MRQE Rewind: Iconic Genre Mashups

Cowboys and Aliens mixes up two genres: the alien invasion science-fiction movie and the Western. Genre mashups are nothing new to cinema – as long as there have been genres, they have been mixed – and over time they have produced fascinating results. This week, MRQE Rewind takes a look at some of cinema’s most iconic mashups!

Trailer Watch: The Amazing Spider-Man, Drive, Margin Call, Haywire, Happy Feet 2, Battleship

To take advantage of the buzz over Comic-Con, a trailer for one of the biggest superhero movies next summer was released: The Amazing Spider-Man. Alongside that, we have exciting new trailers for an Indie alien comedy, a gritty thriller starring Ryan Gosling, an upcoming action-packed Steven Soderbergh flick, and, um, Battleship.

Movies Revisited: Manhattan (1979)

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A generation of filmmakers including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorcese and the director of this week's Movies Revisited, Woody Allen, have on many occasions, attributed the critical praise and admiration for their work to the influences of their cinematic idols. In numerous sit-down interviews, these men fondly recall the movies that wowed them in their youth. And it is good, important gushing, not only as a celebration, but also as a reminder to fans: to know the history of cinema, and to preserve it.

Weekend Wrap-Up: "Captain America" outmuscles "Harry Potter"

Captain America aces the Box Office in its first week.

It comes at no surprise that the eagerly awaited Captain America: The First Avenger topped this week-end’s box-office with an estimated $65.8 million on approximately 7,100 screens at 3,715 locations. The comic book adaptation attracted a mostly masculine audience with a 64% share, and the movie scored this summer biggest superhero debut by overpowering Thor ($65.7 million) and Green Lantern ($53.2 million).

MRQE Rewind: Best Alternate History WWII Films

Captain America: The First Avenger opens this weekend, replete with ultra-patriotic symbolism and the portrayal of the birth of a “perfect” American soldier during the Second World War. Over at the MRQE secret headquarters, this brought us to thinking about other cinematic instances portraying what would have happened during World War II if 'A' had happened instead of 'B.' Although the protagonists in the following movies are very disparate and range from animated puppets, womanizing archeologists, and greedy theater producers to demented flyboys, they are innovative and intriguing enough to warrant a place in our blog post. 

Trailer Watch: The Dark Knight Rises, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Hugo, John Carter, Contagion

This week brought us a great crop of trailers, including one for the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, an exciting Sherlock Holmes sequel, Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming horror-thriller, a 3D kids’ flick from Martin Scorsese, and a new live-action Sci-Fi epic from the director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E.

MRQE Rewind: The Last Hurrah - Final Installments at the Movies (or what should have been)

This weekend, the final installment of the Harry Potter series hits theaters. Millions of fans across the globe teeter between excitement and heartbreak. The movie franchise, adapted from the global literary phenomenon, is coming to a close. It seems like only yesterday when Daniel Radcliffe and a group of unknown little actors first debuted onscreen as the wizards-in-training at Hogwarts. Ten years later, after an astonishing seven films, it's a bittersweet goodbye. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 looks to be an epic finale. This week, MRQE looks back on the most memorable goodbyes at the movies: the last installments for some of our favorite franchises. Or in some cases, what should have been the last!

Movies Revisited: The River Wild (1994)

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The one memory I have of The River Wild, this week's Movies Revisited, is the Pay Per View ad they would loop on television back in the mid nineties. But the film, surprisingly, remains a staple of late-night cable today. So let's investigate:

MRQE Rewind: The Legacy of John Carpenter

A modern renaissance man as we know it, John Carpenter directed, wrote the screenplays, and composed some truly groundbreaking soundtracks for most of his movies. Although The Ward, his new offering, has gotten pretty dismal reviews so far (MRQE Metric: 36, at time of printing), Carpenter’s cinematic legacy is well worth exploring with this list of his most popular movies in order of ratings. The self-proclaimed "master of terror" created the "slasher" genre as we know it with Halloween, flirted with science-fiction with They Live and Dark Star, and kicked ass with action-adventure classics Escape from New York and Big Trouble in Little China. Kurt Russell fans rejoice, as he is featured in three of the following movies…

MRQE Rewind: Most Iconic Movie Robots

With Transformers: Dark of the Moon unleashed onto expectant theater goers earlier this week, we thought the timing was right to explore the complex interactions between humans and their robotic equivalents as told in cinematic forms. Spanning over the decades and ranging from zombie-like housewives, existentialist computers, diminutive droids, and pacifist war machines to robotic cowboys, we have lined up all of our most instantly recognizable, human-friendly or evil, mechanical devices in the following list.