Subgenre: Torture Porn
Summary: Years after John Kramer’s death, a copycat stages another one of his brutal death games. Continue reading
Fright Fest 2017 Review #14 – Jigsaw (2017)
2017
Fright Fest 2017 Review #9 – Happy Death Day (2017)
Subgenre: Slasher / Mystery
Summary: A coed relives the day of her murder over and over again. Continue reading
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Those of you who read my best of 2015 list know that the original Kingsman was one of the year’s pleasant surprises, so naturally I was excited for the sequel. Does it live up to the hype, or is it just another retread? The answer is yes. Continue reading
American Assassin is Mostly On-Target
American Assassin opens strong, with civilian Mitch Rapp (Dylan O’Brien) witnessing the murder of his girlfriend during a brutal terrorist attack. It’s a heart-pounding sequence, turning a paradisiacal beach vacation into a chaotic bloodbath in the span of seconds. Continue reading
mother!
mother! is one of those movies that’s hard to review, partly because its plot doesn’t lend itself to easy summarization, and partly because one has tread lightly to avoid giving too much away. But Darren Aronofsky’s latest doesn’t quite fall into the revered “go in blind” category, so let’s get to it. Continue reading
It: A Reader’s Review
This is going to be a little different from my usual reviews. As someone who’s read Stephen King’s novel twice, once very recently, it’s impossible for me to separate the adaptation from the source material, so I won’t try. There will be a handful of things that those of you who haven’t read the book won’t understand, but trust me, you’ll be fine. Finally, consider this a mild spoiler warning: this review contains plot details of both the movie and the book, but nothing too heavy. If you want to go in blind, stop here. Continue reading
Ingrid Goes West Avoids Going South
Take one part Single White Female, a dash of The Cable Guy, update it for the Instagram generation, and what do you get? A pretty good movie, as it turns out. Continue reading
Wind River
On paper, it’s easy to write off Wind River as another police procedural. Its core elements (dead girl, snowy setting, city cop in the country) are hardly unique, yet the movie manages to create something fresh and affecting out of its well-worn parts. Continue reading
Dunkirk
One might naturally go into Dunkirk expecting a sweeping action-epic, but Nolan’s latest behemoth is surprisingly intimate. The movie is essentially divided into three parts, each taking place over a different length of time before the mass evacuation of troops from the titular city: a week-long saga of civilian sailors doing what they can to help, one long day of land troops trying to make it home, and the story of Farrier, an RAF pilot, which unfolds in just one hour. Continue reading
Atomic Blonde: Not Quite a Dud, But Hardly Explosive
Atomic Blonde is not an action movie. I feel obligated to get this out of the way, as the movie has been the victim of a misleading-at-best marketing campaign. Trailers featured Charlize Theron kicking ass front and center, suggesting a John Wick-like exercise in minimal story and maximum thrills. But if anything, the movie’s plot-to-action ratio is story heavy. Continue reading