Are videogames art? Do they influence violent behavior? What effect have they had on society? How would you describe videogames to Leonardo da Vinci? These are always great questions to start a conversation. Pixel Poetry is a documentary film about progressive creative culture as it has been championed by one of its greatest advocates - videogames. Using popular debates that have long surrounded videogames as a catalyst for this, the film will analyze the misunderstood notions and arguments in art and technological advancement to bring a new perspective to a compelling discussion about the evolution of its meaning.
From its visually stunning opening credits, which show women dancing through a forest to musical rhythms that sound almost primal, to its quiet, heartbreaking final frame, Mona Fastvold’s historical rendering of the Shaker religious movement is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.
Sunny Sandler, daughter of Adam Sandler, stars in a new Netflix film directed by Julia Hart, and it has caught the attention of many younger audiences as they watch this heartfelt coming-of-age story. The film's relatability of just being a normal teenage girl also tells a devastating reality that many cannot fathom facing. The storyline showcases a deeper meaning of the classic theatre kid saying, “the show must go on”, and emotionally captures the struggles that happen on and off the stage.
Written and directed by Rian Johnson (Looper, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi), Knives Out was one of the most clever and intricately crafted films of 2019.
The Roses is a wickedly sharp marital warfare comedy that transforms domestic dysfunction into high art. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch deliver powerhouse performances as a couple whose fairy-tale romance implodes when his architectural career collapses just as her culinary empire takes off. What makes Jay Roach's remake so devastatingly effective is its refusal to pick sides—both spouses are equally sympathetic and monstrous, wielding Tony McNamara's razor-sharp dialogue like weapons forged from shared intimacies. It's a film that dares you to laugh at relationship wreckage while forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truth that the line between passionate love and mutual destruction is terrifyingly thin.
A refreshing twist is that all the kids’ powers are…kind of useless. There’s a kid who can only move in slow motion, a kid who has every power in the world but can only use them randomly, and our main character Missy who has no powers at all. The thesis of the film seems to be that it doesn’t matter what kind of powers you have, its the way you use them, which is good for the warm and fuzzies.
Animation as a medium of storytelling can be thought to be open to all ages and as I hope my readings will reveal, they could be interpreted as transgender stories.
