Movies

Som·nam·bu·lism (som namˊbye lizˊem), n. SLEEPWALKING; see also: som·namˊbu·list, n. som·namˊbu·lisˊtic, adj.

Some movies are the cinematic equivalent of a Renaissance painting: Botticelli-esque masterpieces of style, form and skill that not only impress upon our senses the totality of their perfection, but that exert undeniable and overwhelming influence on the craft for generations to come. Others, however, are more akin to the crayon-scribbled pages of a toddler’s coloring book, crude, garish and ultimately disposable. With the advancement in digital technology it’s become easier than ever for hungry aspiring filmmakers to indulge their inner auteur, but for every Paranormal Activity that reaps millions of box office dollars and spawns franchises on MasterCard budgets, there are a thousand painful-to-watch time-wasters clogging streaming services at any given minute.

Tattoos have long played an important role in the film industry, helping to shape characters and tell their stories.

Whether it's an intricate piece that reveals a character's history or small design that hints at an important personality trait, tattoos have found a special place in cinema. However, did you ever wonder how makeup artists deal with a cast's existing tattoos - or even create new ones specifically for the film?

This article is going to explore these two very different, yet equally important aspects of movie makeup artistry.

Almost everyone has been to the movies and watched their favorite film at least once. It's an opportunity to have a good time, relax, and even enjoy some delicious food. You can also use onlyfans finder at onlyfanslifestyle.com for a great time together. But why is it so appealing? Let's discuss it below.

Options for going to the movies

There are two types of theaters in popular cinemas:

After a almost a year of waiting, tumultuous production changes, and an iffy future for the leading actor, "The Flash" finally crosses the finish line last for the Justice League movies that made up what fans call "The Snyderverse." And for that wait, fans get a montage of great fan service scenes that will have them remembering what they've loved about the DC pantheon of heroes over the years.

Sadly, very fiew of those scenes involved the movie's main character, The Flash.

First and foremost: "The Flash" is a comedy with a few serious moments. It's bloated with bullet-time special effects and then doubles them when Barry (Ezra Miller) learns he can time travel.

Tales of earthbound sprites have haunted the shadowy corners of cultures worldwide since time immemorial. The ancients wrote of them often: Odysseus encountering the apparition of his dead mother; the Witch of Endor invoking the wraith of Samuel; a visitation by a deceased husband in Virgil’s Aeneid; the disciples’ strident fear that Jesus was a ghost. Even one of the earliest known samples of written language—a Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet dating to 1500 B.C.—is itself an instruction manual for the exorcism of restless spirits.

It’s not often that a film has six people credited as screenwriters and directors. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is one such film. Considering how confusing the concept of the Marvel Multiverse can be, even for longtime Marvel Comics readers, maybe this should be the norm. Screenwriters Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Dave Callaham and directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. Keeping track of dozens of Spider-People swinging through scenes and mixing and matching and occasionally, dramatically, mismatching dimensions would be a daunting task for anyone to undertake alone.

Six years ago, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 was released in theaters, eventually earning $869 million dollars in global box office revenue. Why is that important? Well, if you need me to tell you how the world has changed in the last six years, you’re probably not six years old yet and aren’t scouring the internet for film reviews. 2023 is a very different world from 2017, and yet  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 feels like a pre-COVID Marvel Cinematic Universe movie should. It’s laugh out loud funny, heart-wrenchingly touching, brilliantly soundtracked, and leaves you wanting more. Spoiler alert: we likely will not see this version of the Guardians on screen again, due in no small part to director James Gunn’s recent appointment as Creative Director of DC Studios.

If you look at history, you will notice war as one of the most iconic events that most people cannot seem to forget. Although for some this might seem like a sadistic approach towards human psychology, in real life war is indeed a fascinating topic that has changed the course of history.

Modern society is deeply influenced by the events that happened during the war, in fact, it was reshaped.

SUPER MARIO BROS. was highly criticized the moment Chris Pratt was announced to voice the title character. Then, on cue, the movie was review-bombed on Rotten Tomatoes and was declared “Rotten” according to the critic reviews. So if the critics and the fans both declared the movie dead on arrival, how did it 1UP the criticism?

There was more riding on this movie being a success than a skill check on a door riddled with traps. And much like any skill check, the result was uncertain at its launch.

Few tragedies, if any, surpass the loss of a loved one. Persistent, traumatic grief can lead even the stoutest of souls into a benighted cycle of despair, and when that loss comes abruptly through accidents, violence, sudden illness or suicide, the emotional shock inflicts the most heinous of tolls upon survivors. Much has been written about the actual shape grieving takes; the popularly known ‘Five Stages of Grief’, more precisely called the Kübler-Ross model (and originally based on observations of terminally ill patients facing their own imminent deaths), is a passage through various phases that lead an individual to the acknowledgment of their new, unasked-for reality: denial, bargaining, anger, depression and, ultimately, acceptance.

