Introduction There’s no doubt that the Transformers film franchise has been a bit of a mixed bag. I adored the first one and liked Revenge of the Fallen. Also, I consider Bumblebee to be just a hair short of being a masterpiece of storytelling. I wasn’t excited for the new prequel film that they announced, [...]
Sometimes it takes a little help from the great beyond to get things back on track. That's not only the case for the characters in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" but also for Tim Burton, who has seen his cinematic mojo wane dramatically over the past decade. Can returning to the genre Burton is known for and resurrecting [...]
Rehabilitation in the prison system is much more than the news would have you believe. Featuring Colman Domingo and Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor Paul Raci alongside many real-life formerly incarcerated men, director Greg Kwedar sets out to tell the story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing in Sing [...]
Introduction Ron Howard has had a very varied career. Starting out as a child actor on "The Andy Griffith Show," he eventually gained acclaim and stardom as Steve Bolander in American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973) and Richie Cunningham in "Happy Days." Then his directing career started shortly thereafter but didn't achieve blockbuster success until 1983's Splash. Since [...]
Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus hits cinemas at a precarious time. On the one hand, the 20th Century Studios’ film is at a feverish high from fans whose expectations from the film series’ seventh entry in the 45-year-old franchise is equally as high, especially with the tepid reactions to producer Ridley Scott’s previous two films, Prometheus [...]
With the release of the final season of "The Umbrella Academy" on Netflix, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Emmy Raver-Lampman (Allison) and Ritu Arya (Lila) about their time on the unique series. Like the series, our discussion was bittersweet as they shared some of their favorite experiences working on the [...]
The Merc with the Mouth is back, and this time he's brought a friend. But can "Deadpool & Wolverine" actually save the MCU, or will this be another muddling multiverse mishap? It's been 15 years since Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman first teamed up as their iconic characters in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." Reynolds has had [...]
Introduction There are lots of films that are political metaphors (including some this year). Some are more successful than others, with the most successful probably being the Hunger Games films. However, they usually have one thing in common: they come from a coastal, left of center perspective. Twisters is different in this regard; in that [...]
Introduction The true story sports drama is a tried-and-true genre, with Disney being the most prolific. Starting with Cool Runnings (Jon Turteltaub, 1993), they have released them regularly as part of their theatrical slate. These films often make my top ten films of the year, mostly because of how inspiring they are. I think most [...]
Ti West completes his trilogy of fame and horror with "MaXXXine," a direct sequel to 2022's "X." In the first film, West perfectly mimicked the 70's slasher feel. The follow-up prequel, "Pearl," fused horror with the mise-en-scène of classic cinema. It should be no surprise that he once again delivers a genre perfect seedy 80's [...]
