Tag Archives: film

Oh, My! ‘Anaconda’ Don’t!

A movie like the recent “Anaconda” is a trend of movies that is still unfortunately on life support following its surprised box office return of $135 million worldwide making three times of what it cost to produce it. Call it what you want. It’s a nostalgia reboot/remake or meta-reboot, but this trend of movies isContinue reading “Oh, My! ‘Anaconda’ Don’t!”

Swipe Left On ‘DTF St. Louis’

We’ve kinda reached the point where movie studios are only throwing money at big budget movies that stories like “DTF St. Louis” are being released as limited series.  But what should’ve been a two-hour family drama movie in the vein of “Rashomon” is a shaggy dog story that is stretched over seven episodes that areContinue reading “Swipe Left On ‘DTF St. Louis’”

It’s Time To Give ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ The Hook

Back in 1997, a friend and I went to go to the movies. “Jungle 2 Jungle,” Tim Allen’s followup to “The Santa Clause” was about to be released. The movie was a remake of the French movie “Little Indian Big City” which had been heavily panned by critics when it opened in America a yearContinue reading “It’s Time To Give ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ The Hook”

‘Dead Of Winter’ Has Thrills

In the mid-1990s, Emma Thompson became an A-lister she appeared in many period piece movies mostly made by the Merchant-Ivory filmmakers. She won an Oscar for acting for “Howard’s End” and an Oscar for adapted screenplay for “Sense and Sensibility.” But it seemed she was already getting typecast. Thankfully Mike Nichols cast her as aContinue reading “‘Dead Of Winter’ Has Thrills”

‘Friday Night At Freddy’s 2’ Feels Like Filler For Future Franchise Film

“Friday Night at Freddy’s 2” might be one of the most useless, extraneous, pointless sequels ever made.  The first movie came out in 2023 almost 10 years after the video game franchise started. During that time, there was “The Banana Splits Movie,” “Willy’s Wonderland” and horror short “The Hug.” Still there could have been someContinue reading “‘Friday Night At Freddy’s 2’ Feels Like Filler For Future Franchise Film”

‘The ‘Burbs’ Overstays Its Welcome

“The ‘Burbs” is a very underrated movie that blends dark humor with social commentary on who are the weird people in your neighborhood and who are just quite. Why is our society always focusing on being socialable?  Dana Olsen who wrote the movie said when he told people what he was doing everyone had aContinue reading “‘The ‘Burbs’ Overstays Its Welcome”

‘Jason X’ Does Suck On So Many Levels But It’s So Bad, It’s Good

It seems like a clichéd trope that once a film franchise resorts to being set in space, it’s gone off the rails. “Leprechaun,” James Bond, “The Fast and the Furious” all resorted to sending characters into space.  Even “Critters 4” is set mostly in space but it was actually a sci-fi movie to begin with.Continue reading “‘Jason X’ Does Suck On So Many Levels But It’s So Bad, It’s Good”

Movie Trailers That Fooled Us

Today is April Fools Day. And every now and again movie trailers pull a prank on us. A lot of trailers are released months before a movie is released so test screenings and reshoots can often result in scenes being cut.  And sometimes actors are portrayed more prominently in the trailers even though they haveContinue reading “Movie Trailers That Fooled Us”

‘Urban Legend’ Was Late Filmmakers’ Great Debut

Jamie Blank died recently. He was in his mid-20s when he helmed Urban Legend during the slasher craze resurgence of the late 1990s.I’ll admit I had no idea what an urban legend meant when I saw the movie posters. Yet I had heard a lot of them. There was Bloody Mary, huge alligators in theContinue reading “‘Urban Legend’ Was Late Filmmakers’ Great Debut”