The War Game (1965)

I’m a huge fan of the horror fiction of British author James Herbert, who unfortunately passed away in 2013. I have the vast majority of his books in my library, including the first two novels of his notorious ‘Rats Trilogy’; ‘The Rats’ (1974) and ‘Lair’ (1979). These two unapologetically horrific stories really made their mark […]

Atomic Blonde (2017)

This one’s a bit of a mixed bag for me. There are successful elements that definitely earn ‘Good Movie’ status, but others prevent it from being a ‘Great’ movie. When I first got wind of this title, it was due in large part to it being the second major motion picture for director David Leitch, […]

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

If 20th Century Fox is smart…they’ll stop this franchise right here and leave it a surprisingly well-constructed and self-contained trilogy. But…when money talks…the executives listen…artistic integrity be damned! Time will tell on that one. It’s a cooking hot Sunday at the tail-end of July and I felt the call of the cinema…yet again. This time […]

Dunkirk (2017)

July. 2017. Summer Movie Season is well underway…and there’s just so damn much to choose from! Just today, I had my choice of ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’, ‘Spiderman – Homecoming’, and ‘Valerian: City of 1000 Planets’. These are all flicks I want, and intend, to see on The Big Screen. But…as much […]

Wonder Woman (2017)

Well, it would SEEM that DC has been taking some notes in light of the less-than-perfect reception to their previous entries, particularly ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016) and ‘Suicide Squad’ (2016). I can confidently say that ‘Wonder Woman’ actually feels like a movie, not a hopeful and half-assed hodge-podge of scenes and set-ups […]

Alien: Covenant (2017)

So…in preparation for this review, I told myself that I was going to sit my ass down and plow through ‘Prometheus'(2012) again; a film that I still feel burned by. On its release, I had such high hopes for Sir Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise he largely fashioned back in 1979, but the flick […]

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The first ‘Guardians’ flick caught people off guard when it was released in 2014, and I mean that in a good way. Where most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe entries up to that point had gone for something of a ‘grounded’ feel, it embraced the wacky and fun spirit of the source material and ran […]

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 […]