Monthly Archives: July 2021

An old woman is tormented to death and her tormenters are lured into dialing her up in her grave as punishment in “The Call,” a thriller so derivative it gives “derivative” a bad name. It’s another “face your personal nightmares” … Continue reading →

You don’t have to be into the art rock/glam rock/proto-punk synth pop pranksters Sparks to get a kick out of “The Sparks Brothers,” the definitive documentary history that fanboy Edgar Wright created in their honor. The director of “Shaun of … Continue reading →

A trailer plus “explainer” bits. “Origin story” explained by Gemma Arterton, Ralph Fiennes, etc. Because you know, it’s been years since we’ve seen one of these. Djimon and Colin and the rest are finally in theaters Dec. 22.

Here’s one of the side benefits of spending a lifetime in journalism — learning to listen, paying attention to not just what people you’re interviewing say, but how they express it. And if you don’t stop at merely taking notes, … Continue reading →

July 16, prepare to be amazed. Chatty trees?

“Meander” is a tense torture porn parable about a tormented soul further tormented and tortured when she’s kidnapped and held hostage in the most elaborate hamster-maze ever conceived. If you let yourself get caught up in the logistics of how … Continue reading →

“Twee” is a seriously small target to aim for in a romantic comedy, a real “go twee or go home” gamble. And when you swing and miss? Ouchie. “Love Type D” is an ever-so-slight, daft but deflatingly-so Britcom that never … Continue reading →

The presence of another Asian “dragon” cartoon on the calendar sentenced Sony’s “Wish Dragon” to a streaming release, on Netflix. Well, that and the lame “Aladdin in Modern Day China” premise. But even though it’s got a magic lamp — … Continue reading →

So “going back to 1978 and Camp Nightwing, the era of “Halloween” and the birth of the Friday the 13th movies, is where they’re taking this trilogy. Just a little interest in this, I have to say. Not exactly “It!,” … Continue reading →

The crew of three dock with their starship to Mars, pop the hatch on their shiny, white, aluminum alloy and glass space ship and busy themselves with firing it up to make another trip to the Red Planet, and overcoming … Continue reading →