Oh, the horror anthology. As a cinematic sub-genre its roots lie not in film, but the pulpy realm of classic mid-20th century comic books. Those garish rags of cheap newsprint and lurid covers cast a spell on many a 1950’s child, the undisputed king of which was EC Comics, whose gasp! choke! style of bloody bite-sized morality plays filled such titles as The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories and, most notoriously, Tales From the Crypt, which inspired the equally-infamous latter-day HBO television show of the same name.

Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the 31st film to be exact. It’s a film that might get the accolades that Marvel might be expecting, but that doesn’t mean that director Peyton Reed has concocted a dud. Taken on its own merits and considering what Marvel’s movie maestro Kevin Feige needed the film to do, it’s entertaining and sets up the next phase of the bigger MCU picture quite well. It also serves to underline just how incredible of an undertaking the MCU actually is and how even the grandest concepts can start to bow under their own weight.

Twenty-first century children are becoming more tech-savvy at a younger age than at any point in history. Yet the constant exposure to smartphones, tablets, social media and online video game platforms can and does have detrimental effects on childhood development. Eye strain, obesity, reduced sleep quality, increased feelings of inadequacy and anxiety, depression, cyberbullying, poor face-to-face social skills and an over-reliance on search bars and web browsers to glean information have all been cited as negative factors of the digital age in pediatric studies.

Another year has come and gone, and it's time to look back once more to determine what the prior year brought us that was good. Critical Blast will be taking votes now through the end of January 2023 for you, our readers. to make your voice known as to what you thought was the best in movies, television, and comics. You're not limited to the nominations -- we leave an opening in every category for you to put in the title or name that you think is best suited to each category.

So make your selections. Share with your friends. Campaign for your favorites. We will tabulate the votes in February and place the order for the trophy medallions (yes, the winner in each catalog gets a physical trophy, not just online bragging rights, so your vote will actually mean something tangible).

This week sees the release of WB's Black Adam to the HBO Max streaming service, something which I've been looking forward to seeing ever since the post-credit scene was leaked from theaters to the Internet.

Dwayne Johnson takes the role of the titular Black Adam, a precursor to Captain Marvel (the original one, who says "Shazam") by about 5000 years. In the comics, Teth Adam was selected by the wizards to weild the power of their champion, but the power corrupted him and they imprisoned him. In this 2022 film adaptation, the story gets a tweak which is important to the plot so I won't detail it here for those who have yet to see the film. It's an acceptable twist, and it helps make the character be a little more understandable.

In the old (and current, for that matter) Hollywood order, any path towards bringing a script to completion followed a very narrow and arduous trail through an inflexible system concerned not with creative expression but the All-Mighty Box Office Return. Simple, dumbed-down affairs that appeal to the lowest common denominator and widest possible audience is continually favored over individualistic celluloid statements meant to provoke genuine emotion or thought. How many times has the complaint arisen that major studios crank out soulless, CGI-bolstered popcorn blockbusters to the detriment of true artistic vision? Yet the world of independent cinema has its own pitfalls: limited time, money and resources coupled with a lack of name actors presents a marketing mountain that can prove daunting to effectively climb. A solid concept, therefore, provides the surest route to winning an audience's allegiance.

(photo credit: Ryan Snaadt)

Modern day life is transversally moved by video, from social media platforms and their “challenges”, to the fact that most of our entertainment comes from movies and series, everything has something to do with audiovisual production. And in such context it´s only natural that more and more people are trying to create their own movies, with their personal style, and without the need to have a mega production from Hollywood behind them, just an idea and a digital camera, or even a good phone.

While other sequels and adaptations have been attempted for Jean Shepherd's classic "A Christmas Story," it took nearly forty years for the original cast to grow into the parts necessary for a true-to-spirit continuation to the story.

Peter Billingsley returnas as Ralph Parker, along with Scott Schwartz as Flick, RD Robb as Schwartz, and Zack Ward as Scut Farkus. Ralph and his family -- wife Sandy (Erinn Hayes) and kids Mark (River Drosche) and Julie (Julianna Layne) -- are preparing the house for Christmas and waiting for the arrival of grandma and grandpa. But when Ralph gets the phone call from his mother that the Old Man has passed, plans get changed, and Christmas gets relocated to Hohman, Indiana -- which hasn't changed a lick since the 1940s.