Films are mostly perceived as a visual medium; most people when asked to explain the difference between a book and a film adaptation of the same book will talk about how books are conveyed through words whereas movies are depicted through images.

Lost in this discussion is the fact that film is more often than not also an audio medium. In some films the audio can be just as important and the visuals. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation is riveting because of the audio recording that Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul obsesses over. The Blair Witch Project relies almost entirely on the unnerving sounds heard in the woods to be terrifying as anything actually shown on screen. Soundtracks and scores and instrumental (pun intended) in cluing the audience into how the director wants them to be feeling about what is happening on screen. A Quiet Place is a horror film that relies heavily on the aural aspect of experiencing a film and executes its mastery of sound to incredible effect.

Ready Player One is a film based off a very popular book of the same title back in 2011. Ernest Cline’s novel is an ode to the 80s, video games, pop culture, and geekdom in general. Steven Spielberg, whether as a director or executive producer, is a figure who was heavily involved in the creation of much of which Cline’s book celebrated. Therefore, it makes a certain amount of sense that Spielberg would be the director to adapt the book for the big screen.

Tomb Raider is one of the most popular video game franchises in the history of video games. It has spawned several video games over several generations of platforms. Angelina Jolie famously portrayed the iconic Lara Croft character over two lackluster movies back in 2001 and 2003. After a recent reboot of the character on the latest video game generation, the character has been rebooted on the big screen, this time with the very talented Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander stepping into role.

It should be surprising to no one that a sequel has been made to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 blockbuster Pacific Rim. It made enough money worldwide to catch the eye of the studio and put out a sequel nearly five years later. It’s always a bit of a crap shoot as to what kind of sequel you’re going to get when the director moves on and is just in a producer role the second time around. Pacific Rim Uprising definitely falls into a specific of category of sequel, the one where the original star is jettisoned but enough of the familiar faces return to make it bear enough of a resemblance to the original.

A Wrinkle in Time is a classic children’s book that I never read growing up, but was keenly aware of its existence, one of a number of books that slipped through the cracks for me growing up. I had purchased the book on my Kindle a few years ago with the intention of reading it eventually. With the release of the film adaptation, I decided to cram this week and read the book between Wednesday evening and Friday morning before catching a Friday matinee of the film. The previews of the film had caught my eye for months and interested me, and, given the quality of Selma, I wanted to see what director Ava DuVernay would do with the project. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the outcome.

Red Sparrow is a competent thriller that has some solid moments, but never quite rises to the heights of a John le Carre adaptation or some other truly great espionage film.

I just found out The Big Lebowski was released on March 6th twenty years ago. Not only is it my favorite Coen brothers movie and my favorite comedy, it is my personal #1 movie of all time. Having spent two decades watching this movie multiple times, I wanted to share a bit about my love for all things Lebowski.

Others are mired in their opinions being "subjective".  Sad. They worry they're not seeing "all sides" of a cultural debate, and give credence to other opinions willy nilly, especially on tedious, round table NPR shows with titles like "Up, Down, and All Around: Everyone's Damn Viewpoint on Everything."  Blah. So exhausting.

Overall, Annihilation has the courage of its convictions to not pander to audiences and spoon-feed its viewers easy answers as to what is happening. Even if it doesn’t quite rise to the level of Garland’s previous film, Ex Machina, for me, it is a notch just below it and still gave me plenty to chew on.

Last year, Get Out was released around the same time of the year (Feb. 24) and it was the first movie of 2017 to be penciled into my year-end list. Black Panther has done the same in being the first movie that I will be penciling into my Best of 2018 list.

OnScreen Critics Ken Jones and Noah Golden hand out their superlatives for the movie class of 2017. 

After sitting with it a few weeks, and not having the time to write about it immediately after seeing it, the things that kept me from loving it initially have faded while the eccentricities and odd little moment of humor have heightened a bit, leaving me to wonder what an eventual second viewing might hold in a few years. Perhaps my tastes will be more in tune with it’s high fashion by that point, and it’ll be something I can enjoy rather than just appreciate.

We have all had dreams of being a TV/Movie star from when we were young. A small percentage of us try to make that dream a reality. An even smaller percentage of those people actually make in front of millions of viewers. I had the opportunity to speak with one of those people who made her dream a reality, the talented Stephanie Rogers, who has appeared in shows like Saturday Night Live, The Blacklist, The Knick, 30 Rock, Law and Order SVU, Smash, and many others. How did she get there, what has her journey been like, who have been the best movie stars to work with, and what advice would she give to anyone else who wants to live the dream.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is a new Japanese CG anime kaiju film.  It was produced by Toho Animation and was animated by Polygon Pictures. It is the 32nd feature film in the Godzilla franchise and the first animated take on Godzilla. It was co-directed by Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita, with a screenplay by Gen Urobuchi. It was recently released worldwide via Netflix.

Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and everybody and their mother is bound to have a hot take of some kind, so why not me (my mom could care less, though)? There’s bound to be a lot of huffing and puffing out there.

Steven Spielberg is a director who normally operates in two types of modes; alternating projects between big blockbusters and serious filmmaking with awards in mind. His latest, The Post, makes no qualms about what kind of film it wants to be, landing firmly with both feet in the latter camp. Spielberg has never been shy about making films with a message, but they rarely have been so deliberate in their intent to speak to the relevant news of the present.

Last year, I listed my 50 Most Anticipated Movies of 2017. I’m scaling back this year and keeping it to 20, whittled down from a list that started with 70 titles that caught my eye. 

Finishing our countdown of our favorite movies of 2017!

OnScreen Film Critic Ken Jones counts down his top films of 2017. 

Musicals are not my favorite genre of film, in fact, they may be my least favorite.  Having said that, I have been trying to make an effort to see some of the classics and approach them with an open mind.  Similarly, I was not a fan of the western genre for a long time either, but have come to appreciate the genre quite a bit.  My exposure to movie musicals is very limited.  I remember having to watch Fiddler on the Roof in music class in 4th grade as well as West Side Story at some point in elementary school.  I either did not pay attention or I forgot much of it (though I do vividly remember “If I were a rich man…!” from Fiddler).