Sam Raimi exploded onto the indie filmmaking scene back in the 80s with his horror classic The Evil Dead. While a largely straight-forward demonic possession horror film, the slight hints of humor and Bruce Campbell‘s performance, alongside Raimi’s sure directorial touch, elevated it into something greater. It spawned sequel entries
It’s Grizzled Prospector vs. Nazis In Badass War Actioner ‘SISU’
There’s an entire genre of movies where a grizzled old-timer with a particular set of skills gets entangled with unsuspecting ruffians who mistakenly stick their noses in his business. Sisu, a Nordic import from writer-director Jalmari Helander, distributed in the U.S. by Lionsgate, is exactly that movie. Only a bit better than you’re used to….
Existential Dark Comedy ‘BEAU IS AFRAID’ is Unhinged, Overlong, Hysterical
Reeling from the death of his iconoclast mother, an emotionally stunted, mentally ill man must traverse to her funeral in Ari Aster’s oft-indescribable dark comedy, Beau is Afraid. Aster frames the journey as if he were Homer himself, making for a melodramatic and depraved comedy of errors turned familial nightmare, stuffed to the brink of…
2023 TCM Classic Film Festival: Day #3 Recap
The sun was shining on the third day of the TCM Classic Film Festival. I got up early to attend my number one pick for festival events: a screening of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) with Russ Tamblyn in attendance! I was excited not only to see Tamblyn and
Army Commercial ‘GUY RITCHIE’S THE COVENANT’ Fails to Explore Anything of Value
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, stylized as written, with the director’s name in the title, for reasons unknown, is the kind of movie that feels the needs to define what “covenant” means for its audience. This takes place not in the opening moments, but as a punctuation mark to the whole affair. As if the intended…