All posts by Ryan Zwirner

Ryan Zwirner is a film and entertainment writer for Writtalin. He is proud to be a recent recipient of the nation’s highest honor: a BA in Film Studies from UCSB. He currently lives in West Hollywood where he spends his free time trying to convince people to watch The Wire, finding new ways for Sriracha to compensate for his poor cooking skills, writing scripts for short films, and actively looking to sell his soul for success in the film industry.

Posted On February 28, 2014By Ryan ZwirnerIn Television

True Detective: The Best New Show on TV

You’ve finished Breaking Bad, binged on House of Cards, and are looking for a new show to tide you over until Game of Thrones comes back. Well, look no further, because HBO’s True Detective is one of the most riveting shows to grace the airwaves.  Set primarily in 1995, the show is a gritty take on the pulp neo-noir genre twisted with elements of supernatural horror, and trades the urban decay of New York or Los Angeles, for an eerie look at the backwater depravity of 1995 Louisiana. The showRead More
It’s a strange and exciting time to be a comic book fan. It used to be that only A-grade characters like Superman and Batman could be afforded the big screen treatment, but that’s clearly no longer the case, ever since the X-men and Spider-man films helped the genre to explode in the early 2000s. The fact that my mother knows who Hawkeye is goes to show just how deep these movies have penetrated our culture, and as far as anybody can tell, they show no signs of slowing down.  MovieRead More

Posted On February 22, 2014By Ryan ZwirnerIn Movies

Block-Buster: A Review of The Lego Movie

The LEGO Movie just might be the best commercial ever made. By the time the credits start rolling, there’s a good chance you’ll feel the nagging urge to head to your parents’ house, dust off that old box of mismatched LEGO sets, and relive your childhood by making something weird and wonderful.  Kids leaving the theater will be inspired to create their own brick-based adventure, which naturally requires buying more LEGO products. Their parents, charmed by the film’s messages of collaboration and creativity as well as their own reawakened nostalgia-Read More
The world we live in is a hectic and fast paced one. If you slow down you get left behind.  It can be easy to lose focus in this chaotic landscape of technology and politics. But with today being Valentine’s Day, it’s  important to think back to a simpler time; the laughter, tears, and countless hours you shared with your first love: Netflix. Do you remember the first time you met Netflix? Of course you do; it was young and ambitious, and was what all of your friends had beenRead More