A movie like The Wraith seems to be a casserole of genres. It’s about a murdered person who returns from the grave to exact revenge in a slasher style where each killer is murdered one by one mostly. But it’s also a western, set in the Arizona desert, where the main protagonist like Clint Eastwood’sContinue reading “‘The Wraith’ Scares Up A Good Time”
Category Archives: Movie Flashback
‘Identity’ Has A Great Look
A movie like Identity draws its inspiration from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. A character even references it at one point. And why not? Most thrillers/horrors owe some debt to Christie and what she did to help the genre. But this movie has a twist that is so good that when you thinkContinue reading “‘Identity’ Has A Great Look”
‘Eye See You’ Coded But Has Some Life
Like most people, I spent my youth hanging out in the aisles of video rental places like Hollywood and Blockbuster. One day, I came across a shelf that had VHS and DVD copies of Eye See You starring Sylvester Stallone and wondered “How did I miss this?” I still read Entertainment Weekly, before the writersContinue reading “‘Eye See You’ Coded But Has Some Life”
‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Is A Nightmare That You Never Want To Experience
Christmas may be over but a movie like Jacob’s Ladder isn’t technically a Christmas movie. It’s set in the dreary late fall/early winter of December for a reason. It’s about the darkness a man experiences following a traumatic experience. Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) was once a philosophy professor but after his youngest son, Gabe (MacaulayContinue reading “‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Is A Nightmare That You Never Want To Experience”
‘Tombstone’ Retells How The West Was Won, For The Most Part
The story of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had been told so many times before that in the early 1990s, attempts were being made to tell it like it really happened. Earp himself dabbled in acting before his death at 80 nearly 95 years ago. And early filmmakers weren’t really consumed with telling the truthContinue reading “‘Tombstone’ Retells How The West Was Won, For The Most Part”
‘The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’ Is A Wonderful Storytelling Achievement
Every now and again, a movie is released that isn’t favored by many critics and doesn’t do well at the box office but finds its audience, respect and admiration later. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty opened on Christmas Day in 2013 to polarizing reviews. Produced on a huge budget of $90 million, it madeContinue reading “‘The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’ Is A Wonderful Storytelling Achievement”
The Filmmaker Who F@#%ing Loves Christmas
For many cinophiles, they don’t care for the Hallmark Christmas movies or whatever family-friendly “instant classic” Disney tries to present each year. No, there’s one filmmaker whose pretty much made it his goal to focus as many movies he can around the holidays. A lot of people may not know the name Shane Black. ButContinue reading “The Filmmaker Who F@#%ing Loves Christmas”
‘Christmas Evil’ A Noteworthy Entry For The Killer Santa Horror Subgenre
There’s just something about Santa Claus that is so creepy when you look at it. He’s an omniscient omniprescient person who is immortal and is able to travel around the world like The Flash (or Quicksilver for the MCU fans) and deliver presents. Popularized in A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clark Moore, he’sContinue reading “‘Christmas Evil’ A Noteworthy Entry For The Killer Santa Horror Subgenre”
Oh! ‘Krampus’ Might Be Frightful, But Overall It’s Not Too Delightful
Kramus has been a subject of Austro-Bavarian folklore for as far back as the 6th Century. So, it’s a wonder why it took over a 100 years of motion pictures for the creature who punishes naughty children to get its own movie. Sometimes the first of anything isn’t always the best. The Finnish movie RareContinue reading “Oh! ‘Krampus’ Might Be Frightful, But Overall It’s Not Too Delightful”
Unwrapping ‘Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas might just well be one of the most disappointing movies ever made. How could something with a great concept and stunning visuals be so incredibly dull and problematic? I remember watching this once when it went to video in 1994 and feeling bored. I later was talking about it with someoneContinue reading “Unwrapping ‘Nightmare Before Christmas”
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