history
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Movie Fantasy League, The Final Weekend: Forgotten Resident
Surprisingly, the audience favorite was the hard R-rated video game movie and not the animated family film! Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 24: Practical Box Office Magic
Before we begin: I started a Substack! I will be regularly publishing essays, reviews, lists, recommendations, and more. Please check it out, and consider supporting by becoming a paid or free member! Welcome to Week 24 of the Knock on… Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 23: Falling, Falling, Falling…
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” triumphed in the end, placing it on the verge of passing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”’ all-time domestic record. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: 3D Animation
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 20: The Rivals of Oak Street
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is down 51% from last weekend, which might be a large drop for any film other than the highest-grossing of the year. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 19: Super Sex and Death for One Night Only
If there’s any question about which movies are claiming the 2026 box office crown, look no further. They’re here, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 18: Brand New Spider-Man
The domestic box office has never been stronger. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Costume Design
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 17: The Odyssey Reigns Supreme
Even in its second weekend, “The Odyssey” outgrossed “Oppenheimer”’s first from 2023, an impressive feat that put Nolan’s epic on track to easily pass $1 billion and become his highest-grossing film. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 16: Fantasy Odyssey
To nobody’s surprise, “The Odyssey” debuted at #1 with $123 million, outpacing #2 by more than $100 million and becoming Nolan’s biggest opening weekend for a non-Batman film. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 15: Moana and the Celebrity Burn Pass
“Obsession” continued its impressive run, passing “Sinners” to become the highest-grossing original live-action movie of the century. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 14: Minions & Washington
Regardless of what was going on in Washington, D.C. this weekend, it’s an objective fact that this holiday total was noticeably lower than previous years…though it was not for lack of options! Continue reading
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Every Evil Dead Movie Ranked (including Burn)
Very rarely does a horror franchise endure for as long as Evil Dead, and many find success even without the massive cultural footprint that Sam Raimi’s possession horror has laid over the years. Continue reading
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Chills in the Summertime (May’s Monthly Horror Recs)
Welcome to the eleventh edition of May’s Monthly Horror Recs, where it’s always the time of year for scary movies! Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: John Ford
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 12: The Death of Girls and Toys
Whether or not “Toy Story 5” has legs remains to be seen – historically, the franchise does incredibly well in the months after release, but it’s not usually been up against other animation tentpoles in an extraordinarily crowded summer. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 9: Win the Backrooms Ballad, Liminally
“Obsession” is now the first non-Christmas release to grow in both its second and third weekends since 1982, when Steven Spielberg released a little ditty called “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.” Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 7: Obsessed with the Draft
“Michael” won the box office again in its fourth week, a strong showing after dropping down to #3 last weekend. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 4: A Thriller Weekend
The domestic box office was up over sixty percent this week, and that is almost entirely thanks to “Michael,” the problematic musical biopic that moonwalked to almost $100 million in its first few days alone. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 3: Lee Cronin’s Mummy Mary
This weekend, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” continued its rampage across North American theaters, remaining at Number One, though its lead is not quite what it used to be. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 2: Faces of Tuscany Death
This is the first week in which we are taking into account the critical scores, including from aggregate sites like Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Letterboxd, and IMDb. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 1: It Has Risen
This past weekend was Easter weekend, which tends to be one of the softer holiday weekends in the spring/summer season, but even more importantly, it continued to be “spring break season.” Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Clint Eastwood
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Dr. Oscar or: How I Learned to Stop Being Judgy and Love the Short Film
There’s a world of great art out there, if you only take the time to seek it out. Continue reading
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Our Most Anticipated Movies of 2026
Bring on the new year! Iconic filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Denis Villeneuve, Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, Danny Boyle, Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski, and many other icons will be gracing our screens with epic new offerings, and though it looks to… Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Practical Effects
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2025
Whether it’s the triumphant return of an iconic filmmaker with an indelible masterpiece or the start of a new cinematic movement, 2025 brought us a variety of entertaining features that we’ll be talking about for a long time. Continue reading
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The Underseen Gems of 2025
Knock on Wood presents: our favorite under-appreciated masterpieces from 2025. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Steven Spielberg
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Early Animation
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Welcome to the Apocryphal Tale of “The Carpenter’s Son” (Review)
I’m a simple man. I enjoy the art of cinema. I hear “Nicolas Cage in a faith-based horror movie,” and I’m intrigued. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Akira Kurosawa
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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“The Smashing Machine” Crashes Its Way to Mediocrity (Review)
“The Smashing Machine” feels like just the first half of a larger piece of art — and it’s a pretty disappointing first half at that. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Live Action Fantasy
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2025, So Far: A Midyear Report
Today marks the midway point of both an unusually painful year and the most tumultuous decade in recent memory. Today, we will be examining ten films released this year that our contributors connected with, and have so far taken their… Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Weird Westerns
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Flashbacks
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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Every Best Picture Winner Ranked (Part One)
The Academy Award for Best Picture has been awarded for almost a century to the film deemed to represent not necessarily the most popular, but the most culturally relevant in that year’s cinematic lineup. Continue reading
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Remembering David Lynch
David Lynch, one of the most iconic and stylistically recognizable filmmakers of all time, passed away recently at the age of 78. Continue reading
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Our Most Anticipated Movies of 2025
There are plenty of films, whether they be original, adaptations, or sequels, that we’re looking forward to this year. Continue reading
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The 10 Best Films of 2024
Though it may not have reached the heights of years previous, 2024 has proven to be a fascinating year for cinema. Continue reading
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The Underseen Gems of 2024
Knock on Wood presents: our favorite under-appreciated masterpieces from 2024. Continue reading
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“A Complete Unknown” Embraces the Enigma (Review)
Mangold’s film, inscrutable as it is, makes the right choices to cement its legacy. Continue reading
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“Nosferatu” is the Visceral Nightmare We Deserve (Review)
As far as I’m concerned, no director has better control over their vision than Robert Eggers. Continue reading
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The 25 Best Movie Musicals of the Last 25 Years
Musicals have certainly had their ups and downs over the years, but it’s quite clear that musicals are experiencing a high water mark in entertainment spectacle and audience engagement. Continue reading
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Too Many Movies, Too Little Time: A Summary of the 2024 Fall Movie Season (Part Two)
To commemorate the conclusion of the season, we have reviewed every new release (that I have seen) that has not been previously covered on our site. Continue reading
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Awards Season Ramps Up: A Summary of the 2024 Fall Movie Season (Part One)
To commemorate the conclusion of the season, we have reviewed every new release (that I have seen) that has not been previously covered on our site. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Mel Brooks
Welcome to class! Each film on this curated watchlist will highlight either a filmmaker, sub-genre, filmmaking technique, or significant topic in order to broaden your cinematic horizons. Continue reading
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The Movies That Made Us – A One-Year Anniversary Celebration
Even if they weren’t the exact movie that made you a cinephile, every film fan has one (or many) that you can cite as one of the central inspirations for that passion. Continue reading
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The Monumental Journey of “The Brutalist” (Review)
“The Brutalist” speaks beautifully and honestly to America’s betrayal of immigrants and the broken promise of the infamous (some might say mythical) American Dream. Continue reading
