Category: Comparisons

Here are reviews of two or more movies at a time. The goal is to compare their similarities and contrast their differences.

The reason? I find myself constantly comparing movies and categorizing their likenesses. This section is a place where that thinking can be obsessive.

  • Halloween streaming, 2019

    Well, it’s that time again: time to watch an obscene number of scary movies and shows in celebration of the month of Halloween.

  • Halloween 2018 movie fest

    Halloween 2018 movie fest

    For those that like a little dose of fictional fear and thrill each October, there are endless Halloween movie candidates.  This year’s lineup for me was: I plan to also watch a couple TV shows, which I’ll cover later. First up was Creep 2, the sequel to Creep.  I liked what Creep set out to do:…

  • Attack of the Robots

    Attack of the Robots

    Is it just me, or have there been a lot of robot-themed movies lately?  I suppose it’s not really that surprising, as science fiction is one of the best barometers of cultural zeitgeists.

  • Frozen vs. Watchmen

    It seemed obvious to me that the character of Queen Elsa from Disney’s excellent Frozen had glimpses of similarity to Dr. Manhattan from Snyder’s excellent The Watchmen. Both had nearly infinite power, which detached them from their humanity and fellow humans. Each secluded themselves far away in a self-made palace as a way of both…

  • Prometheus vs. Avatar

    Prometheus vs. Avatar

    The planet Pandora has nothing — and I mean nothing — on the little moon SC-223. This place scared the (R-rated expletives) out of me; it was unnerving, frightening, dreadful, in all the ways that Pandora was not.

  • Art docs: prodigies and outsiders

    There’s something extremely fascinating about those rare individuals who function on a higher plane, however dysfunctional or detached from the rest of society. The art world, as any other, knows its prodigies and outsiders alike. Here a few good documentaries that cover a wide range of such people.

  • Protagonist vs. Fast, Cheap & Out of Control

    I suppose the comparison was inevitable, if not obvious. The new documentary Protagonist by Jessica Yu finds a good template in Errol Morris’ opus Fast, Cheap & Out of Control.

  • The Grudge vs. Ju-on

    It’s been a long time since a movie scene made me honestly cringe under my collar out of anxiety.

  • The Ring vs. Feardotcom

    Both are arty, but differ in delivery: vague impressionism versus creepy surrealism.

  • Enigma vs. A Beautiful Mind

    The difference between these films is like the difference between mere artistic license and historical revisionism: pageantry and fraud.