The 24 Best Video Games of 2024
PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.
adventure
The 24 Best Video Games of 2024
PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and the Death of Hollywood Franchises
Hollywood franchise films may not have started as theme parks, but the drive to eliminate risk will quickly turn them into the very thing their detractors fear.
Phoenix Springs’ Journey to Nowhere Is Worth It
Phoenix Springs‘ streamlined gameplay and inventive point-and-click adventure has the pacing of an art-house psychological drama.
Masculine Movie Icon Alan Ladd As the Wounded Outlaw Hero
Red Mountain and Botany Bay showcase masculine movie icon Alan Ladd in his glory, playing wounded heroes on the wrong side of the law.
Arch Oboler’s ‘Bwana Devil’ Mauls the First 3D Movie Audience
Arch Oboler’s Bwana Devil kicked off the 1950s 3D movies craze with a man-eating lion story, and 70s years later it’s trying to get its claws into audiences.
The Family-Friendly ‘Bookworm’ Is a Reunion – with a Twist
Ant Timpson and Toby Harvard’s Bookworm effuses charm and humour, and reveals the Jekyll and Hyde-like sides of their creative personas.
Godzilla the Union Buster
There’s a bitter irony in how Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, produced by a notorious union-busting production company, is celebrated for its message of collective strength.
Crime Sells in TV: ‘The Responder’, ‘Shardlake’, and ‘Eric’
For compelling and worrisome reasons, crime sells in our TV entertainment. The Responder, Shardlake, and Eric feed our brutal compulsion in varying ways.
Is ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ An Act of Surrender?
After her psychological-horror debut Saint Maud, cinema took Rose Glass’ bright new voice in genre filmmaking and, with Love Lies Bleeding, clipped her wings.
Is the ‘Barbie’ Movie Performative Subversion or Meaningful Rebellion?
Is the Barbie movie, like the Barbie dolls, a superficial attempt to co-opt feminist discourse? Or does it offer something substantial?
‘Love Lies Bleeding’ Drips with Danger and Desire
Rose Glass drenches Love Lies Bleeding in sensation and texture, as if she dragged the film through pools of viscera on the floor of a Foley sound effects studio.
Chewing the Scenery and Chewing on Actors in ‘Man-Eater of Kumaon’
Sabu and a tiger foreshadow Byron Haskin’s special effects and science fiction adventures of humans vs. the elements in Man-Eater of Kumaon.