Category: Reel Post
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Captain America: Brave New World—A Superhero Film with Political Weight
I typically don’t start posts with a spoiler warning, but since Captain America: Brave New World (2025; Dir. Onah) is still new, I’ll note that while I’ll keep spoilers to a minimum, some are unavoidable. Brave New World arrives at a time of peak superhero fatigue, with critics eager to dismiss it. Yet, while the film isn’t groundbreaking,…
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The Name of the Rose: Libraries, Censorship, and the Fear of Laughter
The Name of the Rose (1986; dir. Annaud) is a multinational production starring Sean Connery. The film is an adaptation of Umberto Eco’s debut novel of the same name. Eco was a professor of semiotics, a medievalist, and a philosopher who held academic positions at several American and Italian universities throughout his prolific career. I…
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The Many Faces of Forgiveness in Shrinking
Apple TV’s Shrinking balances comedy with deep emotional truths. At its core, the series explores grief, centering on therapist Jimmy Laird (Jason Segel) as he and his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) struggle with the loss of Jimmy’s wife and Alice’s mother, Tia. But as the series progresses, another crucial theme takes center stage—the role of forgiveness in…
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What World War Z Teaches Us About Global Responsibility
When World War Z (2013; dir. Forster) hit theaters, I was expecting a typical zombie movie that would quickly fade from memory. Instead, it’s a film I’ve found myself returning to several times over the last decade. The movie also inspired me to listen to the audiobook by Max Brooks, which features a fantastic voice cast. Though…
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Severance Season 1: Identity, Subjugation, and the Frightening Vision of Lumon
Apple’s Severance has a unique premise that presents itself in an outlandish but entertaining manner, and while I, like many, enjoyed the masterful storytelling and acting, I also found it to be unnervingly plausible. Created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle, the show takes us into an expansive subterranean office…
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Godzilla Minus One: Theory, Strategy, and the Philosophy of Uncertainty
When Godzilla Minus One (2023; dir. Takashi Yamazaki) dropped, it rejuvenated the most venerated kaiju after he had been brought to a new low by several schlocky American Godzilla stories like Godzilla vs. Kong. Minus One did this through its unique styling, bringing the story back to post-WWII Japan, and, most importantly, by putting forth a heartfelt story revolving…
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Horror Double Feature—The Cure and The Wailing
Japanese and Korean cinema have delivered some of the most haunting and thought-provoking horror films in global cinema. Two standout examples, The Cure (1997; dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) from Japan and The Wailing (2016; dir. Na Hong-jin) from South Korea, represent the pinnacle of their respective traditions. Both films explore violence, belief, and the unknown, but their narrative structure, style,…
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Gattaca: The Enduring Rejection of Reductionism and the Triumph of the Hegemonikon
When Gattaca (1997; dir. Niccol) premiered, it offered a vision of the future that was uncomfortably plausible. Its central philosophical message—one that champions human potential and rejects reductionism—still resonates over two decades later. Today, the film feels even more relevant in a world grappling with genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and cultural engineering that seems designed to leave…
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Despair, Morality, Redemption, and Forgiveness: A Comparison of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Bicycle Thieves
At first glance, the feverish Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009; dir. Herzog) and the neorealist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves (1948; dir. De Sica) couldn’t seem more different. One is a wild, chaotic exploration of a cop’s descent into corruption and madness; the other, a restrained and heartbreaking portrait of a father and husband…
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A Tale of Two Lives: It’s a Wonderful Life and The Green Knight
I tend to dislike Christmas movies but two of my favorite (Christmas) films are It’s a Wonderful Life (1946; dir. Capra) and The Green Knight (2021; dir. Lowery) both revolve around a central, existential question—What would life be like without the protagonist? Despite the different genres and moral frameworks, the two films contrast how they…
The Curated Life Worth Reading 