Film criticism

Analysis and evaluation of films

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We include updates on Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Critic, On Cinema, Violence in art, Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists, Cinema Speculation, Vulgar auteurism, Critics Choice Association, National cinema, Desilets v. Clearview Regional Board of Education, Transnational cinema, Screen Studies Group, London, All the Mistakes I've Made, Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Picturing Tolkien, Climate Reality Check ... and more.

2025 Gregg attempts to propose to Kaili during AmatoCon using a 'Movie Links' segment with wedding-themed VHS tapes, but she escapes backstage.
2025 G. Amato refuses to give Tim the promised 2018 Dodge Charger due to disappointing convention performance.
2025 Toni's son Matt is injured in a shooting, with security cam footage revealing a disguised man involved in the incident.
2025 The district attorney begins looking into reopening the Electric Sun case, with Toni's potential assistance.
2025 Tim, Joey, and Gregg attempt to steal the Charger's keys. Joey attacks Gregg, and Tim ends up bloodied, collapsing in the convention center and accusing the Amatos of responsibility for Matt's death.
2025 Tim wins a battle of the bands against Dekkar, judged by Richie Onori, Stevie Stewart, and Joe Estevez, leading to Axiom and Manuel making peace with Tim and casting out Corwin.
2025 Axiom and Manuel release a new single 'Ride with the Devil' with new band member Corwin, subtly comparing Tim to the devil.
March 10 2025 Tim hosts AmatoCon, a 3-day business convention, with final night events streamed online. This coincides with the same night as the Oscars.
2023
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Actor and comedian Adam Devine discussed the MCU's impact on comedy films in a podcast, suggesting that the franchise has negatively influenced the comedy genre by drawing audiences away from smaller budget comedic films.
2022
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Iron Man (2008) was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, becoming the first MCU film and only the third superhero film to be deemed 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.
October 26 2022 Season 13 debuts, rebranded as 'On Cinema! and More in the Morning' with Kaili Amato as co-host, shifting focus to social media and Hollywood.
September 2 2022 Deck of Cards is released, heavily edited by Tim to create a program similar to Decker.
July 2022
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Visual effects artists from multiple companies working with Marvel publicly spoke out against mistreatment, criticizing the studio's demanding and disruptive work practices.
February 14 2022 Tim and Wendy Kerby host a Valentine's Day special, which ends awkwardly when Wendy leaves after an uncomfortable staged kiss attempt with Manuel.
2021 Toni has an affair with Axiom at her birthday party and later goes to rehab for drinking problems.
2021 On Cinema moves to HEI Network, an independent service funded by user subscriptions and special event ticket purchases.
2021 Tim and Gregg host separate Oscar specials, with Tim and Toni hosting in a studio and Gregg hosting in the Mobile VFA.
2021 Dekkar is renamed to D4, with Wendy Kerby from Tim and Toni's church joining as a new singer after Axiom is kicked out.
2021 Gregg storms off set and runs over LaRue after being declared guilty for deaths from the previous special, leaving LaRue in a wheelchair. Gregg subsequently sells the VFA to Tim in exchange for avoiding charges.
2021
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series potentially began addressing systemic issues facing military veterans within the Marvel Cinematic Universe's narrative.
2021
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
MCU increased its market share to approximately 30% of total North American box office revenue.
2021
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Loki series becomes the first MCU production to feature a lead character (Loki) portrayed as queer on-screen.
2021
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney over the simultaneous theatrical and Disney+ release of Black Widow, alleging contract breach and loss of box-office bonus profits.
2021
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Phase Four of the MCU released four films and five television series, significantly expanding the franchise's content output and potentially risking oversaturation.
2020
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Anthony Mackie publicly criticized the lack of diversity in Marvel Cinematic Universe productions, noting that across his seven Marvel movies, every production role was filled by white professionals.
November 2020 Following COVID-19 pandemic and Adult Swim stream layoffs, the show announced its move to HEI Network, an independent streaming service created specifically for the series.
2019 Adult Swim picked up the fan-show series Big Unhappy Family as a companion to season 11 and Mister America.
2019 Continued the On Cinema Live! tour, performing live film reviews of movies such as Superfly, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and Ant Man & The Wasp with unique tour-only content.
2019
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The release of Captain Marvel helped mend the relationship between the MCU and the US military, with academic Roger Stahl noting the film's role in military recruitment and image rehabilitation.
2019
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Avengers: Endgame becomes the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to feature an on-screen queer character, with an unnamed gay man appearing in a single scene during the movie.
2019
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Martin Scorsese publicly criticizes the Marvel Cinematic Universe, sparking a significant debate among filmmakers about the franchise's impact on the film industry.
October 4 2019 Mister America film is released at Beyondfest, held at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, documenting Tim's failed district attorney campaign.
2018 Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington began their nationwide On Cinema Live! tour, featuring special guests from the On Cinema/Decker universe including Joe Estevez and John C. Reilly, the band Dekkar, and live film reviews of major movie releases.
2018
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Black Panther received seven nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, including the first-ever Best Picture nomination for a superhero film. The film won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score, becoming the first MCU film to win Academy Awards.
2018
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
MCU represented 18% of total North American box office revenue.
2017 The series moved its premieres to Adult Swim's online live streams, while continuing to post episodes on YouTube with a delay.
April 2017 On Cinema initiated a Patreon page for funding, with options for fans to receive producer credits, walk-on roles in Oscar specials, and custom Skype reviews.
2014
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Tuna Amobi of Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services highlighted a significant shift in Hollywood towards creating megafranchises, attributing this trend largely to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
2014
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn clarified the military's involvement in film scripts, stating that scripts using military assets must receive approval to ensure the military is not disparaged.
2013 Thing X merges with Adult Swim's website, continuing the On Cinema web series on their platform.
2013 Heidecker and Turkington released the On Cinema Film Guide app, featuring their voices reviewing over 17,000 films.
2012 The podcast is picked up by Thing X and transformed into a professionally produced web video series.
2012
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Avengers film depicted a nuclear missile strike on New York, which temporarily strained the relationship between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the United States Armed Forces.
2012
Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Tom Russo of Boston.com noted the emergence of the shared universe concept in film following the release of The Avengers, observing that the term 'universe' was not commonly used in the film industry at that time.
2011 Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington launch On Cinema as an independently released podcast.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Reception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe & On Cinema, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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