Source: FOX | New York Times
FINALLY! After over a year of waiting, the Fox network has officially announced that 10 more episodes of the hit television series The X-Files have been ordered, and will air during the 2017-2018 TV season, with production beginning this summer (we probably should’ve taken the hint with the recent audio drama announcement that things were afoot)! Read on for the official press release and more!
Written By: Dan Geer
Just as a preface, this list will not include simple dramas, comedies or musicals, but will instead focus on films in the science fiction, fantasy, action and horror genres from the last 40 years.
Many movies go underappreciated for any number of reasons. Sometimes we have favorites that the majority (or very vocal minority) do not seem to appreciate but are actually quite good. Other times films are just not really great per se, but perhaps better than people give them credit for. After all, even an average film can be entertaining and fun on multiple levels.
Whatever the reason, there are many films that are simply underrated or misunderstood, or have even been forgotten that deserve more appreciation that they commonly receive, whether by critics or the general movie-going public. The following list represents Popcorn Monster’s top 10 most underappreciated genre films of the last 40 years (click on the titles for trailers)…
Written By: Dan Geer
Let’s just get this out of the way before I proceed with this article, because I do not want to come off as being overly critical…
I loved the latest 6-episode season of The X-Files. I really enjoyed both the mythology as well as the standalone “monster of the week” episodes. It both reintroduced the mystery back into the mythology that we all thought we understood for over a decade since the original series ended back in 2002, and the standalone episodes gave us great stories we never had in previous seasons. Of course, Darin Morgan’s “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” episode was probably the highlight of the season. Simply fantastic!
However, as tradition has it, Season 10 concluded on a cliffhanger like all previous seasons of The X-Files did. It left us with a ton of unanswered questions. The season was too short to really flesh it all out. It only makes sense that Season 11 now has a big responsibility to fulfill in answering, or at least clarifying how the “new” conspiracy ties in with the old.
Written By: Dan Geer
Ever since the untimely and unfortunate passing of actress Carrie Fisher last December, fans of the Star Wars saga have wondered how this will affect the sequel trilogy and the role of General Leia for Star Wars: Episode IX (she already completed filming for Star Wars: The Last Jedi before she passed).
To be honest, fans are a bit worried. It’s probably not the most appropriate feeling to immediately have after the death of a human being, but it is understandable. The writers and director Colin Trevorrow really have a conundrum on their hands.
It really comes down to this for everyone: Should they write the character out of the story, or should they recast? This is quite a loaded question, but one that I think has a pretty clear answer.
Written By: Dan Geer
It is no secret that director Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence just did not do nearly as well as expected at the box office. Even though it was the 20th anniversary of the first film when the sequel premiered last summer, not enough people went to go see it. It made only a fraction of what the first film did back in 1996, raking in around $103 million domestically and almost $390 worldwide. While the film did make its money back and then some, it definitely underperformed when comparing to the first film’s earnings, and was not received well critically. The sequel didn’t even take the top spot on its first weekend.
Written By: Dan Geer
In the last couple of decades, it has become increasingly apparent that there has been a paradigm shift in terms of how audiences watch and enjoy movies. While film criticism has been around for as long as I can remember, it seems as if your average modern-day cinephiles have become more critical than ever, and as a result have enjoyed films much less in the last couple of decades than they did in the decades prior. What went wrong?
Written By: Dan Geer
Dear Chris Carter,
As someone who has been a huge fan of The X-Files since 1993, grew up with it and never gave up on it when we all thought it would never return (whether it’d be a third feature film or on television) – I would like to thank you for working so hard to bring back this iconic series with Season 10 earlier this year. The eight-year wait between The X-Files: I Want to Believe and this latest season was almost unbearable, but it was well worth it.
I also would like to take the time to bring to the forefront something that has been weighing on me heavily in the last few months since the series returned.
Update provided after the jump…
Written By: Dan Geer
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a movie that is literally going to change everything we thought we knew about Star Wars. As a prequel to Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, it will change the way you view that story completely. It pushes the boundaries of camerawork and editing beyond what the saga films did (and will continue to do). This is the first standalone Star Wars film, and is highly experimental in a number of ways, which is risky, but well worth it as long as one is open to Star Wars not really feeling so much like your typical Star Wars episodes.
Written By: Dan Geer
Last year around this time, I wrote an article designed to help keep one’s expectations for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in check. After all, it was probably the most anticipated Star Wars movie since 1999’s The Phantom Menace, and we all know how expectations definitely played a part in our enjoyment of that movie. Even though Episode I has flaws, one has to admit that our expectations for that movie back in 1999 were so high that the film didn’t stand a chance – even if it was great (pssst… I liked the movie, but agree that it has some shortcomings). The Force Awakens, thankfully didn’t suffer nearly as brutal of a beating (and it was a better movie overall).
My article probably didn’t have a huge impact on setting expectations, but I like knowing that it was out there and that maybe even just one person read it and enjoyed The Force Awakens more because of it. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that I uphold the tradition and compose a similar article for “the next Star Wars movie” – which really isn’t what we all think of when we frame it like that. When people used to say this, it meant the next episode in the saga. That is clearly not the case this time, and with that it means that we really need to go into this one with a clean slate for the most part, and rethink what we should be expecting for the first standalone movie in the franchise.
Source: Collider | Posted By: Dan Geer
Collider has debuted a new trailer for Blair Witch, and it is definitely not to be watched if you have claustrophobia (you’ll see why if you dare to watch)!
Acting as more of a direct sequel to 1999’s smash it The Blair Witch Project (because who cares about the terrible Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2?), this third film in the franchise revolves around a character named James who sets out on a mission to find out what happened to his sister Heather – the woman who went missing in the original 1999 film.
The movie has really been getting a lot of positive buzz ever since the movie was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con (it was originally titled The Woods to maintain secrecy on the project) and screened there in front of an excited crowd. Apparently it is “one of the scariest films ever made,” according to this latest trailer. While I have never believed such claims for any horror movie (and neither should you), this trailer does have me convinced that I won’t sleep after I watch it. Give it a go after the jump!
