The Leftovers is unlike anything else on TV

April 27, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes t will probably be a few years before The Leftovers finally reaches the number of screens it deserves through word of mouth. The tragically under-watched drama is currently airing its third and final season on HBO, and many frequent television viewers still haven’t heard of it. Despite heavy promotion leading up to each of its […]

Raw continues a golden age of horror

April 10, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes Raw’s reputation precedes it. The horrific tale of a young woman’s reckless transformation from vegetarian to cannibal has been sensationalized by reports of audience members fainting and vomiting in its early screenings. There’s no question that the film’s violence demands a tough stomach, though worse things have been seen on The Walking Dead. These headlines […]

Logan gives Wolverine a proper sendoff

March 27, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s been an uneven ride for 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise over the past 17 years. With wild variation in timeline continuity and casting consistency, the films have both risen to thrilling heights and sunken into silly mediocrity throughout their run. Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine has been a significant player from the beginning, and the actor […]

The Lego Batman Movie is just as funny as the original

February 21, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes With 2014’s The Lego Movie, Warner Animation Group laid a clever foundation for virtually limitless spinoff opportunities. The first to arrive is The Lego Batman Movie, and it’s an important indication of the quality of the many Lego movies to come. It would have been easy to make one quality movie as a starting point, […]

M. Night Shyamalan continues his comeback with Split

February 7, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes For almost two decades, M. Night Shyamalan has been one of the most unpredictable filmmakers in Hollywood. The writer-director-producer is known for thrillers with mind-blowing twists, but he’s also notorious for having an inconsistent career. After The Sixth Sense was met with global success and an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in 1999, Shyamalan faced […]

A Monster Calls is a thoughtful examination of grief

January 22, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes Grief is a bold theme to take on in any work of art. Not only is it a touchy subject, but it’s also difficult to tell stories about it that don’t devolve into a series of blubbery Lifetime movie clichés. Based on the novel by Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls is an imaginative film that […]

Rogue One Review

January 20, 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes The announcement of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anybody. One of the world’s biggest entertainment conglomerates acquired the rights to one of the most beloved franchises of all time, so spin-offs and endless sequels are to be expected. Disney proved that the property is in capable hands […]

Certain Women

November 3, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Writer-director Kelly Reichardt‘s Certain Women is slow-moving realistic anti-blockbuster, sometimes to the point of ruthlessness. For the patient viewer, however, adapting to its glacial pace makes for a provocative, reflective time at the movies. From their earliest days as simple recordings of variety show acts, films were never meant to be any one thing. In […]