Posts in 2020
EDITORIAL: Comedy Writing Tips From Professionals

Humor is what saves us from boredom and negative thoughts. It is the reason why we watch comedies after a hard day. But what stands behind these funny stories and witty joke? (Spoiler: it is not just a fun thing). Specialists from writing-help.org, providing essay help and paper writing assistance online, know the answer. If you decide to write a comedy, check out their professional tips.

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "You'll Probably Agree" podcast talking the future for movie theaters

Back in March, I joined Mike Crowley’s You’ll Probably Agree podcast with Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat and Pat McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com in listing and recommending movies to cope with the COVID-19 quarantine. Now, two months later, society is starting to loosen. Ian, and I return to YPA to look at the damage done to the movie theater business with a prognosticating curiosity towards their possible future. Enjoy this heady and rich conversation of our fears, wonders, and predictions for what could be the new normal or the broad future. Give Mike’s YouTube channel a new subscriber, his Facebook page a like, and his Twitter a follow!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" YouTube channel talking "The Lovebirds"

Right in the same vein of Date Night and Game Night, one could do worse for a good COVID “Netflix and Chill” couch movie than The Lovebirds. Ian Simmons of Kicking the Seat and I agree that this one has some wit, heart, and fun worth your time at the low price of 86 minutes. Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani flow with fresh chemistry for a zany “one wild night” movie. Enjoy our video conversation on the movie and be sure to follow Ian Simmons on his YouTube channel this week!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast talking "Scoob!"

COVID-19’s loss is our VOD gain with the new Scoob! from Warner Bros. I can’t say I was a huge Scooby Doo nut as a kid, but I have seen more enough in my years to know what is the essence of that lovable franchise. That gave me a little fandom leg up on Ian Simmons of the Kicking the Seat podcast, a guy who spent more time in Eternia with He-Man an on Cybertron with the Transformers than hanging out with snacks in the back of the Mystery Machine. We both weigh in on what worked and what didn’t while fighting the urge to say zoinks far more than necessary.

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Lovebirds

Here’s the rub though. For “hi-jinks ensue” to work and live up to its promise, you need strong and effective events to come before and after when that phrase is planted. Have a weak setup and the absurdity of hi-jinks after can feel like a jolting improvement or tail-spinning crash. Have a great setup and the hi-jinks that follow can either evolve or devolve the auspicious start. This “one wild night” romp of The Lovebirds has about half of each measure in that balance.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Scoob!

One of the classic catchphrases of the old Scooby Doo franchise is the vocalized signal, often from the eager mouth of their de facto leader Fred, of “looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands.” The new CGI reboot Scoob! now on VOD platforms answers that rhetorical realization with both possible extremes. The movie doesn’t have one and the canyon-sized narrative hole because of it leaves us more perplexed than satisfied with a shoulder shrug and a chin rub of our own.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Capone

That name brings forth a gusher of overplayed stereotypes and caricatures. If you think you’re going to see the decadence of the historical figure’s prime, you’ve come to the wrong movie. If you think you’re going to see another Ben Gazzara or Bob De Niro galavanting as the king of his own court, you’ve come to the wrong movie. If anything, Josh Trank intentionally and subversively pushes back against the romanticized urban legend of “Scarface,” “Big Al,” “Big Boy,” “Snorky,” and “Public Enemy No. 1.”

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GUEST PROFILE: Mike Horvath

Meet Hungarian movie fan Mike Horvath. His hobby is transforming photos of himself into movie characters in Adobe Photoshop. He is also a musician, photo editor, and designer. Mike’s hobby started a couple of years ago while attending a sound engineering course. The interesting assignments of sound designing, dubbing, mixing, and more had studies intersect with movies while working as a trainee at a radio station. He began to like the themes of films and took on those characters roles himself as a way to learn and practice photo editing. The resulting tinkering of customization has lead to his fun work.

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GUEST EDITORIAL: 3 Tools to Help You Write a Great Movie Review

by Daniela McVicker

You’d be surprised, but writing a movie review can be a daunting task. Not only you will need to research the movie itself, but you will also have to study the story and the intention behind it. And if a movie is a screen adaptation of a book, you’d also need to analyze the similarities and differences between the two, and whether these differences significantly impacted the plot of the movie.

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GUEST COLUMN: Resources for Watching Hindi Movies Online Through Kodi

by Maria Jones

Kodi is a wonderful application through which you can not only view Hollywood movies and TV series but for the Bollywood movies enthusiasts, it is also possible to watch Hindi movies online now through Kodi. New, old, and all-time classic are available here. It is a fact that Bollywood movies have fans all across the globe as these movies feature a wide range of vibrant characters, action, melodic songs, colorful sceneries, and romance at best.

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast talking "Arkansas"

As I hope you have been following through this extended theater closure, Kicking the Seat’s Ian Simmons and I have found our share of streaming offerings to talk about. We move from his YouTube channel to his regular podcast platform to talk about the displace SXSW redneck crime entry Arkansas, the directorial debut of actor Clark Duke. Listen to us wax on about Vince Vaughn and The Flaming Lips for this indie available now on VOD platforms everywhere. Enjoy his show!

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MOVIE REVIEW: Arkansas

Let’s just say it. The subgenre of redneck crime films is a messy place. The “black hat” is almost always a crazy SOB engaged with a less crazy SOV “white hat.” Slickness is replaced by stains. Dazzle is replaced by dinge. Calling any of them “sagas” is too much credit and heft. Unless you’re the Coen brothers (and even if you’re them too), spicing up this slow-and-low movie barbecue takes some of that absent slickness and dazzle injected into either the filmmaking or storytelling departments, or both.

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