Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) Director: Sam Raimi Screenwriter: Michael Waldron Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Stuhlbarg A throwaway joke in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 once had J. Jonah Jameson quip that the name “Doctor Strange” was already taken. Eighteen years later, Raimi … Read more

There was a time when superhero films did not dominate Hollywood’s box office or cultural conversation. They were neither the most profitable genre nor the automatic go-to topic in interviews with major filmmakers. Hollywood has chased trends before — Westerns in the 1950s and disaster movies in the 1970s — and had occasional successes with … Read more

Once upon a time, superhero movies did not dominate the Hollywood blockbuster landscape. They weren’t the most popular or profitable film genre, nor were they the automatic conversation starter for every press junket. Hollywood had chased trends before — Westerns in the 1950s, disaster epics in the 1970s — and there had been earlier comic-book … Read more

This article was originally published to SSP Thinks Film by Sam Sewell-Peterson. Doctor Strange (2016) Director: Scott Derrickson Screenwriters: Jon Spaihts, C Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins Marvel’s challenge in launching new heroes is that many comic-book … Read more

This article was originally published to SSP Thinks Film by Sam Sewell-Peterson. Doctor Strange (2016) Director: Scott Derrickson Screenwriters: Jon Spaihts, C Robert Cargill, Scott Derrickson Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton, Benedict Wong, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, Scott Adkins When Marvel introduces a new character to its cinematic universe, … Read more

Jason X (2001/02) Director: James Isaac Screenwriters: Todd Farmer Starring: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Jeff Geddis, Lisa Ryder, Jonathan Potts, Markus Parilo, Peter Mensah, Todd Farmer, David Cronenberg Not every film aspires to be a work of cinematic genius, and that’s okay. Movies serve many purposes: art, entertainment, and sometimes just a paycheck for the … Read more

Jason X (2001/02) Director: James Isaac Screenwriters: Todd Farmer Starring: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Jeff Geddis, Lisa Ryder, Jonathan Potts, Markus Parilo, Peter Mensah, Todd Farmer, David Cronenberg Not every film aims to be an arthouse masterpiece, and that is perfectly fine. Some movies exist to entertain, to deliver spectacle, and to make audiences laugh, … Read more

We live in an era of CGI dreamscapes, where on many modern productions any on-set mistake can be “fixed in post” by teams of artists and technicians. Whether it’s a strand of hair drifting into an actor’s eye or an entire environment that can’t be built physically, visual effects teams stand ready to shape every … Read more

We live in an age of CGI dreamscapes, where almost any on-set mistake can be “fixed in post” by teams of artists and technicians. Whether it’s a stray hair on an actor’s face or an entire environment that never existed in reality, modern visual effects teams can remove, replace, or create it. Big-studio franchises and … Read more

The Northman (2022) Director: Robert Eggers Screenwriters: Sjón, Robert Eggers Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Gustav Lindh, Elliot Rose, Willem Dafoe, Björk Robert Eggers’ third feature, The Northman (2022), is an unflinching, visually sumptuous reimagining of the Norse revenge saga. Drawing on the mythic rhythms of stories that inspired … Read more