Conceptual films are always a welcome change from the norm. It takes vision and courage to put together a complex film of this nature and form a whole world without necessarily having to explain it all. Phobias, although an anthology, falls in this category. It has a backdrop that serves as a through subplot that…
There is a scene in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when one of the central superhero figures uses his superpowers for good. This may sound obvious, but it is notable that such use usually translates into beating up bad people, whether they be muggers, megalomaniacal crime bosses or genocidal aliens. This scene, however, involves helping someone…
2003’s “Wrong Turn” spawned a surprising franchise. Five sequels and this 2021 reboot demonstrate that screenwriter Alan B. McElroy’s premise has (deformed) legs that have continued to provide bloody scares for audiences. After six films in the original continuity, a reboot seems timely and could continue to capitalize on the potential of city people encountering…
Whenever I find myself looking at the treasured imagery of the American Frontier, there’s always a bittersweetness that washes over. Perhaps it is the grandeur of the mountains looming against the most idyllic of cottages, but there’s this sense of melancholy that’s fascinating to explore. One such example comes in the form of Mona Fastvold’s…
Familiar elements can be clichéd but also useful. Emphasize a particular trope too much and it becomes tired and tedious. Use a trope carefully, especially when connected to other tropes within a wider framework, and the various pieces can add up to a satisfying whole. The key aspect here is judicious treatment, ensuring that the…
For teenagers and storytellers alike, it is a cliché to say that high school is hell. The Dead Ones takes this concept rather literally, in the first of a series of clichés featured in this problematic and not very scary teen horror. A central quartet, who appear to hail from the same archetype roster as…
The second of his 12 plays dramatizing the Black experience in America during the twentieth century, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a haunting and powerful experience that focuses on Gertrude “Ma Rainey” (Viola Davis, “Widows”), known as “The Mother of the Blues,” one of the first popular Black blues singers to gain acceptance…
