come dangerously close to tarnishing your entire opinion of the film in the process.

This has happened numerous times in films that I’ve watched, and today, I’m looking at my Top 5 examples of films that failed to stick the landing because they didn’t end minutes or seconds sooner.

Beware, spoilers ahead…

Read More

“I wish I had done everything on earth with you.”

The quintessential high school English teacher’s go-to novel for nearly the last century, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has received no fewer than five film adaptations and an opera. So why on earth did we need another film version of this masterwork? The honest answer is, we didn’t, but it’s more likely that none of the previous adaptations have been wholly successful in bringing the novel to life.

So how did director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) & executive producer Jay-Z fare on their version of Gatsby? Read on to find out…

Read More

“You can call me a hobo, ‘cause I’ll do work. You can call me homeless, ‘cause right now that’s true. But if you call me a bum one more time, I’m gonna teach you a lesson your daddy didn’t.”

Writer/director Jeff Nichols created one of the more interesting films of the last few years with 2011’s Take Shelter. As a matter of fact, now that David Gordon Green has moved on to almost exclusively direct stoner comedies these days, Nichols has become the premiere Southern gothic filmmaker. His latest film Mud, in addition to being his best film yet, continues the year long winning streak of its star Matthew McConaughey, that started with last year’s Bernie.

So why and how is it his best film yet? Read on to find out…

Read More

[via]

As evening falls on The Windy City, C2E2 is winding down. Many parents are dragging their children, kicking & screaming, from the convention, and lord knows if it were socially acceptable, a lot of these geeks would be throwing tantrums right alongside them.

Read More

Sunday, the third and final day of C2E2, is family day, so kids under 13 get in free. This is a great opportunity for geeky parents, such as yours truly, to bring their kids along for some family fun.

Read More

[via]

The afternoon of Day Two was jam packed with activity. Patton Oswalt hosted a Q&A that was being twitter-bombed by Brian Posehn, Burt Ward & Julie Newmar took part in what could best be described as a disastrous Q&A, and I got to take part in some Sci-Fi Speed Dating. Read on for more…

Read More

[via]

It’s Saturday in Chicago, and you know what that means: Day Two of C2E2 2013. The lines are longer, the crowds are bigger, and the cosplayers are bringing their A Game.

As part of my morning coverage, I conducted a Hi 5 interview with comic artist & writer Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) and tried to avoid getting crushed to death by the maddening crowd. More after the break…

Read More

[via]

So the afternoon at C2E2 has brought some interesting things along with it. I attended a staged reading of a new comic & took some photos with my favorite cosplayers.

More pics & stories after the break…

Read More

[via]

Launched three years ago in an attempt to give the Midwest its own Comic Con of sorts, C2E2 is happening this weekend in Chicago, and I’ll be covering all of the festivities for the devoted readers of Pop GO!

It’s fairly early on the first day, but there’s already been some interesting things happening. Read on to find out…

Read More

“Francis? I mean, who’s named Francis? A talking mule?”

I became aware of Rob Zombie, as I think most people of my generation did, when his band White Zombie’s video for “Thunder Kiss 65” appeared on Beavis & Butthead. Like most other people, I wrote him off as a novelty musician, but then his career took a strange turn when he directed House of 1000 Corpses in 2003. While I didn’t love that film, I recognized that he was very savvy behind the camera, and clearly knew what he was doing as a director. His follow-up film, The Devil’s Rejects, was one of my favorite movies of the decade, combining a love for the gritty exploitation films of the 70s with an uncanny ability to combine music and images.

Zombie took a turn into commercial territory with his Halloween films, which I wasn’t crazy about, but is now back on firmer ground with his latest film, The Lords of Salem. The film is an original story by Zombie, and the film’s trailers seemed to indicate he was headed into new territory. So did he succeed? Read on to find out…

Read More