The great thing about genre is that it offers fans straightforward and familiar material, but it also allows filmmakers the space to come up with new interpretations within established formulae. This is especially true of horror, and the challenge for the filmmaker is to offer scares within the blend of familiarity and innovation. Bishal Dutta’s It Lives Inside is similar to many examples of what could be called the “curse film,” from “Ringu” and “The Grudge” to “Drag Me to Hell,” “It Follows” and 2022’s “Smile.” There is an initial victim, a protagonist who becomes the latest target, a tickin ..read more

The case of Lizzie Borden is popular and famous, to the extent of having effectively entered folklore. Taking place in Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892, the murders of Abby and Andrew Borden and the trial of Andrew’s daughter Lizzie the following year that ended in her acquittal, has been the subject of books, theatrical productions, folk rhymes and indeed movies. The Inhabitant joins this limited sub-genre, but rather than depicting the events of the murders themselves, Jerren Lauder’s film explores the legacy of such a dark history. The opening supertext of the film provides the context of ..read more

The title The Man from Rome evokes the thriller genre, be that spy, conspiracy or crime. Think of “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold,” or indeed, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” True to title, The Man From Rome utilizes tropes of conspiracy, espionage, mystery and action. It comes complete with a stern-faced but honorable hero, clearly dangerous with a shadowy past, plagued by guilt but absolutely the man you want on your side. There are multiple computers with urgent-looking tech experts tapping rapidly away, talk of servers, hacking, protected files and secret accounts ..read more

Every once in a while, I am glad to watch a movie that I wouldn’t normally watch. This, however, was not one of those times. In the 80 minutes that I sacrificed watching Breaking Infinity, an indie film about time travel, I did wonder if I could use their equipment to go back and not watch this film. Directed by Marianna Dean (“Hollyoaks” TV series), the movie has an interesting story but little to no support. The budget for this science fiction thriller is minimal, but it is not the biggest issue with this film. The writing of David Trotti (“Exorcist: House of Evil”) is the culprit. Under-dev ..read more

“Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved” — Victor Hugo Winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, Audrey Diwan’s (“Losing It”) harrowing abortion drama Happening takes place in rural France during the 1960s, a decade before abortion was legalized in France. Based on the memoir by Annie Erma (“Les Années Super-8”), the film is a gripping and, at times, uncomfortable reminder of the inherent physical and emotional dangers of illegal, “back-alley” abortions, procedures that pose a danger to the unborn child as well as to the health of the mother. Co-writt ..read more

What do you do when you’ve made multiple successful films in New Zealand, graduated to Hollywood blockbuster franchise installments while maintaining your idiosyncrasies and then won an Academy Award? In the case of Taika Waititi, the answer is to make another blockbuster where the idiosyncrasies are even more pronounced, to an extent that may amuse and annoy equal numbers of people. The result is Thor: Love and Thunder, almost certainly the silliest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to date. That’s a tall order, considering the lunacy of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the size-shifting ..read more

There was a popular book written in the late 1980s by Robert Fulghum named “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” It is filled with tried and true lessons about growing up: “Hold hands and stick together,” “play fair,” “look at yourself,” and other snippets of suggestions we learn about early in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more ..read more

In 2002, the superhero genre achieved an ideal form in “Spider-Man,” which built upon aspects from the Superman and Batman franchises as well as 1998’s “Blade” and 2000’s “X-Men.” Over the subsequent two decades, the genre developed and expanded, but a consistent aspect throughout is the cinematic expression of the experience of superpowers. This was... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more ..read more

“You see, evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction. It is ultimately negative, and therefore encompasses its downfall even at its moments of apparent triumph” — Neil Gaiman In the opening of the film, The Power of the Dog, Peter Gordon (Kodi Smit-McPhee, “Dark Phoenix”), a Montana cattle rancher’s future nephew, whispers in... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more ..read more

“I wanna be just like a melody, just like a simple sound, like in harmony” — Glide from “All About Lily Chou-Chou” Projections of the future in cinema have mainly foreseen a world where war, disease, and pervasive alienation are the norm. Korean-born writer/director Kogonada’s vision of the future, however, is not a dystopian world... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more ..read more