Film essays

The Unfulfilled Potential of Minecraft – Assuming a Different Perspective

Artificial Truths For Real Happiness – Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC

Fight Club – How (Not) To Become A Space Monkey

Your Name – What Makes Us Happy?

How Stories Can Save Us – The Philosophy of The Fall

Exploring Consciousness in Film: The Cognitive Revolution

A Mythology of Hope – The Lord of the Rings (part 2)

David Fincher – And the Other Way is Wrong

Drive (2011) – The Quadrant System

The Real Implications Of Ex Machina’s Turing Test

Stoicism in Gladiator – Meditations II.

Who Are We Without Storytelling?

The Unexplored Depths of Spider-Man 3 – Facing the Dragon of Grandiosity

The Philosophy of Cloud Atlas | How Beauty Will Save the World

First Man – A Sobering Look at Human Greatness

The Philosophy of Mr. Nobody – How To Make Meaningful Choices

Edgar Wright – How to Do Visual Comedy

Jackie Chan – How to Do Action Comedy

Hollywood Scores & Soundtracks: What Do They Sound Like? Do They Sound Like Things?? Let’s Find Out!

Kingdom of Heaven | Addendum: Why Balian won the Battle for Jerusalem

The Absurdist Philosophy Of Synecdoche, New York

Not Just About Superheroes – The Hidden Metaphor In Glass

Creating The Ultimate Post-9/11 Allegory: The Dark Knight on Risk and Terror

Venturing into Sacred Space | Archetype of the Magician

Satoshi Kon – Editing Space & Time

Heroism and Moral Victory – The Lord of the Rings (part 1)

The Perilous Journey of a Truly Beautiful Soul – Hacksaw Ridge

Martin Scorsese – The Art of Silence

Beowulf – Adapting the Oldest Story in English Literature

Contagion – Anatomy of a Global Pandemic

The Metaphysics of Inception – Engaging Ontological Uncertainty

The Silence of the Lambs – Who Wins the Scene?

Radical Honesty – What If We All Told The Truth?

Kingdom of Heaven | A Kingdom of Conscience, or Nothing – Kant’s Moral Philosophy

Ethical Behavior in Modern Society – Can We Still Get Into The Good Place?

The New World | The Lost Art of Grief

Transcending Heidegger – The Cinema Of Terrence Malick

Gladiator | Turning Spectacle into a Meaningful Story

The Ultimate Antidote for Cynicism: It’s a Wonderful Life

Michael Bay – What is Bayhem?

Okja | Understanding the (Im)Morality of Animal Consumption

Arrival | Facing the Fear of Existence

Robin Williams – In Motion

The Lover Within | How Moonlight Relates to ALL Men

The Archetype of the Warrior – How Films Help Empower Us All

The Spielberg Oner

Prometheus & Covenant | Building a Mythos of Savage Creation

How Ken Burns Captures History (And Why That Matters)

The Revenant – An Odyssey Through America’s Purgatory

Anatomy of the Dreamlike Romance – Call Me By Your Name vs. Before Sunrise

Vancouver Never Plays Itself

The Inner Chronicle of What We Are – Understanding Werner Herzog

Sunshine – A Visceral Experience of Life, Death and Meaning

Chuck Jones – The Evolution of an Artist

Snowpiercer – Left or Right

The Witcher 3 – Virtual Empathy & Moral Reflection In Video Games

Memories of Murder (2003) – Ensemble Staging

How Does an Editor Think and Feel?

What Makes a Great King? Exploring the Archetype of the King in Movies and Television

Joel & Ethan Coen – Shot | Reverse Shot

Get Out | White Fragility as a Movie Trope

After Life – An Answer to Nihilism

Baby Driver | Introversion Done Right

The Fundamental Difference Between Stories And Reality

In Search of the Distinctively Human | The Philosophy of Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk re-edited as a Silent Film – The Power of Visual Storytelling

In Praise of Chairs

Wolf Children (2012) – The Lateral Tracking Shot

Praying Through Cinema – Understanding Andrei Tarkovsky

The Philosophy of Sense8 | Emotion and Connection

Knight of Cups | Our Eternal Quest for Meaning – Kierkegaard’s Existentialism

Your Life is Not a Hero’s Journey