Fever of 40! (1980)

Primetime is sure to make audiences bite their fingernails every single second from the opening logos to the end credits. That much is obvious. The question is, does it actually earn this tension, or does it merely rely on its subject matter to make itself tense?

In other words, any movie that uses the subject of child predation is going to make the audience nervous.It is the most horrible thing on planet Earth, unambiguously. Primetime goes one step further in setting itself up for dramatic success by using To Catch a Predator as its subject matter, possibly the most infamous television show in history. Everyone in the United States has at least heard of this show and knows what the basic premise is, and many people know how and why it ended. In that sense, Primetime is indeed set up to succeed, but on the other hand, A24 has pitted itself against monumental expectations, as well as a near universally-known spoiler for the most important part of the film.

That seems to be one of the reasons why Primetime feels empty – or, at the very least, gives the audience a sense of emptiness.When you know how the movie ends, and when your expectations are merely met (if that) during virtually all the scenes, you are bound to feel a sense that something is missing. But there’s more to it than that.

I will be the first to admit that I am a creature of comfort who doesn't understand fashion, let alone haute couture. But that doesn’t mean I did not like The Devil Wears Prada when it first came out, back in 2006. I even bought and read the book, despite it being about a world I had and still have zero interest in.

Like everyone else who liked the original and understood its lasting popularity throughout the years, I was eager to see the sequel. Even if, to be completely honest, I didn't see why it needed one. The first movie gave everyone their perfect "happily ever after". Miranda Priestly remained the iconic, untouchable editor-in-chief of Runway, Andy Sachs landed her dream job as a serious journalist, and Emily finally secured her place as Miranda's assistant.

Stephen Spielberg recently garnered controversy for claiming that his new film Disclosure Day would cause Christians to ask questions about their faith.  Whether that prediction will end up true or not, there is another ideology that we should be questioning in light of this film.  That being anthropocentrism, the often-unconscious belief that human beings are central in the story of the universe. 

That way that this film is anthropocentric isn’t necessarily obvious, until it smacks you in the face like a car driving another car into a train. In a film that is entirely centered around the existence of aliens, the aliens play almost a bit part in the movie. One realizes that this film isn’t about aliens, it’s about humans who are motivated by aliens. The aliens aren’t the center in the movie, they’re merely the driving force behind the real center, the human characters.

Disclosure Day talks up its extra-terrestrials as supreme beings of high intelligence who use math to communicate, even orally. One would think that such an interesting species would take center stage. Maybe it could make sense to say, because the audience is human, the protagonists should be human to be relatable, or maybe that it’s interesting to explain the human perspective. But Stephen Spielberg himself has already made films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and War of the Worlds, all films that focus heavily on the human perspective and all films that Disclosure Day borrows from. This doesn’t even take into account the myriad of other films about aliens made from the human perspective. One would think Mr. Spielberg would be interested in making a film that not only features aliens but is also about aliens.

Jim Halpert directing a horror movie? I did not see this coming.

A few days ago, news broke thatA Quiet Place Part IIhas been pushed back yet again, leaving millions, including myself, devastated.Paramountpostponed the film a third time, and now it will be released on September 17, 2021.

To ease the pain, I decided to re-watchA Quiet Place. If you still haven’t seen this movie, please do so immediately.

The 2018 thriller takes place in an apocalyptic universe in which blind creatures with impeccable hearing have invaded the world. As a result, most of humanity has been wiped out. Those that are still alive, including the Abbott family, must go on with their lives in complete silence to avoid these frightening monsters. Anything is possible, but Lee (John Krasinski) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) will make every effort to protect their children and battle against the horrors of their world.