Andrew Raker
Lastest Stories by Andrew Raker
The 2023 Grammy Awards are upon us and so too is the tradition of celebrating music in all its glories and permutations. Presented by the Recording Academy, the ceremony honors artists of not just...
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When truth proves stranger than fiction, there’s only one thing left to do: adapt it for screens big and small. It’s then no surprise that a legion of movies and TV shows base their characters...
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After spending over a decade in the abyss, Indiana-born actor Brendan Fraser has mounted a potential career comeback with his role in the 2022 drama “The Whale.” Playing an obese man with...
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Released in 2022, “The Fabelmans” tells the story of a boy who grapples with domestic drama while pursuing his dreams of filmmaking. An ode to the power of cinema, the movie is also a trip down...
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While there’s no way to fully approximate the experience of combat or trauma on film, some of the best movies about the Vietnam War make a reasonable attempt. (These are the best war movies of all...
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When it comes to the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, landing anywhere in the top 40 is usually enough to garner general attention and bolster one’s music career. It’s then no surprise that...
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More than just a seasonal tradition, the holiday movie has become an entire sub-genre unto itself. However, don’t take that to mean that every film in which Christmas (or New Year’s Eve) plays a...
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There’s an argument to be made that it’s better to put on the worst holiday movies than the best ones as you celebrate the Christmas season. After all, the holidays are a time to gather the...
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Most actors are storytellers at heart and so it’s no surprise when one tries their hand at directing. The results can be predictably mixed, ranging from forgettable indies to some of the best films...
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When it comes to the action genre, studios spend big bucks in the pursuit of big spectacle. Throw in marketing costs, box office sharing, and good old creative Hollywood accounting, and it’s no...
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With its fearless heroes (and anti-heroes) and reliance on recurring tropes, modern action movies, one might argue, pick up where classic Westerns left off. Consider 1970s blockbusters like “Star...
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Audiences are making their way back into theaters, and two films from the last two years have joined the list of history’s highest-grossing hits. One is “Top Gun: Maverick,” the surprise smash...
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Studio filmmaking is a massive undertaking that involves hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of people and moving parts, making it all the more impressive when Hollywood gets it right. One might even...
While the term “blockbuster” can pertain to any film that makes a killing at the box office, it tends to denote big-budget tentpole releases from the major Hollywood studios. As a result, it can...
When it comes to popular culture, there’s often a huge gap between the opinions of the critics and the general public. “Beach read” romance or crime novels seldom win plaudits from The New York...
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