Audiences and critics alike praise 2022 adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front”
A new spin on an old story is doing well- a rare sight when it comes to TV adaptations and reboots in the 2020s. All Quiet on the Western Front, a World War One drama told from the perspective of an Imperial German infantryman, stars Felix Kammerer as the... Read more
‘Assassination Nation’ Digs Up the Roots of America’s Second Civil War
Teenage girls catch a lot of shit today. Turn on YouTube, go see a hacky comedian, or read any number of blogs and you’ll turn up a bunch of bad opinions about how teenage girls are the patient zero of modern society’s perceived narcissism epidemic. Men with fedoras swirl... Read more
Vets With PTSD Save the Day in ‘The Predator’
Face it. All Predator movies are bad. That doesn’t mean I don’t love me some Predator. I’ll never get tired of hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger yell “get to the choppa,” seeing an alien perform first aid in an old woman’s bathroom or watching Topher Grace and Walton Goggins traipse around... Read more
‘Peppermint’ Is the Shittiest Punisher Movie I’ve Ever Seen
In 2012, Thomas Jane starred in Dirty Laundry—a 10-minute short film where he played Frank Castle, the Punisher, and brutalized criminals with a Jack Daniels bottle. It’s fun. This was a full eight years after Jane had played Castle in a pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe version of The Punisher. The... Read more
‘Sorry to Bother You’ Is Boldly Anti-Imperialistic
Sorry to Bother You, an explicitly left-wing surrealist satire written, directed and produced by Oakland-based rapper Boots Riley has become one of the surprise box-office hits of 2018. Kicking off the year as one of the darlings of the Sundance Film Festival, the indie flick had one of 2018’s... Read more
‘Mission: Impossible Fallout’ Missed its Chance to Tell a Good Nuclear War Story
This story includes spoilers for Mission: Impossible Fallout. You’ve seen this movie before. Mission: Impossible Fallout is the sixth film in the franchise starring Tom Cruise as American superspy Ethan Hunt. Like all M:I movies, it begins with Hunt playing a tape that offers him a mission and conveniently... Read more
The CIA Battled the Kremlin With Books and Movies
Originally published on May 2, 2015. During the Cold War, Moscow’s Ministry of Culture was a master of censorship. The Kremlin’s cultural bulwark screened non-Russian films, suppressed literature and shaped the lives of Soviet artists. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency also dabbled in the dark arts of cultural influence.... Read more
‘Dunkirk’ Is a Booming, Bloodless Bore
This article contains spoilers for Dunkirk. When I walked out of the theater after watching Dunkirk, I realized I couldn’t recall any of the characters’ names. Well, that’s not entirely fair. I did remember the name of the boy on the boat, but only because his name appeared in... Read more
Commandos Clash With Damn Dirty Apes
This article contains spoilers for War for the Planet of the Apes. The plot of War for the Planet of the Apes centers around a commando raid gone wrong. At the end of preceding Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Caesar rids his tribe of its radical elements and strikes... Read more
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ and the Burdens of Modern Policing
If the Avengers are a super-powered Special Operations group then Spider-Man is a beat cop. While the Avengers stop Ultron from wiping out all human life on the planet and prepare for the world-shattering invasion of Thanos, Spider-Man helps old ladies with directions and stops bike thieves. That is as... Read more

Matthew Gault

Contributing Editor