Movie Smackdown, Author at Movie SmackdownÂ®

Alien Contact @ Movie Smackdown

May 29, 2011 Movie Smackdown 5

In the billions of stars, solar systems, and galaxies out there, our little planet is but a single speck of dust in the whirlwind of the universe. Probably, we are all starting to realize, we are not alone.

Hollywood got there earlier than the rest of us, and the film industry has told us stories of alien contact — what might happen if intelligent beings out there were to make contact with our suposedly primitive culture here on Earth — since the 1950s.

This week, Movie Smackdown! examines how alien contact is portrayed in cinema. Each day, we’ll pick another Smackdown from our Classix vault. From the brutal attack force of Independence Day to the benevolent space brothers of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, let your imagination soar as the extraterrestrial life of a crowded Hollywood universe comes calling here on Earth. […]

Avatar Is Now Officially Out of This World!

January 25, 2010 Movie Smackdown -2

Today is the day that Avatar becomes the biggest money-making film EVER, passing another film directed by James Cameron, Titanic. Listen, over here at the Smack, we love and respect box-office as much as anyone […]

Our Comment About Comments

July 30, 2009 Movie Smackdown 0

Here at Movie Smackdown! we know how much people like to talk about films. When you walk out of a theater, the chances are you’re comparing notes with your friends about what you saw. And, quite often, you’re comparing the evening’s film with another that it reminds you of in some way.

So, after you’ve read what our SmackRefs have to say here, let loose with your own thoughts.

The first thing that means is vote in one of our PollDaddy sponsored polls. They’re in each of our Smackdowns. We know that you expect our SmackRefs to tell you what they think, but we also know that you may have your own opinon. So do vote.

Also, consider our Comments section as the place you go to post your own reviews. Or disagree with our SmackRefs and they will respond to your comments for some back-and-forth.

Join us for a little film-on-film combat. […]

Saving Private Ryan -vs- The Thin Red Line

Saving Private Ryan (1998) -vs- The Thin Red Line (1998)

July 1, 2009 Movie Smackdown 19

War is hell. And until Steven Spielberg got involved, we’d never really experienced war through the eyes of a soldier. We’d come close, with filmmakers as diverse as Coppola and Oliver Stone all giving us their interpretations, but it always seemed to be at a safe distance. The viewer was taken on a journey, but not our own journey. Unlike Ron Kovic or Ben Willard, who undertake a journey for us, Spielberg attempted to give us our own experience in war without having to leave the cinema. “Saving Private Ryan,” which graphically shows us the D-Day landings of a group of US forces in 1944, opens with an assault on the senses unlike any we’d ever seen. It thrust us into the heat of battle, the confusion and carnage of an assault that beggars description. It wanted us to know exactly what war is really like.
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