Judging Cinema

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the famous romantic plays in drama. It depicts romance in its purest form and has wonderfully written characters and more wonderful scenes. The play has been an inspiration to many stories and plays. In fact, there is a genre in film that takes this play and places it in modern times. Today’s film takes the basic ingredients of the Shakespearean play and uses it to create its own unique story. Romeo Must Die is a film made in 2000, and it started Jet Li and Aaliyah, with Isiah Washington, Delroy Lindo, Anthony Anderson, and Russel Wong. The film revolves around Hang Sing, played by Li, investigating the murder of his brother while trying to survive a turf war between the Asian and the African American gangs.  The Shakespeare link As the title suggests, Romeo Must Die is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet . With Han and Tish O Day, played by Aaliyah, are stand-ins for Romeo and Juliet, The Asian and African American gangs ar...

Professional wrestling has always been one of the fascinating programs on television, as it mixes storytelling with astonishing physical abilities and larger-than-life characters and presents them to different audiences. But every once in a while, we meet wrestlers who strive to go beyond the limits of the squared circle, some have ventured onto the big screen, like Dwayne Johnson, who goes by the nickname “The Rock”, John Cena, Dave Bautista, and others. Several films that revolve around wrestling were made to explore what goes on behind the scenes, such as Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler . In 2023, Sean Durkin directed The Iron Claw, a film that tells the story of the Von Erich family, who are legends in professional wrestling. The film stars Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and Holt McCallaney. In this review, we shall take a deeper look at this film and see if there is more to this film than its tragic tale. Themes: The film tackles three themes, the first is family...

Undoubtedly , Batman is one of the most complex characters in fiction. One of the things that make The Dark Knight so fascinating is the number of angles one can study him from, Allan More’s The Killing Joke brought a unique interpretation of Batman’s psychology as well as his arch nemesis The Joker, while Frank Miller provided a detailed origin of his early years in Year One . The same can be said for his adaptations in film, as Tim Burton brought him to theaters in 1985, and Christopher Nolan created his own trilogy starting with Batman Begins in 2005. Each brought his own interpretation and vision that provided a look at The Caped Crusader and his rouges gallery. One of the films that does this but gets overlooked often is Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever . The film was released in theaters in 1995 and had an all-star cast starting Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O’Donnell. The film follows Batman as he tries to protect Gotham City from former dis...

Rosamund Pike is one of cinema's finest actresses, having appeared in films like Wives and Daughters , Love in a Cold Climate , and Die Another Day . In 2020, she was in a film titled I Care A Lot , a film that received mixed reviews from critics and audiences. This review aims to analyze the film's themes and decide if it is a film worthy of being watched. Themes and analysis:   The film’s main theme is greed and corruption, as the film makes it clear from the start that Marla Grayson is a con artist who uses the law system for her best interest. The way that the film portrays Grayson, and her associates can be seen as a reflection of our reality, as corruption is now seen everywhere, and everyone cares about making a profit for themselves without caring what happens to others, including the ones they protect. The film discusses this theme in three ways: “… There are  two types of people in this world, the ones who take and those getting taken. Predators and prey...

Throughout the history of drama, there are often plays that tend to be powerful but short, one kind of those plays are one-act plays. Some of the powerful acts in literature include Samuel Beckett’s Endgame , which serves as a follow-up to Waiting for Godot.  The transition from one-act plays to Cinema is not difficult, as some consider short films to be the final form of that transition. But for one film, the drama factor plays a role in its identity but does not overshadow its reason for excitement. Malcolm and Marie is a film that has received mixed reviews from some critics, some due to its shooting style and some due to the lack of excitement in it. In this review, I shall look at the film from a more literary point of view and analyze its themes, it’s characters, and it’s style, and determine if it is indeed a mediocre or a hidden gem, and how it is a representation of a one-act play affects its identity. Themes: “What’s interesting, though, was that you can tell that because...

Disney is known for making great animated films, and until now, they have made over 58 films that they like to call “Disney Classics,” with films such as Aladdin , Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , and Cinderella in that category.  Zootropolis is Disney's 55 th classic film, and since its first appearance in cinema, it has had critical acclaim from critics. But does it deserve all the compliments that the critics are giving it? In this review, I will discuss the plot in general as well as the themes that the film discusses, analyze the main characters of the film, and discuss the animation style. The Plot: Zootropolis tells the story of Bunny Hops, who is one of the two main characters, as she dreams of becoming a police officer. After some time, she manages to become the first bunny officer, and through a series of events, she and Nick Wilde, a fox and the second main character, cooperate to solve a case that involves 14 missing predators. The film succeeds in ...

The 1980s have brought us several classic films, such as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and My Dinner with Andre . It also brought one of the greatest coming-of-age films of all time , The Breakfast Club. In this review, I will analyze the movie in terms of its theme and plot, as well as character analysis and important scenes. Plot and themes: The plot of The Breakfast Club tells the story of five high school teenagers, John Bender, Claire Standish, Andrew Clark, Brian Ralph, and Allison Reynolds, who are in detention on a Saturday. As the story progresses, we get to know and understand the reason why these teenagers are in detention and get to know them more. The film's main themes is about the pressure that parents put on their children, both physically and mentally from physical parental abuse to mental pressure from the parents' demanding good grades and the importance and pressures of teaching. The film does an excellent job of exploring this theme ...

Studio Ghibli is one of Japan’s best anime film companies and is known for making some of the best anime films in cinema history such as My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies . In this review, we will look at one of Studio Ghibili’s famous films, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and analyze the themes that the film presents, as well as how the characters in the film are presented and how good the animation style is. Animation style: Kiki’s Delivery Service was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who is known for being one of Japan’s famous anime directors. The animation style in the film is colorful and beautiful. The characters, buildings, and even the day and night are presented beautifully with the film’s animation, and the animation style succeeds in attracting the viewers to the film and increasing their interest in the story. Story and themes: While the film is being presented to us as an animated fantasy film, the film can be seen more as an animated coming-of-age film...