The Disney Sci-Fi Movie Where The Robot Outshines Everyone | GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT
A Giant Freakin Robot article highlighting a Disney science fiction movie in which the robot character steals the show.
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The Civil War | All Episodes Now Streaming | Ken Burns | PBS | The Civil War | Ken Burns | PBS
This is the PBS landing page for Ken Burns's nine-episode documentary *The Civil War*, which premiered in September 1990 to about 40 million viewers and won 40 major awards, including two Emmys and two Grammys. It describes a five-year production covering the war's causes, battles, homefront, and aftermath, and notes the fully restored version that aired in 2015. Most of the page is a hub of companion resources: timelines, casualty facts, primary documents like the Gettysburg Address and the Sullivan Ballou letter, biographies, battle maps, archival photos, an episode guide, and pieces on the 4K restoration from 16mm film and on the music, including "Ashokan Farewell."
Director James McTeigue on How the V for Vendetta Mask Became a Global Symbol of Protest
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In a interview timed to the film's 20th-anniversary re-release, director James McTeigue explains how the Guy Fawkes mask was made to work on screen (lighting tests, glossy versus matte finishes, and Hugo Weaving acting through voice and body with no visible face) and why it spread beyond the movie into the Arab Spring, Occupy, Hong Kong, and anti-Scientology protests. He credits the film's box-office reach with turning Lloyd's comic design into a symbol of collective anonymity, and argues it was an "anti-superhero" film ahead of the genre's saturation. The piece also notes the irony that Warner Bros., and now Skydance, profits from a protest emblem.
The Real Kevin Bacon
Demystifying the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: the past, present, and future centers of Hollywood
The Bleak Sci-Fi Thriller That Makes Mad Max Look Cheerful | GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT
This is a rave review of David Michôd's 2014 film The Rover, which follows a near-silent Guy Pearce across an Australian frontier ten years after economic collapse as he hunts the thieves who stole his car, with Robert Pattinson as the wounded, talkative brother of one of them. The reviewer argues it's a slow-burn, tension-driven drama rather than an action spectacle, praising both leads, the atmospheric score, and small touches of realism like the characters' ruined teeth. He also notes Michôd's framing of the collapse as plausibly rooted in real economic forces and the story as a fable about human connection, and he defends the divisive ending as perfect, ranking the film among his favorites of 2014.
Why Soylent Green Got 2022 So Wrong
A critic of science-and-society storytelling revisits Soylent Green on the 50th anniversary of its titular "future" year and argues the film's heavy-handed, dogmatic dystopianism actually undercuts its own message about overpopulation, corporate greed, and environmental collapse. He contrasts it unfavorably with Harry Harrison's more nuanced source novel Make Room! Make Room!, contending that preachy apocalyptic certainty tends to entrench existing beliefs rather than change minds, and champions ambiguous, conversation-opening sci-fi (Children of Men, Ex Machina) as a better model for grappling with real present-day crises like climate change and AI.
40 great films on Disney Plus that are actually for adults
This is a roundup of films and documentaries streaming on Disney+, arguing that the service's catalogue, swollen by the Fox and Star acquisitions, now contains plenty of adult fare that outclasses rival libraries. Each entry gives a short, opinionated pitch for a title such as Logan, Aliens, Get Out or Nomadland, pairing the critical case for it with a note on why it's worth an evening.
Why Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur & Other Hollywood Classics Still Look So Good | Open Culture
Cleopatra (1963) is argued here to be a case where the notorious expense looks justified in hindsight: its $44 million budget (about $480 million in current dollars) produced physical spectacle, from the giant sphinx and full-scale Alexandria harbor to Elizabeth Taylor's roughly 65 costumes, that still reads as convincing on screen. The piece draws a line through Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia to argue that the 65mm and ultra-wide formats forced real craft rather than shortcuts. It then closes by extending the point to RoboCop, Dick Tracy, and The Fifth Element, asking whether even a trillion dollars could buy the same tangible results today.
