The latest theatrical horror offering, Lights Out, beats the Summer heat serving up a cooler of chills, thrills and jump scares galore. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer weaves a simple but intriguing story out of director David F. Sandberg’s viral short film of the same name. The concept is simple, the monster hides in the shadows and […]
Star Trek isn’t an action heavy property. In its initial form of The Original Series, Star Trek existed as more of an excuse for exploring new territories. The intrepid crew of The Starship Enterprise was there to talk to other species, only using lethal force when necessary. Even when the franchise went cinematic with 1979’s […]
Ghostbusters is a flawed spectacle of incredibly fun highs and inexcusable, boring lows. The film is all over the place, struggling to maintain a focused tone and concise direction. The film succeeds on pure chemistry and wizardry alone. Director Paul Feig is fortunate to have terrific casts in his films, Ghostbusters is not different. The […]
Disney and Steven Spielberg team up to bring Roald Dahl’s giant-filled fantasy adventure, The BFG, to the big screen in a huge way. The film is beautiful, magical, wonderfully realized and full of heart and humor. No one can bring child-like wonder and fun to theaters like Spielberg can. He adapts his signature touch to […]
Alright Grue-Believers, I am close to finishing my last class for my Master’s degree, so I decided to give myself a breather and head to the cinema. Given that, 1) I love stuff about sharks, and 2) the latest film from Jaume Collet-Serra, The Shallows, has been called the “best shark film since Jaws“, it […]
Warcraft is a curious, if disparaging, statement on modern studio filmmaking, prophesying that the future of summer, big budget, event films is in dire jeopardy. The film contains well crafted CG effects and fully realized worlds of imagination and splendor. The creativity that is found in the designs and execution of the orcs, creatures and […]
The Conjuring 2 is exactly what the genre needs. It is James Wan‘s fright-filled love letter to horror cinema and fans. It is also his best cinematic achievement yet and his most completely and thoroughly frightening film. Somehow, without an ounce of blood, without a body count to speak of, without dialog filled with profanity […]
Viewers seeking outright horror in cowriter/director Mike Flanagan’s third feature film Before I Wake will be disappointed but those who go in realizing that the filmmaker was aiming for something quite different than crowd-pleasing scare fare should find much to appreciate. Shot between Oculus (2013) and Hush (2016), Before I Wake (originally titled Somnia, which […]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows has a spirit far closer to the cartoons and more mass marketing versions of TMNT than either the previous films and the comic itself. And for this, it profits in a big way. As a result, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows is a rousing […]
The problem with Alice Through the Looking Glass is that it has to live up to the imagination of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) – which went on to make a massive 1 billion at the box office – and deal with the divisive reaction that film received. It has a lot to live […]
“Well, we can all agree that the third one is always the worst,” says Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), shortly after leaving a screening of Return of the Jedi with fellow classmates Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Nightcrawler (Kodi-Smit McPhee) and Jubilee (Lana Condor, in one of her two scenes). It’s obviously a smirking wink at X-Men: The […]
With Captain America: Civil War, the Russo Brothers have raised the bar with comic book adaptations and summer tent pole superhero films for the foreseeable future. Their extraordinarily satisfying effort pitting Steve Rogers, Captain America, against his friend and follow hero Tony Stark, Iron Man, is a multi-layered, high energy, emotionally sound and politically entwined […]