Tag Archives: ben boruff

Top Ten Movies of 2019: Big B’s Picks

Best of 2019

MPAA ratings vary. Not all movies are suitable for all audiences.

10. Picture Character – directed by Ian Cheney and Martha Shane

I saw Picture Character at the Traverse City Film Festival, and an older man seated in front of me did not appreciate this movie. He peppered his movie-watching experience with a variety of muttered comments—”Oh my god,” “This is ridiculous,” “I can’t watch this”—designed to communicate his dissatisfaction to everyone seated near him. And the man, apparently a perfectionist, was not willing to subject his comments to misinterpretation: twenty minutes before the end of the movie, he stood up and left the movie theater, mumbling incoherently as he shuffled his way toward the aisle in the dark. A grand display of angry incredulity. 🙄 Continue reading →

Planet of the Humans: Possibly the Most Important Movie of 2019

TCFF POTH

I was silent during the post-film Q&A. Like many in the audience, it took some time for me to emotionally and intellectually process the information I had just received.

In the fight against climate change, only a few things offer comfort: the semi-frequent construction of wind farms, the increasingly busy solar panel market, and the slow-but-steady decline of our dependence on coal.

But what if those things were not helping us? What if they were, in fact, causing new problems? What if our current green solutions were just as black as coal? Continue reading →

She-Ra and Catra: An Evolved Hero-Villain Relationship

This article contains mild spoilers.

catradora

Note: Updated on 6/19/24 to remove dead links and update information.

ND Stevenson understands characterization.

Last year, I discovered Nimona, an Eisner-nomated webcomic-turned-novel written by Stevenson about a whimsical, enigmatic shapeshifter who befriends an evil figure with an ultimately good heart. I found Nimona at a secondhand bookstore—the kind of store filled with spine-damaged books and dogeared pages—and I was surprised by the pristine condition of the copy I found. As I flipped through the beginning of the graphic novel, I saw a collection of glossy, well-preserved, wrinkle-free images. In fact, the only blemishes were some cartoon stars drawn in the margins of a page about three quarters through the story. “The previous owner must have liked this page,” I thought.

Later, I reached that star-filled page during my first read-through of the novel. The panels contained profoundly tense moments between Nimona (the shapeshifter) and Lord Ballister Blackheart (the semi-benevolent villain). Genuine heartache and refreshingly nuanced character interactions.

I couldn’t help but add a few stars of my own to the margins.

ND Stevenson understands characterization, and that storytelling skill is evident in his latest creation, Netflix’s 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Continue reading →

How Indie Video Games Depict Depression, Anxiety, and Grief

Links and videos of several indie games are posted below the article.

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Consider author Tom Bissell’s experience with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as described in his book, Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter:

Oblivion is less a game than a world that best rewards full citizenship, and for a while I lived there and claimed it. At the time I was residing in Rome on a highly coveted literary fellowship, surrounded by interesting and brilliant people, and quite naturally mired in a lagoon of depression more dreadfully lush than any before or since. I would be lying if I said Oblivion did not, in some ways, aggravate my depression, but it also gave me something with which to fill my days other than piranhic self-hatred. It was an extra life; I am grateful to have it.

I read those words years ago while eating subpar noodles in a building that used to be a Blockbuster Video. The dim restaurant lights shielded me well enough from the gaggle of suburban families that surrounded me, so I hunched my back and unashamedly swallowed Bissell’s words. As a post-college, pre-career teacher wannabe, the 200-plus-page book about the artistry of video games perfectly quenched both my thirst for entertainment and my need to be perceived as an intellectual. But, more importantly, Bissell’s novel, including the excerpt above, connected with a part of me that I did not yet acknowledge: my depression and my (sometimes subconscious) attempts to deal with it. Continue reading →

Cinema Sins, BobVids, and a Culture of Discontent

Garden State

If you have ever tried to explain your deep appreciation of a piece of art anywhere on the internet, you likely understand how much amateur criticism and intense posturing exists online.

At best, this negativity is an aggravating byproduct of crowdsourcing artistic validation. At worst, this persistent and indiscriminate criticism is a symptom of a relatively new and alarmingly widespread brand of groupthink. One that is unquestioningly unimpressed—always.

Either way, we seem to be entering a modern era of discontent, and this problem is worth dissecting.

With that in mind, meet a proud part of the problem: Cinema Sins. Continue reading →

Top 30 Superhero Films (1989-2018), Ranked by Big B

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“What is your favorite superhero film?”

Seemed like a simple question. Easy enough to answer.

Then I began to compile a list of all of the superhero movies I’ve seen. And when that list grew larger than 90 movies (watched over many, many years), I panicked. “Damn. What is my favorite superhero film? Could I even narrow it down to a top ten?” Continue reading →

Top Movies of 2017: Big B’s Picks

Logan Ben

These are Big B’s top ten films of 2017.

10) I Am Evidence – directed by Geeta Gandbhir and Trish Adlesic

I Am Evidence is a clear, poignant exploration of an issue that needs more attention: the epidemic of untested rape kits in American cities. Most importantly, I Am Evidence focuses on specific steps that cities can take to resolve this problem. This documentary tries hard to make itself unnecessary by aggressively targeting sensible solutions to the problems highlighted during the documentary’s opening moments. I Am Evidence is concerned with progress, not proceeds—but I hope it gets both.

Continue reading →