Free Fire (2017)

I do love me a good cinematic shoot-out. Ever since the Raven Bar gun-fight from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981) , with it’s pitch-perfect editing and ground-breaking sound design*,… *…seriously, go back and rewatch ‘Raiders’, volume it up little louder than it needs to be and then just LISTEN…and consider what the standard litany […]

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

I, like MANY other geeks and geekettes in the early to mid 1990’s, stumbled across this ‘new’ (for North America) imported form of animated media called ‘Manga’…or if you want to be all obtuse about it…Japanimation…and fell in love. I started off my manga education with an introduction to the absolute classic ‘Akira’, from 1988. […]

Life (2017)

As VERY obvious ‘Alien’ clones go…this one is a mostly competent and serviceable imitation that’s pretty enjoyable in the moment, but probably won’t stick with you for too long after the credits roll…despite a ‘shock’ twist ending that actually worked for me (predictability aside). If you’re a fan of…well…’Alien’ (1979)…and other like-flavored genre entries such […]

Kong: Skull Island (2017)

I’ve always found fun and enjoyable aspects in all the ‘kaiju’ movies I’ve seen, especially the ones features that atomic badass we all know and love…Godzilla. Now if you want to talk about a long-running film franchise that has had it’s definite share of ups and downs, quality-wise, look no further than the big nuclear […]

Logan (2017)

As ‘send off’s of beloved cinematic heroes go…you could DEFINITELY do worse than THIS. It’s funny to think to the ‘way back’ of Year 2000, when a then unknown Aussie actor named Hugh Jackman was cast in 20th Century Fox’s first major foray into the almost non-existent comic book adaptation market, as the cult-favorite (and […]

The BFG (2016)

Sometimes a film’s success, regardless of the talent behind it, hinges entirely upon when it drops into the movie-going public’s collective psyche…and it’s safe to say that this one somehow seriously missed the drop-zone. Which is really unfortunate because my girlfriend and I actually had a really good time watching Steven Spielberg’s curious bomb of […]

A Cure for Wellness (2017)

So…it’s a roughly 15 minute stroll to and from our local theatre; a feature of our ‘new’ neighborhood (6 months now?) that hasn’t not lost it’s novelty. Normally, when I walk out of a flick, I spend the time it takes to amble home to mentally process what I had seen, in order to prep […]

John Wick Chapter 2 (2017)

Keanu Reeves. Love him or hate him…you HAVE to admit that the man absolutely commits to the physicality of the roles he’s been taking on recently. It’s like he knows that he has limited range as a dramatic actor, so he makes up for it by wholeheartedly throwing himself into the thick of the action. […]

Rogue One: A STAR WARS Story (2016)

In my humble opinion, ‘Rogue One’ makes ‘The Force Awakens’ look like REALLY high-budgeted fan fiction. Actually, as time has gone by, since it’s muchly ballyhoo’d release last year, my opinion of JJ Abrams opening ‘kick start’ to a new, nostalgia-driven franchise for Walt Disney Studios, hasn’t exactly dropped…but it has changed. I understand that […]

Spectral (2016)

Seriously, if James Cameron’s name had appeared at the end of this flick…I wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest. It’s EXTREMELY clear to me that first-time feature director Nic Mathieu has seen My Favorite Movie EVER, ‘Aliens’ (1986) at least once, as the overall aesthetic struck me as pure ‘peak’ Cameron; VERY nicely replicating […]