The 25 Best Disaster Movies
Pegged to the release of Twisters, I ranked the 25 best disaster movies for TIME, establishing the parameters of what counts as a “disaster movie” and explaining why these movies — ranging from well-known blockbusters like Armageddon to the Irwin Allen films of the ’70s to a little-seen but haunting Korean movie — succeed.
Ghostbusters Has a Lore Problem
This essay, which also serves as a review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, explains why the once-scrappy comedy series from the ’80s simply isn’t built to be the MCU-style genre franchise the new movies are trying to make it into.
The Dungeons & Dragons History of Vecna, Strangers Things’ New Villain
I interviewed Chris Perkins, game design architect for Dungeons & Dragons, to explain the tabletop backstory of the iconic D&D villain whose name Stranger Things borrowed for its big bag, following in the footsteps of The Demogorgon and The Mind Flayer.
A Refreshing New Entry in the Planet of the Apes Franchise
A review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is perhaps the first movie in the series that’s content to just tell a story set on the titular planet rather than busy itself with establishing how the apes came to rule the world in the first place.
Godzilla Is Doomed to Turn Dumb
Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, came out within months of each other and aside from both starring the famous kaiju, they couldn’t be more different. The former is a serious movie while the latter is deeply, unabashedly stupid. In this essay, I explain how this fits with Godzilla’s history and the franchise’s tendency to turn silly the more sequels there are.