Review: With Bad Special Effects and a Pointless Script, Maneater Barely Qualifies as a Movie
What the hell is this? Let me ask this very serious question: Does all special effects software just come with a bad CG shark as part of its package of […]
Review: Though Slightly Underdeveloped, Samaritan Sees Stallone Get Back Into Action
Putting a somewhat fresh spin on the superhero movie, director Julius Avery (Overlord) delivers Samaritan, the story of young Sam Cleary (real-life kid boxer Javon “Wanna” Walton) who grows up […]
Review: George Miller Tells—and Shows—Incredible Stories in Three Thousand Years of Longing
Over the years, I’ve discovered that I have a soft spot for films about the magic powers that spoken-word storytelling can conjure, whether it’s simply a filmed performance of, for […]
Review: Human Connection, Communication and Limits Put to the Test in The Immaculate Room
Yet another clean, economic example of a pandemic-made film that isn’t about the pandemic and has higher aspirations than its simple story may let on. Actually, the latest from writer/director […]
Review: Prequel Orphan: First Kill Entertains with the Subtlety of a Lifetime Drama
Let me get this straight: the talented 25-year-old actor Isabelle Fuhrman (The Novice) is once again playing the character of Esther, last seen in 2009’s Orphan, in which [spoiler alert] […]
Review: Beast Is Equal Parts Intense Family Drama and Bloody Cat-and-Mouse Action Thriller
If you’ve seen any movie in the last 50 years involving a shark attack, then you’ve essentially seen Beast, the new release from visionary Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur (101 Reykjavík, […]
Review: Now Streaming on Shudder, Glorious Succeeds as an Emotionally Dark Morality Play
Some days, a horror film concept just sells itself on paper. In Glorious, the new offering from Rebekah McKendry (All the Creatures Were Stirring), Ryan Kwanten plays a disturbed young […]
Review: Whatever Path Your Life Takes, May it Lead You Away from the Dull, Uninspired Multiverse Rom-Com Look Both Ways
From director Wanuri Kahiu (Rafiki) and writer April Prosser comes another one of these stories that looks at a key moment in someone’s life and considers two possible paths that […]
Review: Fall Crackles with Relationship Drama and Vertigo-Inducing Filmmaking
The idea of facing one’s fears head-on is hardly a new one, but when the fear in question used to be a passion, that seems especially important to face. That’s […]
Review: Jamie Foxx Vampire Saga Day Shift Features Solid Action Worthy of a Big Screen
My entry point, not just into horror films but movies in general, was vampires, specifically Dracula movies. So I’m always a bit more interested in a scary movie when vampires […]
Review: Bodies Bodies Bodies Gets Ruthless, Funny and Sometimes Bloody About Youth and Social Media Culture.
Quite frequently, I’ve knocked films that have supposedly smart people doing ridiculously dumb things in a movie just to keep the plot moving or just in the name of comedy […]
Review: Diane Keaton Is Just More of the (Annoying) Same in Cliché-Ridden Mack & Rita
Up front, I completely know that it’s wrong to say this, but having just watched her latest work, Mack & Rita, I have to say once again that I have […]