The Zachtastic Movie Blog

I haven't done one of these in a while. The last Movie Battle that I wrote for this blog compared Logan Lucky and the Ocean’s trilogy against one another. My plan was to do one for Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Golden Circle at the end of September, but for a number of various reasons, such a post never worked out. As such, I want to make up for the delayed content. This particular Movie Battle will be the first of three that I plan to do for the month of November as part of this pseudo compensation. The second one will tie in with the release of Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , in which it will be compared against Fargo (the Coen Brothers film, not the FX show). When Pixar’s Coco comes out, I shall compare that one with The Book of Life since they're both CGI films featuring stories based on Mexican culture. For this particular Movie Battles, though, my subject matter is much sillier than that which is found in most movies: c...

NOTE: The Florida Project is currently only being shown at Harkins Camelview inside the Scottsdale Fashion Square. At least, that’s the case in Arizona. (Poster Source: IMDB ) The interesting about the New York-based film distribution company A24 is that their products are generally at odds with mainstream moviegoers. They are clearly working for me since a few of their films are some of my absolute favorites of 2017, but you may have already guessed that my taste is different than most people. Otherwise, it’s putting things nicely to say that the art A24 shares with the public is often met with shrugged shoulders and dismissive voices. I was reminded of this when I saw The Florida Project . For the film’s duration, I must have been on a separate wavelength than most of the theater patrons around me. Once the credits rolled, there were many obvious groans and murmurings proceeding forth out of the mouths of my fellow audience members. This auditorium was nearly f...

Note: I saw this film with its original Japanese audio. It’s exclusively showing at the Harkins Valley Art theater in Tempe so you will not be able to see it anywhere else in Arizona. (Poster Source: IMDB ) After having seeing Your Name back in April, I heard much talk about another critically acclaimed anime film that was generating buzz in Japan. That particular film was A Silent Voice , an adaptation of an eponymous manga series. Some claimed that Makoto Shinkai’s high-concept romance film stole its thunder, even expressing anger and frustration at the massive success which that film enjoyed over this simpler, darker tale. While I ultimately liked Your Name a lot more, I can plainly understand the irritation over its publicity. These two films, despite their major differences in tone, subject matter, narrative, and art styles, were released in close proximity to one another in Japan. Makoto Shinkai’s work took the box office by storm while A Silent Voice lived in...