SCALE MATTERS
With another King Kong crossover on the way, let’s revisit the divisive Godzilla movie that launched a new franchise.
A.A. Dowd is a writer and editor based in Chicago. His work has appeared in such publications as The A.V. Club, Vulture, and Rolling Stone. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics.
Everyone’s a Winner
Everyone will have a gripe about snubs, but this is the first time that Best Picture is the ideal of what expanding the category was meant to do.
DREAM ON
The team behind “Frozen” reunites for a new Disney fairy tale that could have used a few more drafts.
Change the Channel
The box-office failure of “The Marvels” suggests that Marvel’s strategy of tying its movies and TV shows together is actually channel surfing its audiences away.
DON’T LOOK AWAY
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is a huge hit, but is it half as scary as the video game that inspired it? Not even close.
BACK IN THE HABIT
The sequel to a spinoff to a sequel dominated the box office over the weekend, despite only getting mediocre reviews. We try to nail down its appeal.
JOYSTICK JOY RIDE
Years after his take on “Halo” fell apart, the director has finally made a proper video game movie. But he’s been doing test runs for years, for better or worse.
BRAIN TEASER
Ever since the runaway success of “The Dark Knight,” the director has proven to audiences that there’s fun to be had in watching something cerebral—especially on a big scale.
CLARITY
As stunt-heavy as the action franchise is, it’s hard not to see the parallels to real life—especially that of its cagey megastar.
SWAN SONG
Zack Snyder ushered in a polarizing vision for some of the most-famous heroes in the comics canon. Even without him at the helm, this backward-looking film serves as a last hurrah.