5 More Great Recent Sci-Fi Movies Nobody Talks About
Ranking of five underappreciated modern sci-fi films worth revisiting: Life, Colossal, James vs. His Future Self, Totally Killer, and The Endless, topping the list. It argues these titles deserve far more recognition than they get, having been overshadowed either by genre oversaturation, limited studio backing, or straight-to-streaming releases rather than any lack of quality. Each entry gets a short case for why it excels—from Life's effective horror execution to Colossal's blend of kaiju spectacle and personal drama to The Endless's unsettling low-budget craft—making the piece a handy watchlist for genre fans wanting picks beyond the usual 80s/90s nostalgia.
3 Forgotten ‘70s Movies That Actually Shaped Their Genres (Including 2 Cult Classics From Beloved Directors) - ComicBook.com
This ComicBook.com list makes the case that three underrated 1970s films, Spielberg's Duel, Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, and Saul Bass's Phase IV, shaped later genres (road-thriller horror, tense siege action-horror, and eco-horror creature features) despite being overlooked today. The piece is useful mainly as a catalogue of how these movies' tropes and techniques quietly spread into the work of later filmmakers.
The Decade’s 10 Most Defining Movies (So Far) — The Atlantic
These films best capture the strange spirit of the 2020s.
The Aristocats (1970)
The Aristocats is a 1970 Disney animated musical about Madame Bonfamille, who leaves her fortune to her cats, and the scheming butler who kidnaps them to steal it. The piece, as preserved here, is largely a film listing: a plot synopsis, cast and runtime details, and a stream of fan reviews praising Thomas O'Malley and the jazz-playing alley cats. What makes it worth keeping is the affectionate fan response, which treats the film as a comfort watch and a cult favorite.
The oral history of Wolverine, the unlikely superhero who saved the X-Men
# Summary Wolverine's journey from a minor Canadian character created in 1972 to become Marvel's most iconic mutant was shaped by editorial decisions, creative writing, and perfect casting. Roy Thomas introduced him to boost Canadian comic sales, Chris Claremont developed his complexity and aging him up, and subsequent writers like Larry Hama explored his emotional depth beneath the gruff exterior, making him compelling enough to sustain multiple comic series, an animated show, and Hugh Jackman's transformative film performances from 2000 to 2017. His enduring appeal lies in the paradox of a powerful, dangerous fighter whose constant pain and deep loyalty to his team reveal an underlying vulnerability and humanity.
The 10 Best Films for Our Current Political Moment
Armando Ianucci, creator of "Veep," drew parallels between Biden's delayed exit from the race and the final voting scene in his film "The Death of Stalin," where characters fear being the first to act against the prevailing order. The piece uses this moment to argue that art inadvertently captures political dynamics we struggle to acknowledge in reality, then expands into a list of ten films—from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" to "Lincoln"—that offer deeper insights into contemporary political issues than simple sitcom comparisons can provide.
Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Movies: 65 Films the Director Wants You to See
Quentin Tarantino's cinematic tastes span from canonical classics to overlooked gems and mainstream blockbusters, reflecting his encyclopedic knowledge of film history developed during his video store years. His preferences reveal consistent interests in stylistic audacity, practical action sequences, complex character development, and genre-bending narratives—from spaghetti Westerns and exploitation films to screwball comedies and martial arts movies. The article catalogs 64 of Tarantino's favorite films across decades and countries, demonstrating how his admiration for directors like Brian De Palma, Pedro Almodóvar, and Bong Joon-ho has directly influenced his own directorial approach and filmmaking philosophy.
5 Years Later, These Are the 10 Best Movies of 2021
A retrospective ranking of 2021's best films five years on, arguing that despite the pandemic's disruption of release patterns and awards attention, that year quietly produced an unusually deep field of enduring work. It runs from Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth and Villeneuve's Dune down through overlooked gems like Mass and Judas and the Black Messiah, landing on The Worst Person in the World at number one as proof of cinema's growing embrace of international, formally adventurous storytelling. Worth keeping as a corrective list-style piece that pushes back against films (like Licorice Pizza or West Side Story) getting overshadowed by their directors' bigger later hits or box-office flops.
