Author: ConnorDev

  • Pulling Pistols and Whistling Dixie

    Clint Eastwood is one of the great modern filmmakers, a man whose directing talents have landed him many Oscar nominations and widespread critical acclaim. Those accolades don’t usually extend to his work in front of the camera, however; it may be the parts he often played in his younger days, the cops and cowboys and…

  • REVIEW: Jessica Jones Season 1

    Jessica Jones, the second of Marvel’s Netflix series to explore the darker street-level corridors of the MCU, is a surprisingly adult-themed endeavor, using the gritty world established in Daredevil as a springboard to tell a story of victimization and how different people survive it in different ways. The first half is a very strong psychological…

  • Give and Take in Superhero Cinema

    The other day I was talking to a friend and he brought up the idea that there’s no such thing as a perfect movie, arguing that the best films have flaws that enhance them rather than sully them. In principle, I disagree with this (a Hitchens quote comes to mind: “It’s only true if you…

  • Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Since its inception, the Kelvin Timeline – that is, the alternate timeline that has encompassed Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond – has been a real shot in the arm for the Star Trek brand, allowing the new films to simultaneously honor what has come before while forging their own…

  • The Master of His Domain

    The straight man is the unsung hero of comedy, the guy who forgoes getting the best laughs in order to set up his co-stars for the show-stopping gags, elevating the scene or sketch while seeming to be background noise. This is true, at least, at the best of times; when performed improperly, the straight man…

  • Spy Games

    *Author’s Note: Like my article on Captain America, this piece was written before I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron and I decided not to alter it to accommodate that film.* Starting with Iron Man back in 2008, Marvel decided to bring the world of comic books to movie screens in a way no one had…