By Jacob Sahms In Disney’s latest Pixar film Luca, a young sea monster explores the world of humans on land, discovering what it means to be himself in the process. Working as a shepherd of sheep-like fish, Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay) dreams of life above the surface, occasionally angering his protective parents (Maya Rudolph and […]
By Jacob Sahms In 2005, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes delivered their musical In the Heights on stage, and after a decade of near cinematic development, it arrived on screens this June. Released on HBO Max and in theaters, the film shares the intergenerational story of the Manhattan neighborhood Washington Heights. Directed by the Crazy […]
By Jacob Sahms From 1927 to 1942, football coach Rusty Russell led the orphans of Fort Worth Masonic Home on to the field against football teams from Class 5 schools, the top high schools in Texas. In 2007, Junction Boys author Jim Dent wrote Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas […]
By Jacob Sahms Danny (Alain Uy), Hing (Ron Yuan), and Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) learned the beautiful, powerful lessons of gung-fu (the Chinese spelling for kung fu) as young men under the tutelage of Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan). Now, they’ve gone about their lives as adults – living on a workman’s comp settlement or as […]
By Jacob Sahms Blue Miracle provides Netflix with a faith-based, family-friendly feature film to call its own. Based on a true story from Mexico, orphans in Cabo San Lucas entered the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Fishing Tournament in hopes of hooking a valuable blue marlin and paying off their orphanage’s debts. While the action of […]
By Jacob Sahms Fans of The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian, rejoice! Dave Filoni returns to the screen with Disney+’s The Bad Batch, following the Clone Force 99, a genetically divergent group of clones introduced in The Clone Wars. These clones did not follow through with the Order 66, Palpatine’s order to kill all […]
By Jacob Sahms The Mitchells vs. The Machines on Netflix is the best film I’ve seen in the last year. I’ll admit it, even before I knew it was from the minds of the creators of Into the Spiderverse, I was raving about the way that the animation meshed being lighthearted and realistic at the same time. It just looks fantastic. But […]
By Jacob Sahms The second sequel to 2014’s Godzilla (alongside Godzilla: King of Monsters), Godzilla vs. Kong pits two of the ‘Titans’ against each other, with humanity involved but out if its depths. At over two hours long, the film gives a human backdrop to the periodic Rampage-like battles between Titans, balancing eye-popping CGI effects with […]
By Jacob Sahms Two episodes into the latest entry in Disney/Marvel’s Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Falcon & Winter Soldier, it’s clear that Malcolm Spellman’s script carries the weight of fans’ and audiences’ expectations on the broad shoulders of Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. As Falcon and Winter Soldier/Bucky, the two actors provide […]
By Jacob Sahms Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s 2009 children’s book (co-written by Todd Lichtenheld) Yes Day! received the motion picture treatment by Netflix, and the result is a family-friendly day-long adventure of insane hijinks and lessons about responsibility and authority for kids and adults alike. Allison Torres (Jennifer Garner) has grown tired of being the bad guy, the […]