Ell Twine

Jun Ichikawa’s 1989 No Life King is an impressive early look at what was to become the next generation of adults in a fast evolving digital world. While current day viewers might think the plot of this movie is based on old Pokemon playground rumours like getting a secret mew from under the truck next to the S.S. Anne, it actually predates Pokemon as a franchise and seems to be more focused on a youthful fascination with death and predicting how technology will change these coming of age concepts. A large part of youth media deals with kids coming to an understanding about death. In 1986’s Stand by Me , four best friends travel the town train tracks in search of a missing boy’s body in hopes of becoming famous for discovering it. In My Girl , the daughter of a funeral director is surrounded by death as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her mother and eventual passing of her best friend. If a Disney movie protagonist starts the film with two healthy parents, there’s a ...

This article was written for The Companion and can be found here: Belle | Mamoru Hosoda’s Evolving Vision of Digital Empowerment

  Pompo: The Cinephile tells the story of Gene Fini, a cinephile working as the assistant to young movie producer, Pompo. Gene’s passion for film comes from drawn out, thoughtful character study pictures. Pompo’s interest is in producing short, B movie quality action flicks. If Pompo were real, she would have made Geostorm and loved it. Pompo specifically dislikes when movies are over 90 minutes long. This quirk is due to her grandfather, a film maker that made her watch long masterpieces from a young age. This exceeded her personal limits as a child and pushed her towards shorter, action driven features. Despite Gene referring to Pompo’s pictures as B movies, Pompo never frames her as bad at her job or profit driven. The movie instead celebrates Pompo as a creative with an eye for talent. Stressing that there is no right way to enjoy cinema. There is no project that isn’t worth loving if you have fun with it. Gene strikes a nerve with Pompo as she j...

  This article was written for The Companion and can be found here: Star Wars | Is the High Republic Already at Risk?

  This article was written for The Companion and can be found here: The Matrix | Transgender Allegory, Applicability, and Me

  Fear Street: 1994 is the first in a three-part trilogy of horror movies set to release over a three-week period to Netflix. With each film being set in a different decade, the goal is to tell a story that explains why this town is plagued by brutal murders. The first in this trilogy is set in the 90s, with each subsequent film going further back in time to explain the backstory to the murders and show off large massacre events within the town history. The second film will be releasing next week, a  Friday the 13th throwback as a campground is attacked by an axe murderer wearing a bag over his head. The most important thing to me about this series going in is that they understand the time period of horror for each film’s setting. It’s difficult to really pinpoint differences when all of cinematic history is available to you at any given time but if you think to the horror cinema following the tragic events of 9/11 it’s clear that an air of hopelessness began to aris...