Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

It has become fun to bash the Marvel films.

There is no denying that despite increasing box office receipts and new records being broken with seemingly each new entry, the franchise has encountered mounting snobbery and cynicism from various critics and media outlets, as seems to be the nature with anything that is massively popular. A common criticism of the films is that they are overly reliant on prior stories with a particularly negative assessment from the New Yorker denigrating Infinity War as nothing more than a two-and-a-half-hour ad for the films that preceded it and those that will follow.

Others, such as a piece from Film School Rejects, have criticized the franchise’s adverse impact on storytelling, stating that the films’ proclivity for constantly teasing future installments with post-credit scenes reduces the impact the current stories are having. The mass genocide depicted during the conclusion of Infinity War was especially criticized as feeling inconsequential due to so many of the “deceased” characters having sequels already teased from their own respective film’s post-credit scenes. Additionally, the article criticizes how difficult it is for new fans to jump in thanks to the story being crafted in a way that requires seeing every prior film to completely understand the events depicted and fully reap the emotional payoffs.

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Spoilers in Movie Trailers: Financially Savvy or Box Office Disaster?

Spoilers in Movie Trailers

Movie trailers have long been an essential component of cinema and have been evolving for some time now. A movie trailer’s purpose is to motivate the viewer to see the film when it is released in theaters, typically by showcasing the most exciting moments that will occur in a film. Trailers will often abbreviate or manipulate the order of events shown as a means of avoiding spoilers, which could obviously ruin a viewer’s enjoyment of a film. In recent years, however, it seems as though this wariness of spoiling crucial events is no longer as valued by movie studios.

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Where the Wild Things Are Review

Where the Wild Things Are Review

3.5 out of 4 stars (3.5 / 4)

Where the Wild Things Are is a bold film in almost every sense of the word. This film could have easily played it safe and utilized traditional animation ala Disney or Dreamworks pictures and produced a kid focused film with little depth and some moral lessons sprinkled in. However, through director Spike Jonze’s unique vision along with collaborative work from the author of the original 1963 picture book (Maurice Sendak), Where the Wild Things Are instead unflinchingly depicts the ways in which children manage emotions in relation to burgeoning adulthood through the use of their imagination. I can safely say that the film provides a unique viewing experience that is unlike any film I have ever seen, especially for the coming of age film genre.

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