The topic of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” is more than a classic tune from the legendary Motown musical act The Temptations — it also happens to be the breezy theme behind the clunky comedy, Father Figures. The “who’s your daddy” premise is a woefully tired one, but it did not prevent director Lawrence Sher…
Both the original “The Houses October Built” and its sequel, The Houses October Built 2, open with quotes about the dark, primal volatility of human nature. The first cites Walter Jon Williams’ well known “I’m not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted hotels, I’m afraid of what real human beings do to other real…
In 1968, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, ushered in a program of reforms that he called “Socialism with a human face.” The new “Action Programme” allowed greater freedom of speech, press, and travel, limited the power of the secret police, and raised the possibility of democratic elections. The achievement…
When I visited Spain for the first time many years ago, I immediately felt a sense of foreboding, as if I was being reminded of some long buried event, perhaps in another lifetime. Everything that happened during my stay there did nothing to dispel those feelings either and I have never gone back. Of course,…
Michael (Jack Parry-Jones, “Our Girl” TV series) and Thor (Christy O’Donnell) are brothers. Well, as they would be the first to tell you, step-brothers. They live with Michael’s mum and Thor’s dad in a little house on Shetland. When Michael doesn’t get into university in Glasgow and his girlfriend does, he starts to get suspicious…
It’s hard to believe that Road to Hell is Albert Pyun’s 50th movie, and even harder to believe that he still can’t make a decent film. Originally shot in 2008, it’s surely a labor of love for the micro-budget auteur, although I’m not sure how much love it’s likely to receive beyond the initiated. Heavily…
The on-the-road murder mystery, Road to the Well, is quite an imaginative and intriguing vehicle from the creative mind of writer-producer-director Jon Cvack. Although this titillating indie does not have the bombastic aura of the cookie-cutter goosebump whodunits so prevalent in mainstream Hollywood thrillers today, the intimate and small-scale production still resonates effectively with the…