The 10 Most Underrated Sci-Fi Mysteries of the 21st Century, Ranked
This article ranks ten underrated science fiction mystery films from the 21st century, from Gareth Edwards' *Monsters* at number ten to James Gray's *Ad Astra* at number one. Each entry includes a brief description of the film's plot, thematic concerns, and performances, explaining why these commercially overlooked or critically underseen films deserve recognition from sci-fi fans. The list spans from 2002 to 2019 and includes notable titles like *Equilibrium*, *The Butterfly Effect*, *Southland Tales*, and *Code 46*, positioning them as worthy alternatives to mainstream franchises that have dominated the genre.
10 Most Moving Sci-Fi Movies, Ranked
A Collider countdown ranks the ten most emotionally affecting sci-fi films ever made, arguing that the genre's real power lies not in spectacle but in intimate human stakes—grief, memory, love, and mortality. It moves from animated tearjerkers like WALL-E and quiet meditations like After Yang and Solaris through romance-tech hybrids like Her and Eternal Sunshine, landing on Arrival and Interstellar as the pinnacle examples of cerebral, heart-wrenching storytelling. The throughline is that the best sci-fi uses cosmic scale to sharpen, not dilute, deeply personal emotional truths.
The 50 best movies of all time list, according to critic reviews: Metacritic
This is Metacritic's ranked list of the 50 most critically acclaimed films of all time, based on composite critical reception scores. The ranking spans from classic Hollywood and silent films through contemporary Oscar winners, with *The Godfather* topping the list at a perfect 100/100 critical score, followed by *Citizen Kane* and *Rear Window*. The piece demonstrates how critical consensus values both timeless masterpieces and recent achievements, with notable directors like Hitchcock heavily represented across the rankings.
The 100 Best TV Episodes of the Century - The Ringer
The Ringer updated its 2018 ranking of the 100 best TV episodes of the century to reflect seven years of new television, a period during which streaming services fundamentally changed how shows are made and consumed. The revision added 27 new episodes while maintaining the original list's commitment to representing television's full range of genres rather than limiting itself to prestige dramas. The methodology remained consistent: staff submitted favorites, with one episode per show allowed and only episodes released after July 2018 eligible for inclusion or replacement.
★★ · rewatch · watched 24 Jan 2021
The Aristocats was the final movie that Walt Disney greenlit prior to his passing. It has the same problem as most of the animated Disney movies from this era, it lacked a great story and memorable characters. Like many of the Disney movies of the time, it also lacked a bit of cultural sensitivity that makes it a bit of a tough watch 50 years later. While it isn’t Song of the South bad, it does have some moments that don’t play well today.
The movie clocks in at 1:18 minutes according to IMDB, and I have to say I felt every minute of this movie. The animation was OK, and there were a couple of scenes that were better than others but overall, it was generally bland. I do appreciate the Parisian styles of the backgrounds, and those did add to the mood. “Everyone Wants to Be a Cat” was the catchy song from the movie which is replaying through my brain as I write.
I wish there was more to this movie. I probably watched it in my youth, but I honestly don’t remember anything about it. I remember many cartoons from that time, but not a single scene from this watch was familiar. My guess is if I watched it again in a year from now, I’d wouldn’t remember much more than the train scene. It was lazy animation, lazy writing, and lazy performances.
There was a moment on the train tracks where the animation made the sparks from the train to look like blood. It was a little bit disturbing when taken out of context, but I thought to myself, “at least this is getting interesting”.
Obviously, there are some less than sensitive moments in the movie. That said, it seemed like they went out of the way to get a dig in for every culture. They represented most in the “Everyone Wants to be a Cat” montage, but a couple of scenes later there was a “WigWam” reference out of the blue. What was that about?
It was pointed out from the person I watched with that the mouse from this movie looks exactly like the mouse in “The Rescuers”. I know it isn’t a sequel, but Disney really didn’t put forth much of an effort to be creative for a while. I have the greatest respect for the work it takes for a release, but… oof.
Your review on Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/1CdbbZ