science-fiction
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The 10 Best Films of 2026, So Far: A Midyear Report
For once, a future where peaceful coexistence between franchise fare and fresh stories doesn’t feel quite as much of a fantasy. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 13: Invite to the Super Jackass
This weekend’s domestic box office is down from last weekend about 30%, with “Toy Story” remaining in its top spot and “Obsession” clinging to #3 in its seventh weekend. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 11: Stop! That! Disclosure Day!
This weekend’s box office had the steepest drop in four weeks, but that should only be expected after a completely unforeseen run of miracles. Continue reading
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Movie Fantasy League Week 10: Masters of the Scary Movie Universe
We went from Netflix executives loudly proclaiming that “theatrical is dead!” to two small-budget horror flicks savaging “Star Wars,” one of the most reliable pop culture properties, at the box office. 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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Lessons from the Wasteland: Stop-Motion 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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Movie Fantasy League Week 8: I Love the Mandalorian Passenger
While the highest grosser of the weekend was “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the big winner was “Obsession,” which jumped up a spot in the domestic box office, added 40 theaters to its roster, and made 40% more than its opening… Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Visual 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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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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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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Lessons from the Wasteland: Anime
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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Start the New Year with a Scream (May’s Monthly Horror Recs)
Welcome to the sixth edition of May’s Monthly Horror Recs, where it’s always the time of year for scary movies! 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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“Frankenstein” is the Fiery Culmination of Guillermo del Toro’s Career (Review)
If there’s anyone who can frame a tale about the true nature of monsters and the utter agony of being alive, it’s him. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Close-Ups
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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Five Underseen Horror Films to Watch This July (May’s Monthly Recs)
Welcome to the second edition of May’s Monthly Horror Recs, where it’s always the time of year for scary movies! Continue reading
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“Superman” is Ambitious, but Delightfully Authentic (Review)
There was only one place to start for a brand-new DC universe, and it was their most powerful and inspiring hero. 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: Christopher Nolan
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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Five Underseen Horror Films to Watch This June (May’s Monthly Recs)
Welcome to the first-ever edition of May’s Monthly Horror Recs, where it’s always the time of year for scary movies. Continue reading
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Every Mike Flanagan Film Ranked (including “The Life of Chuck”)
Flanagan doesn’t rely on jump scares, but he utilizes them well, and has been able to craft a perfectly eerie and unsettling atmosphere in his seven horror features, as well as a captivating, inspirational ambience in his latest release. Continue reading
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“The Life of Chuck” is an Inspiration for All Time (Review)
Like most of Flanagan’s work, it’s highly evocative, but this time of memory rather than fright. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: John Carpenter
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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Captain America (and the United States) Enters a “Brave New World” (Review)
“Brave New World” is the 35th film in the MCU, a milestone that explains a lot about its own reception. Continue reading
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“The Gorge” is an Affectionate Genre Machine (Review)
“The Gorge” isn’t just a romance; it’s also a high-concept sci-fi action movie, with some horror (director Scott Derrickson’s specialty) thrown in there for good measure. 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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“Companion” is a Darkly Thrilling Genre-Bender (Review)
“Companion” is at its most entertaining when you surrender yourself to the wonderful chaos. 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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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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Lessons from the Wasteland: Symmetrical Composition
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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Coppola’s “Megalopolis” is a Plea for the Future from the Past (Review)
Coppola is the singular creative visionary – a position that comes with an infinity of expectations and pressure, but if anyone can handle them, it’s the five-time Oscar winner who has delivered four of the greatest films ever made. Continue reading
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The Most Exciting Film Festival Premieres of 2024
Film festivals happen throughout the year, but the premieres ramp up from the end of the summer through the beginning of fall. Continue reading
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“Omni Loop” Juggles Buddy Comedy, Black Holes, and Existential Regret (Review)
Despite biting off more than it can chew, I could see “Omni Loop” becoming an underground hit. Continue reading
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“Alien: Romulus” Revives the Spacebound Terror (Review)
“Alien: Romulus” is at its best when Álvarez releases any inhibitions and lets loose: a slice of dismal future life, injected with a healthy dose of creature-driven terror. Continue reading
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“Borderlands” Spectacularly Reinforces the Video Game Movie Curse (Review)
“Borderlands” is a neutered-down experience that will disappoint fans, and dull would-be fans that don’t know what they’re missing. Continue reading
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“Deadpool & Wolverine” is a Worrisome Reflection of a Risky Future (Review)
Even if you don’t take into account its lack of rewatch value, “Deadpool & Wolverine” will not stand the test of time. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Long Takes
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 2024, So Far: A Midyear Report
Whether or not 2024 will outlast 2023 in terms of beloved classics, there’s still plenty of time for the new releases to surprise us. Continue reading
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Lessons from the Wasteland: Stanley Kubrick
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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“Furiosa” is an Action-Driven Trek Through a Familiar Wasteland (Review)
This is it: the prequel that proves why prequels should exist. A film that both complements and aggrandizes the original while being functionally independent and standing on its own. Continue reading
