A lone woman wakes at night in her expansive house and explores the strange noises that awoke her. The space, familiar and comforting in the day, is cloaked in shadows that sometimes seem to move of their own volition. As the woman searches, shapes shift behind her, until something prompts a sudden jump . ….
Megan Fox gets knocked down but gets up again (and again) in Till Death, a hyperactive thriller that eschews the slow-burn approach of the similarly themed “Gerald’s Game” for higher-octane action. The plot is a perhaps a little too telegraphic, with the outcome never really in doubt and multiple predictable scenes, but it’s anchored by…
Neil Marshall has had a patchy career. From his riotous debut “Dog Soldiers” (re-issued in 2020) to his claustrophobic caving classic “The Descent,” his filmography sunk (or descended) into the highly derivative and uneven “Centurion” and “Doomsday,” before he applied his talents to television with “Game of Thrones” and “Hannibal,” among others. After the disastrous…
When you sit down for a movie, it can go one of two ways: either it fulfills its purpose of entertaining the viewer or leaves them unsatisfied. And in the case of Roger Michell’s Blackbird, I felt myself falling into the second category. Because, though I am one for reinterpretations of classic tales, I’m not…
The film Robin’s Wish is a 77-minute documentary about Robin Williams, who died tragically by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63 as a result of the brutal disease called Lewy Body Dementia. The catalyst for producing the film was Susan Schneider Williams, Robin’s widow, who wished to explain the anguish Robin experienced and…
The juxtaposition of comedy, tragedy and horror is a tricky thing to pull off. Lean too hard one way and the comedy can be inappropriate or just lame and unfunny. Lean another way and the tragedy can be unintentionally comical or painful. And lean the third way and the horror can be silly. Those films…
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (“Gods of Egypt”) stars as Max, an insurance detective with a growing tumor in his brain. As part of one of his investigations, Max discovers a place called The Aurora, sort of a bespoke-assisted-suicide facilitator. The place seems outwardly helpful but maintains quite the mysterious aura. What method does one wish for one’s…
