Films and Feelings

     Stop me if you've heard this before about slasher films, in or out of the Scream franchise:       "Don't overthink it. It's just a scary movie."       What an insulting thought for anyone who's ever found themselves in the throes of a gripping horror film. Good slasher films, like the original Scream , look honestly at the thing that scares us most and gives it a face. They know that the point of the slasher isn't in the chasing or the stabbing, but the unmasking. The overcoming of the thing that scares you. Good slasher films "overthink" it.     I'm grateful to report that the directors of the newest Scream film,  Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, not only understand this principle, they embrace it wholly. In doing so, they may have created a sequel that not only meets but surpasses the film it tries to emulate.     Twenty-five years after Sidney Prescott's first encounter with Ghostface, we meet Sam Carpenter, a native of

           Anyone who's ever tried to describe the appeal of a favorite piece of music, or better yet music as a whole, might be familiar with the circular experience of feeling the power of a given piece of art while also feeling helpless to describe why that piece is powerful. It's fitting that a movie with music at its center, like Mamoru Hosada's Belle , should follow this pattern.     The backdrop of this film is "U," an online Wonderland where users adopt an entirely new persona and interact with other users in a sort of fantasy-inspired platform. U is said to transform each user into their truest form. It's little wonder, then, that teenage Suzu, who lost her ability to sing after a childhood trauma, would find escape and relief in this paradise where she becomes "Belle," a virtual goddess with the voice of an angel. But a mysterious entity, whom others dub "The Beast," storms onto U, leaving chaos in his wake. To the population of

      It's a common truism in film discussion that sequels can never really live up to the original. Many have bemoaned the lack of ambition inherent in franchise follow-ups, but I am going to go out on a limb and declare that I'm  relieved  that the sequel to 2020 took things a little easier.      I guess that this year was also a sort of sequel for Films and Feelings. Was this a  better  year for my blog? I hope so. It was certainly a busy one. This harvest of essays, totaling thirteen, included the following:  -" A Quiet Place: Scaredy-Cats Taking Back the Horror Movie " An essay contextualizing "A Quiet Place" within the larger horror genre, drawing attention to the film's many deviations from the genre's template. -" Toy Story 4: Pixar's Tribute to Regression " A rant about the creative and philosophical laziness inherent in "Toy Story 4." -" The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Clash of the Titans " A retrospective