Fantastic Fest Journal: Pelican Blood
Motherhood has been a source of inspiration for countless horror films and tales of terror. Pelican Blood might not strictly sit within the horror genre, but it will crawl under your skin all the same.
Emergence Pilot Recap: “I Wish I Was Being Paranoid”
Emergence is ABC’s latest attempt to create a new “puzzle box” mystery thriller in the Lost mold. Strangely, the mystery aspect is the least interesting part of this one.
Prodigal Son Pilot Recap: “I Thought You Said You Were Done
Wouldn’t it be more fun to call it Masters of Serial Killing? Michael Sheen stars in Fox’s new murder procedural drama Prodigal Son, and his presence is basically the only thing to recommend about the show.
Fantastic Fest Journal: Jallikattu
Jallikattu is a mesmerizing feat of the power of cinema, packaged in a simple story about a buffalo.
Fear the Walking Dead 5.15 Recap: “Each One of Us Holds the
For its penultimate episode of the season, Fear the Walking Dead once again switches to shooting almost the entire hour in crappy SD video. This is a really gimmicky and frustrating affectation that I hope the show discontinues wh...
From Silents to the Seventies: Footlight Parade
The closest thing to an acid trip in 1930s Hollywood was a Busby Berkeley musical number, and Footlight Parade is one of the filmmaker’s most potent hallucinogens.
Blu-ray Highlights: Week of September 22nd, 2019 – All My T
It’s been a hard day’s night preparing this week’s Blu-ray and Ultra HD update. The massive list of new titles may be so overwhelming that you’ll either call out for “Help!” or decide to just let it be. If you’ll let me, I wanna h...
Weekend Roundtable: Over the Hill Action Stars
We have a new Rambo movie, 37 years after the original, because apparently that’s something Sylvester Stallone thought the world needed. It seems to be a common trend these days to see old action stars struggling to remain relevan...
Rambo: Last Blood Review – Bled Dry
The last scenes in Rambo: Last Blood, the fifth and supposedly final film in Sylvester Stallone’s signature action series, are a montage of clips from 1982’s First Blood all the way to some from the film we just sat through. This ...
Depraved Review: A Postmodern Prometheus
Depraved is director Larry Fessenden’s take on the Frankenstein story, with his own modern twist. The update makes it gloriously timely without losing any of the underlying tragedy of the original tale.
Downton Abbey (2019) Review: Lifestyles of the Rich and Fatuous
The act of turning television shows into feature films has a bit of a rocky reputation. For every Wayne’s World are seemingly dozens of Dark Shadows or The Flintstones. Downton Abbey is by no means the worst of the bunch, but its ...
Ad Astra Review: Pitt Reaches for the Stars
Ad Astra, director James Gray’s beautifully realized ode to parental connection and our ambitions to explore, checks off a panoply of references – everything from obvious science fiction fodder like 2001, Solaris, Gravity, and Ali...