Jon Negroni

Jon is one of the co-founders of InBetweenDrafts. He hosts the podcasts Thank God for Movies, Mad Men Men, Rookie Pirate Radio, and Fantasy Writing for Barbarians. He doesn't sleep, essentially.

Deadpool 2 Is About The Problem With Fandom (Spoilers)

The first Deadpool was a parody of the superhero genre, and so is Deadpool 2 in a lot of ways. But watching the movie recently, I came away with the conclusion that this sequel is more about the superhero genre’s fans, lampooning us and our expectations going into these summer franchise flicks.

To explain this, I took to my trusty YouTube Channel Jon In Theory the other day and rambled into a microphone. It’s not the shortest video, but hopefully some of you will find it interesting. This is less of a review and more of a spoiler analysis from the perspective of someone a bit mixed on the film.

Go on…Deadpool 2 Is About The Problem With Fandom (Spoilers)

Cinemaholics Review: Deadpool 2

deadpool 2

The Chronicles of Wade Wilson continue in Deadpool 2, the follow-up to what I once considered a true breath of fresh air for superhero franchises everywhere. Like the original, Deadpool 2 is R-rated, edgy, and almost painfully self-aware, nothing like most comic book flicks today. I certainly got a kick out of the movie, but I don’t think I’m as in love with the concept of this franchise as I was at first sight. To help me unpack my mixed feelings, special guest Brandon Katz from Observer joins the show with regular cohosts Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines.

Question for you: How many times have you seen the first Deadpool, and did you like it more or less the second time?

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: Deadpool 2

2018 Movie Power Rankings

2018 movie

Oh, how time flies. This is my fourth year doing these “power rankings,” so most of you know the drill. I’ve watched enough movies at this point in the year to unveil my rankings, and I’ll continue to update this list as I watch more films until the end of December.

One notable difference this year is that I’ve cut down a bit on written reviews on this site, so the best way to find out what I think of these flicks beyond a letter grade is by checking out past and present episodes of Cinemaholics. I also keep up with everything on my Letterboxd (a social network for filmgoers).

How these rankings work: 

Go on…2018 Movie Power Rankings

Solo: a Star Wars Story – Review and Spoiler-Free Analysis

Going into Solo: a Star Wars Story, I had my own fair share of reservations due to production shakeups and even the very idea of this movie. Maybe you’ve heard this before: “No one asked for a Han Solo movie.” “Disney is ruining Star Wars.” “Jon Negroni’s YouTube channel is a disgrace.”

All of these points are valid, but for me, Solo happens to be a genuinely satisfying summer movie, and even one worth analyzing. In the video above, I give a spoiler-free review and analysis of the movie, spending most of my time discussing my personal baggage with Han as a character in the original trilogy, plus a lot of what you can expect overall from his adventurous origin story.

Go on…Solo: a Star Wars Story – Review and Spoiler-Free Analysis

Which is Better: Zootopia or Finding Dory?

zootopia

Disney’s Zootopia is a better film than Pixar’s Finding Dory.

Both 2016 films are competently made. Both films are humorous, well-realized, and stunning to look at. Both films have engaging, wonderful main characters with goals and story arcs that are as insightful as they are entertaining. Both films share many of the same strengths, making it hard to objectively point to one being better than the other on any sort of technical level. But…

Go on…Which is Better: Zootopia or Finding Dory?

Cinemaholics Podcast Review: Tully

tully

Tully, directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, the duo behind Juno and Young Adult. This new comedy-drama film about motherhood stars Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingston, and Mark Duplass. And it’s definitely one worth watching.

For mini reviews, we covered a pretty diverse list of new releases, many of them on Netflix. There’s John Mulaney’s new comedy special on Netflix, Kid Gorgeous at Radio City, which is already making some headlines for its pervasive political humor. Dear White People just dropped its second season on Netflix, and in this episode I lay out my case for why you should get caught all the way up on this biting, wickedly smart show.

Our guest Abby just watched the new Howard’s End mini series (which is about to hit Amazon streaming), based on the 90s film of the same name. Will saw the new Adam Sandler movie The Week Of on Netflix and calls it the best of the Sandler-Netflix movies (not counting Meyerowitz Stories). And I finished the show out with a mini review for RBG, a new documentary about the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which is premiered at Sundance.

Question for you: What should we review and/or talk about on the show next week? There aren’t a lot of major releases, so any ideas are welcome! Next week’s wide releases include Breaking In and The Life of The Party.

Go on…Cinemaholics Podcast Review: Tully

Cinemaholics Review – Avengers: Infinity War

infinity war

A whole episode of Cinemaholics dedicated to Avengers: Infinity War? We’re just as surprised as you. It’s one of the biggest event movies of all time, and in every sense of the word, crushing box office records and causing massive debates online about (SPOILERS). Well, that goes for us as well.

Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines joined me this week to do a spoiler-free review of Infinity War, but followed by a massive spoiler section noted in the show notes above. Be wary of spoilers, but be even more wary of my emotions, as things get somewhat “Hulk-y” toward the midpoint of the episode.

Question for you: if you saw Infinity War, let us know what you think of the villain, and who do you think was “right” about the main debate in this episode? Careful for spoilers in the comments!

Go on…Cinemaholics Review – Avengers: Infinity War