ogradyfilmSep 19, 20203 minThe Poetry of Violence: Slaying the Dragon[WARNING: The following essay contains MAJOR SPOILERS for 13 Assassins, Skyfall, Django Unchained, and Avengers: Endgame.] What defines a...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20182 minThe Nature of Evil in Disney's Animated CanonOne of the primary thematic questions driving Disney’s recent animated output has been “Where does evil truly reside?” As in real life, t...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20183 minDoki Doki Literatue Club! and the Art of Taking Advantage of a Storytelling MediumIn light of the recent controversy surrounding the independently-produced visual novel Doki Doki Literature Club!, I decided to do someth...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20183 minThe Art of Heroic VillainyUnlike some Marvel movie fans, I don’t feel that Thor: The Dark World (2013) is a bad film, necessarily. It does, however, suffer from on...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20183 minRegarding Villains: Orson Krennic (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)When The Force Awakens was first released one year ago, I sang its praises, but even I had to admit that the film had, for lack of a bett...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20183 minThe Force Awakens: Regarding VillainsIn the weeks since the release of The Force Awakens, I’ve observed two distinct and powerful reactions to the film’s central villainous f...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Loco, The Great SilenceAs played by the incomparable Klaus Kinski, Loco is the definitive Black Hat: cunning as a fox, venomous as a rattlesnake, and dirtier th...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20182 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Kyubey, Puella Magi Madoka MagicaCan true evil exist in the absence of malice? Can a character really be considered a villain if he is incapable of comprehending morality...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Clarence Boddicker, RobocopWhen you get right down to it, the sadistic sociopath (indirectly) responsible for the creation of the metal-headed hero in Paul Verhoeve...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Edward Pierce, The First Great Train RobberyThe dashingly handsome protagonist of Michael Crichton’s 1979 heist movie (played by the always-charismatic Sean Connery) isn’t necessari...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Alex, A Clockwork OrangeRobbery. Rape. Murder. To Alex DeLarge, it all adds up to a day well spent. This common thug with delusions of “culture” loves torturing ...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Harry Lime, The Third ManPlayed by Orson Welles at his charismatic best, cinema’s most memorable black marketeer manages to charm nearly everyone he encounters–in...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20182 minThe Villain ProtagonistWhen I first learned that a significant number of Shakespeare scholars consider Iago–slimy, scheming, irredeemably evil Iago–the protagon...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Wint and Kidd, Diamonds Are ForeverOf all the henchmen and hired killers buried by suave super-spy James Bond, few are more gleefully sadistic and psychotic than Mister Win...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Putnam, The WizardIn terms of storytelling, what really defines a character as a villain? His actions? Well, consider Putnam, who spends the entirety of Th...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minVillains That Love Being Bad: Stuntman Mike, Death ProofIn the process of developing a personality for the charismatic killer in Quentin Tarantino’s throwback to ‘70s low-budget cinema, Kurt Ru...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 min3 More Villains That Love Being Bad4. Suganoichi, Blind Menace: Unlike Zatoichi, Shintaro Katsu’s more famous blind masseur, Suganoichi is rotten to the core. As a boy, he ...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20182 minTop 3 Villains That Love Being BadI’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder if Orion. I’ve watched c-beams glitter in the dark ne...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20181 minFrom Our Nightmares: Hannibal Lecter, Silence of the LambsFew cinematic serial killers ooze calculated creepiness quite like Sir Anthony Hopkins’ “Hannibal the Cannibal.” From the slurping to the...
ogradyfilmNov 25, 20185 minMy Five Favorite Zatoichi Duels5. Wang Kang, Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman Forget Batman v Superman. In the world of martial arts cinema, this is the gladiator...