WISH is a heartwarming fairy tale and tribute to Disney’s past
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Wish is a heartwarming and celebratory confection bursting with deftly handled easter eggs to the studio’s past work.
MAESTRO allows for only a simplistic portrait of a complicated man
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Leonard Bernstein worried about classical music fading out of the culture within his own lifetime, and sadly, Maestro will not even register as any sort of corrective about why his works are important.
NAPOLEON balances the epic and intimate while showing the absurdity of tyrants
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
History is not moved by the vision of great men but by the pettiness of small ones.
THE MARVELS shines whenever it escapes the gravity of the larger MCU
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
The Marvels is a movie that loves its characters, flaws and all, and wants to share that love with the audience.
How To Start Watching: Invisible Funny Assholes
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor
If there is one thing that unites all of these invisible people is that they tend to be assholes. The best kind, as we will see, are funny assholes, using invisibility in a playful way, at least until they lose their minds.
Here there Be Dragons: 6 Favorite Sea Monsters
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Here are six of my favorite beasts from beneath the sea!
We the Undead: American Vampires on Screen
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
American vampires retain an outsider status, but more expressly tied to youthful dissatisfaction or minority/queer identities.
THE CREATOR is a new kind of science fiction blockbuster
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
The Creator feels like a miracle of a movie. An original science fiction blockbuster not based on any preexisting work with legitimate movie stars, with an auteur director left to his own devices feels like a rare occurrence.
STOP MAKING SENSE remains perfect, no notes
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Stop Making Sense is the ultimate concert movie, and remains an essential text for the form as well as a perfect document of the joy to be found in the Talking Heads music.
Printing the Legend: Loosing an ARROW or two at the “white man’s burden”
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
These films–released seven years apart–demonstrate how it comes down to a movie-by-move basis for how indigenous peoples are treated on screen.
Printing the Legend: Do not forsake me, O my darling – HIGH NOON and HUAC
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
High Noon isn’t a paranoid thriller, with walls closing in around Kane thanks to some mysterious conspiracy, this is a Frank Capra hero living in Pottersville.
Flop and Fizzle #4: All hail David Bowie, the Goblin King of LABYRINTH
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Growing up as a fan of The Muppets (especially The Great Muppet Caper and the 90s literary adaptations) spurred me to seek out other works by Jim Henson, namely The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
OPPENHEIMER is a grandiose, hyperverbal meditation on scientific and political power
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
We've grown up in the shadow of the ultimate destructive knowledge.
Printing the Legend: A woman’s got the power…or does she?
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Putting a gun in the hand of a woman does not make a western automatically “feminist.”
Flop and Fizzle #18: BLADE RUNNER 2049 expands on a dystopia without bodily autonomy
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Science fiction can offer powerful allegories, but so much of the genre’s impact is lessened by being demoted to “merely genre fiction.”
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE–DEAD RECKONING PART ONE continues to fan the flames of stunt cinema
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
At it stands, DRPO is the fourth great actioner in a row from this franchise, making this a true golden age for Cruise action fans.
Flop and Fizzle #20: SPEED RACER celebrates the soul of the machine
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Watching for the first time back then, Speed Racer felt like the future. One that never really arrived.
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY embraces the march of time
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
While Indy is an archeologist, Hollywood isn’t studying the past to learn from it, they’re resurrecting it to try and recapture the feelings we felt all those years ago, forsaking the love of anything new.
No time for love, Dr. Jones? The Women of Indiana Jones
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
While Indiana Jones is often joined by men on his adventures, the women of the series present a great study in contrast.
Why a Fox? A Grand Theory of Wes Anderson
by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring
Why a fox? Why not a horse, or a beetle, or a bald eagle? I'm saying this more as, like, existentialism, you know? Who am I? And how can a fox ever be happy without, you'll forgive the expression, a chicken in its teeth?