‘The Wraith’ Scares Up A Good Time

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”

‘Reptile’ Slithers At Snail’s Pace

Reptile is one of those slow-burn gritty movies that sometimes works if all the pieces come together correctly. And a lot of times they don’t. It begins with a gruesome murder as a cop dealing with his own demons is brought in to investigate. They think they get the right person in the second act,Continue reading “‘Reptile’ Slithers At Snail’s Pace”

‘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”

Comedy Troupe Search For ‘Treasure Of Foggy Mountain,’ Find Off-Color Humor

I had never heard of Please Don’t Destroy before watching their movie The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. But their brand of humor seems to be common to a lot of movies that have becoming out. They mostly bust each others balls for a 90-minutes movie, telling dirty jokes but still remain good friends at theContinue reading “Comedy Troupe Search For ‘Treasure Of Foggy Mountain,’ Find Off-Color Humor”

‘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”

‘Finestkind’ Gets Lost In Sea Of Cliches

Prior to becoming an Oscar-winning writer and filmmaker, Brian Helgeland spent his youth off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., fishing for scallops. He grew up in the area, lived there and worked around the blue-collar fishermen who have scruffy beards, haven’t bathed in a week, swear like sailors and return to port to drinkContinue reading “‘Finestkind’ Gets Lost In Sea Of Cliches”

‘Fargo’ Is The Show To Watch

I never really caught on with the TV anthology show Fargo initially. I missed the first two seasons but started to watch the third when I recognized the cast of Ewan McGregor (in dual roles), Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Carrie Coon. It was a pretty good season but I really didn’t have any interest inContinue reading “‘Fargo’ Is The Show To Watch”

‘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”